The Best Screenwriters Ever!
Points from my "The Best Films Ever Made"-Lists. Vol. 1 = 100%, Vol. 2 = 50%, Vol. 3 = 33%, Vol. 4 = 25%, Vol. 5 = 20 %, Vol. 6 = 17%
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- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (1996) is the trilogy closed. Here, as in 'Den Goda Viljan' Pernilla August play his mother. Note that all three movies are not always full true biographical stories. He began his career early with a puppet theatre which he, his sister and their friends played with. But he was the manager. Strictly professional he begun writing in 1941. He had written a play called 'Kaspers död' (A.K.A. 'Kaspers Death') which was produced the same year. It became his entrance into the movie business as Stina Bergman (not a close relative), from the company S.F. (Swedish Filmindustry), had seen the play and thought that there must be some dramatic talent in young Ingmar. His first job was to save other more famous writers' poor scripts. Under one of that script-saving works he remembered that he had written a novel about his last year as a student. He took the novel, did the save-poor-script job first, then wrote a screenplay on his own novel. When he went back to S.F., he delivered two scripts rather than one. The script was Torment (1944) and was the fist Bergman screenplay that was put into film (by Alf Sjöberg). It was also in that movie Bergman did his first professional film-director job. Because Alf Sjöberg was busy, Bergman got the order to shoot the last sequence of the film. Ingmar Bergman is the father of Daniel Bergman, director, and Mats Bergman, actor at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater. Ingmar Bergman was also C.E.O. of the same theatre between 1963-1966, where he hired almost every professional actor in Sweden. In 1976 he had a famous tax problem. Bergman had trusted other people to advise him on his finances, but it turned out to be very bad advice. Bergman had to leave the country immediately, and so he went to Germany. A few years later he returned to Sweden and made his last theatrical film Fanny and Alexander (1982). In later life he retired from movie directing, but still wrote scripts for film and T.V. and directed plays at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre for many years. He died peacefully in his sleep on July 30, 2007.12731 points- Writer
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- Producer
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many German films until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Wilder immediately realized his Jewish ancestry would cause problems, so he emigrated to Paris, then the US. Although he spoke no English when he arrived in Hollywood, Wilder was a fast learner and thanks to contacts such as Peter Lorre (with whom he shared an apartment), he was able to break into American films. His partnership with Charles Brackett started in 1938 and the team was responsible for writing some of Hollywood's classic comedies, including Ninotchka (1939) and Ball of Fire (1941). The partnership expanded into a producer-director one in 1942, with Brackett producing and the two turned out such classics as Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Lost Weekend (1945) (Oscars for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) (Oscars for Best Screenplay), after which the partnership dissolved. (Wilder had already made one film, Double Indemnity (1944) without Brackett, as the latter had refused to work on a film he felt dealt with such disreputable characters.) Wilder's subsequent self-produced films would become more caustic and cynical, notably Ace in the Hole (1951), though he also produced such sublime comedies as Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960) (which won him Best Picture and Director Oscars). He retired in 1981.10140 points- Writer
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The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) - and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would be remembered in several films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8½ (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real life role of journalist and caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds "Cico and Pallina". Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became his real life wife from October 30, 1943, until his death half a century later. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1940 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Rome, Open City (1945) and made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisan (1946). On that film he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work.9311 points- Kôgo Noda is most famously know for working alongside Yasujiro Ozu in the writing of his screenplays for some of his most famous movies. Noda was born on November 19, 1893 and died at age 74 on September 23, 1968. He co-wrote some of Yasujiro's most famous films, for example: Tokyo Story (1953), Late Spring (1949), An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Late Autumn (1960), and Early Summer (1951).8377 points
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- Additional Crew
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Cesare Zavattini was born on 20 September 1902 in Luzzara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Bicycle Thieves (1948), Umberto D. (1952) and It's Forever Springtime (1950). He was married to Olga Berni. He died on 13 October 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.7887 points- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen broke into show business at 15 years when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week. He later moved on to write jokes for talk shows but felt that his jokes were being wasted. His agents, Charles Joffe and Jack Rollins, convinced him to start doing stand-up and telling his own jokes. Reluctantly he agreed and, although he initially performed with such fear of the audience that he would cover his ears when they applauded his jokes, he eventually became very successful at stand-up. After performing on stage for a few years, he was approached to write a script for Warren Beatty to star in: What's New Pussycat (1965) and would also have a moderate role as a character in the film. During production, Woody gave himself more and better lines and left Beatty with less compelling dialogue. Beatty inevitably quit the project and was replaced by Peter Sellers, who demanded all the best lines and more screen-time.
It was from this experience that Woody realized that he could not work on a film without complete control over its production. Woody's theoretical directorial debut was in What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966); a Japanese spy flick that he dubbed over with his own comedic dialogue about spies searching for the secret recipe for egg salad. His real directorial debut came the next year in the mockumentary Take the Money and Run (1969). He has written, directed and, more often than not, starred in about a film a year ever since, while simultaneously writing more than a dozen plays and several books of comedy.
While best known for his romantic comedies Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979), Woody has made many transitions in his films throughout the years, transitioning from his "early, funny ones" of Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972); to his more storied and romantic comedies of Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); to the Bergmanesque films of Stardust Memories (1980) and Interiors (1978); and then on to the more recent, but varied works of Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Husbands and Wives (1992), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Celebrity (1998) and Deconstructing Harry (1997); and finally to his films of the last decade, which vary from the light comedy of Scoop (2006), to the self-destructive darkness of Match Point (2005) and, most recently, to the cinematically beautiful tale of Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Although his stories and style have changed over the years, he is regarded as one of the best filmmakers of our time because of his views on art and his mastery of filmmaking.7473 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Actress
Suso Cecchi D'Amico was born on 21 July 1914 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She was a writer and actress, known for Bicycle Thieves (1948), The Leopard (1963) and Rocco and His Brothers (1960). She was married to Fidele d'Amico. She died on 31 July 2010 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.7377 points- Tullio Pinelli was born on 24 June 1908 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was a writer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), The Road (1954) and 8½ (1963). He was married to Madeleine Lebeau. He died on 7 March 2009 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.7257 points
- Writer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Legendary Italian screenwriter was born Antonio Guerra on the 16th of March 1920 in Sant'Arcangelo, Italy, south of Ravenna. He wrote several short stories, poetry and novels and in 1956 his first screenplay "Man and Wolves" (co-written by Elio Petri) was directed by Giuseppe De Santis. Three years later he wrote the masterpiece, "L'Avventura", which began his long collaboration with one of the greatest directors of all time Michelangelo Antonioni. Tonino Guerra earned Oscar nominations 3 times: for the Casanova 70 (1965), for Blow-Up (1966) by Antonioni and for Amarcord (1973) directed by Federico Fellini. He has worked with many other masters such as Francesco Rosi on _Lucky Luciano (1974)_ and and Andrei Tarkovsky on Nostalghia (1983). Tonino Guerra is a poet and one of busiest and the most important screenwriters of cinema who won Cannes Film Festival's Best Screenplay award for the "Voyage to Cythera" by Theo Angelopoulos and received an honorary award of the Venice Film Festival. Tonino Guerra is a great fan of two persecuted film geniuses Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Parajanov.6737 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Furio Scarpelli was born on 16 December 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Postman (1994), The Family (1987) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). He was married to Cora Conti. He died on 28 April 2010 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.6625 points- Writer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ennio Flaiano was born on 5 March 1910 in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a writer and actor, known for 8½ (1963), La Dolce Vita (1960) and Nights of Cabiria (1957). He was married to Rosetta Rota. He died on 20 November 1972 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.5856 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Shinobu Hashimoto was born on 18 April 1918 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for The Hidden Fortress (1958), Harakiri (1962) and Ikiru (1952). He died on 19 July 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.5484 points- Actor
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- Writer
An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, distant German and very remote Portuguese. The age-old story goes that the small town of his birth was won by John's grandfather in a poker game. John's father was the equally magnanimous character actor Walter Huston, and his mother, Rhea Gore, was a newspaperwoman who traveled around the country looking for stories. The only child of the couple, John began performing on stage with his vaudevillian father at age 3. Upon his parents' divorce at age 7, the young boy would take turns traveling around the vaudeville circuit with his father and the country with his mother on reporting excursions. A frail and sickly child, he was once placed in a sanitarium due to both an enlarged heart and kidney ailment. Making a miraculous recovery, he quit school at age 14 to become a full-fledged boxer and eventually won the Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship of California, winning 22 of 25 bouts. His trademark broken nose was the result of that robust activity.
John married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Harvey, and also took his first professional stage bow with a leading role off-Broadway entitled "The Triumph of the Egg." He made his Broadway debut that same year with "Ruint" on April 7, 1925, and followed that with another Broadway show "Adam Solitaire" the following November. John soon grew restless with the confines of both his marriage and acting and abandoned both, taking a sojourn to Mexico where he became an officer in the cavalry and expert horseman while writing plays on the sly. Trying to control his wanderlust urges, he subsequently returned to America and attempted newspaper and magazine reporting work in New York by submitting short stories. He was even hired at one point by mogul Samuel Goldwyn Jr. as a screenwriter, but again he grew restless. During this time he also appeared unbilled in a few obligatory films. By 1932 John was on the move again and left for London and Paris where he studied painting and sketching. The promising artist became a homeless beggar during one harrowing point.
Returning again to America in 1933, he played the title role in a production of "Abraham Lincoln," only a few years after father Walter portrayed the part on film for D.W. Griffith. John made a new resolve to hone in on his obvious writing skills and began collaborating on a few scripts for Warner Brothers. He also married again. Warners was so impressed with his talents that he was signed on as both screenwriter and director for the Dashiell Hammett mystery yarn The Maltese Falcon (1941). The movie classic made a superstar out of Humphrey Bogart and is considered by critics and audiences alike--- 65 years after the fact--- to be the greatest detective film ever made. In the meantime John wrote/staged a couple of Broadway plays, and in the aftermath of his mammoth screen success directed bad-girl 'Bette Davis (I)' and good girl Olivia de Havilland in the film melodrama In This Our Life (1942), and three of his "Falcon" stars (Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet) in the romantic war picture Across the Pacific (1942). During WWII John served as a Signal Corps lieutenant and went on to helm a number of film documentaries for the U.S. government including the controversial Let There Be Light (1980), which father Walter narrated. The end of WWII also saw the end of his second marriage. He married third wife Evelyn Keyes, of "Gone With the Wind" fame, in 1946 but it too lasted a relatively short time. That same year the impulsive and always unpredictable Huston directed Jean-Paul Sartre's experimental play "No Exit" on Broadway. The show was a box-office bust (running less than a month) but nevertheless earned the New York Drama Critics Award as "best foreign play."
Hollywood glory came to him again in association with Bogart and Warner Brothers'. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), a classic tale of gold, greed and man's inhumanity to man set in Mexico, won John Oscars for both director and screenplay and his father nabbed the "Best Supporting Actor" trophy. John can be glimpsed at the beginning of the movie in a cameo playing a tourist, but he wouldn't act again on film for a decade and a half. With the momentum in his favor, John hung around in Hollywood this time to write and/or direct some of the finest American cinema made including Key Largo (1948) and The African Queen (1951) (both with Bogart), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Red Badge of Courage (1951) and Moulin Rouge (1952). Later films, including Moby Dick (1956), The Unforgiven (1960), The Misfits (1961), Freud (1962), The Night of the Iguana (1964) and The Bible in the Beginning... (1966) were, for the most part, well-regarded but certainly not close to the level of his earlier revered work. He also experimented behind-the-camera with color effects and approached topics that most others would not even broach, including homosexuality and psychoanalysis.
An ardent supporter of human rights, he, along with director William Wyler and others, dared to form the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947, which strove to undermine the House Un-American Activities Committee. Disgusted by the Hollywood blacklisting that was killing the careers of many talented folk, he moved to St. Clerans in Ireland and became a citizen there along with his fourth wife, ballet dancer Enrica (Ricki) Soma. The couple had two children, including daughter Anjelica Huston who went on to have an enviable Hollywood career of her own. Huston and wife Ricki split after a son (director Danny Huston) was born to another actress in 1962. They did not divorce, however, and remained estranged until her sudden death in 1969 in a car accident. John subsequently adopted his late wife's child from another union. The ever-impulsive Huston would move yet again to Mexico where he married (1972) and divorced (1977) his fifth and final wife, Celeste Shane.
Huston returned to acting auspiciously with a major role in Otto Preminger's epic film The Cardinal (1963) for which Huston received an Oscar nomination at age 57. From that time forward, he would be glimpsed here and there in a number of colorful, baggy-eyed character roles in both good and bad (some positively abysmal) films that, at the very least, helped finance his passion projects. The former list included outstanding roles in Chinatown (1974) and The Wind and the Lion (1975), while the latter comprised of hammy parts in such awful drek as Candy (1968) and Myra Breckinridge (1970).
Directing daughter Angelica in her inauspicious movie debut, the thoroughly mediocre A Walk with Love and Death (1969), John made up for it 15 years later by directing her to Oscar glory in the mob tale Prizzi's Honor (1985). In the 1970s Huston resurged as a director of quality films with Fat City (1972), The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and Wise Blood (1979). He ended his career on a high note with Under the Volcano (1984), the afore-mentioned Prizzi's Honor (1985) and The Dead (1987). His only certifiable misfire during that era was the elephantine musical version of Annie (1982), though it later became somewhat of a cult favorite among children.
Huston lived the macho, outdoors life, unencumbered by convention or restrictions, and is often compared in style or flamboyancy to an Ernest Hemingway or Orson Welles. He was, in fact, the source of inspiration for Clint Eastwood in the helming of the film White Hunter Black Heart (1990) which chronicled the making of "The African Queen." Illness robbed Huston of a good portion of his twilight years with chronic emphysema the main culprit. As always, however, he continued to work tirelessly while hooked up to an oxygen machine if need be. At the end, the living legend was shooting an acting cameo in the film Mr. North (1988) for his son Danny, making his directorial bow at the time. John became seriously ill with pneumonia and died while on location at the age of 81. This maverick of a man's man who was once called "the eccentric's eccentric" by Paul Newman, left an incredibly rich legacy of work to be enjoyed by film lovers for centuries to come.5453 points- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Ben Hecht, one of Hollywood's and Broadway's greatest writers, won an Oscar for best original story for Underworld (1927) at the first Academy Awards in 1929 and had a hand in the writing of many classic films. He was nominated five more times for the best writing Oscar, winning (along with writing partner and friend Charles MacArthur, with whom he wrote the classic play "The Front Page") for The Scoundrel (1935) (the other nominations were for Viva Villa! (1934) in 1935, Wuthering Heights (1939) (shared with MacArthur), Angels Over Broadway (1940) and Notorious (1946), the latter two for best original screenplay). Hecht wrote fast and wrote well, and he was called upon by many producers as a highly paid script doctor. He was paid $10,000 by producer David O. Selznick for a fast doctoring of the Gone with the Wind (1939) script, for which he received no credit and for which Sidney Howard won an Oscar, beating out Hecht and MacArthur's Wuthering Heights (1939) script.
Born on February 28, 1894, Hecht made his name as a Chicago newspaperman during the heady days of cutthroat competition among newspapers and journalists. As a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, he wrote the column "1001 Afternoons in Chicago" and broke the "Ragged Stranger Murder Case" story, which led to the conviction and execution of Army war hero Carl Wanderer for the murder of his pregnant wife in 1921. The newspaper business, which he and MacArthur famously parodied in "The Front Page", was a good training ground for a screenwriter, as he had to write vivid prose and had to write quickly.
While in New York in 1926 he received a telegram from friend Herman J. Mankiewicz, who had recently arrived in Hollywood. The telegram read: "Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." Hecht moved to Hollywood, winding up at Paramount, working uncredited on the script for Lewis Milestone's adaptation of Ring Lardner's story The New Klondike (1926), starring silent superstar Thomas Meighan. However, it was his script for Josef von Sternberg's seminal gangster picture Underworld (1927) that got him noticed. From then until the 1960s, he was arguably the most famous, if not the highest paid, screenwriter of his time.
As a playwright, novelist and short-story writer, Hecht always denigrated writing for the movies, but it is for such films as Scarface (1932) and Nothing Sacred (1937) as well The Front Page (1931), based on his play of the same name, for which he is best remembered.
He died on April 18, 1964, in New York City from thrombosis. He was 70 years old.5268 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
French director François Truffaut began to assiduously go to the movies at age seven. He was also a great reader but not a good pupil. He left school at 14 and started working. In 1947, aged 15, he founded a film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who became his protector. Bazin helped the delinquent Truffaut and also when he was put in jail because he deserted the army. In 1953 Truffaut published his first movie critiques in "Les Cahiers du Cinema." In this magazine Truffaut, and some of his friends as passionate as he was, became defenders of what they call the "author policy". In 1954, as a test, Truffaut directed his first short film. Two years afterwords he assisted Roberto Rossellini with some later abandoned projects.
The year 1957 was an important one for him: he married Madeleine Morgenstern, the daughter of an important film distributor, and founded his own production company, Les Films du Carrosse; named after Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach (1952). He also directed The Mischief Makers (1957), considered the real first step of his cinematographic work. His other big year was 1959: the huge success of his first full-length film, The 400 Blows (1959), was the beginning of the New Wave, a new way of making movies in France. This was also the year his first daughter, Laura Truffaut, was born.
From 1959 until his death, François Truffaut's life and films are mixed up. Let's only note he had two other daughters Eva Truffaut (b. 1961) and Josephine (b. 1982, with French actress Fanny Ardant). Truffaut was the most popular and successful French film director ever. His main themes were passion, women, childhood and faithfulness.5203 points- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Jean-Claude Carrière was born on 17 September 1931 in Colombières-sur-Orb, Hérault, France. He was a writer and actor, known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990). He was married to Nicole Janin and Nahal Tajadod. He died on 8 February 2021 in Paris, France.5177 points- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (1975) (The Staff), took the Grand Prix at Mannheim Film Festival. His first full-length feature was The Scar (1976) (The Scar). In 1978 he made the famous documentary From a Night Porter's Point of View (1979) (Night Porter's Point of View), and in 1979 - a feature Camera Buff (1979) (Camera Buff), which was acclaimed in Poland and abroad. Everything he did from that point was of highest artistic quality.5144 points- Writer
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Ettore Scola was born on 10 May 1931 in Trevico, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for A Special Day (1977), The Family (1987) and Passion of Love (1981). He was married to Gigliola. He died on 19 January 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.4706 points- Writer
- Producer
Charles Brackett, born in Saratoga Springs, New York, of Scottish ancestry, followed in his attorney-father's footsteps and graduated with a law degree from Harvard University in 1920. He practised law for several years, before commencing work as drama critic for The New Yorker (1925-29), in addition to submitting short stories to The Saturday Evening Post. In 1932, Brackett left for Hollywood as a screenwriter. He was signed by Paramount primarily on the strength of his novel "Week-End". Brackett remained at the studio until 1950, doubling up as producer from 1945.
During his tenure at Paramount, Brackett became part of one of the most celebrated screenwriting partnerships in the motion picture business, alongside Billy Wilder. They were eventually dubbed by Life Magazine as "the happiest couple in Hollywood". Despite having very different personalities and arguing incessantly -- Wilder being the more extroverted and cynical, while Bracket was, to quote Gloria Swanson, 'quieter, more refined' -- their collaboration endured until 1951, spanning fourteen motion pictures. Many of their most popular hits, such as Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1941) and The Lost Weekend (1945), were noted for their intricate scripting and witty, sardonic dialogue. The culmination of their efforts was Sunset Boulevard (1950), which won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Following this, the team split up at the peak of their success, each going their separate ways.
Brackett moved on to work under contract at 20th Century Fox for the next eight years. With Walter Reisch, he co-wrote the screenplays for Niagara (1953) and Titanic (1953), winning his third Oscar for the latter. He also produced the superior western Garden of Evil (1954), the historical drama The Virgin Queen (1955) and the lavish musical The King and I (1956). Brackett retired due to illness after producing State Fair (1962).4558 points- Writer
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- Actor
Gérard Brach was born on 23 July 1927 in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a writer and director, known for Jean de Florette (1986), The Name of the Rose (1986) and Frantic (1988). He died on 9 September 2006 in Paris, France.4397 points- Producer
- Writer
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The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel directed and Ethan produced - with both editing under the name of Roderick Jaynes; but in 2004 they started to share the three main duties plus editing. Each film bring its own quality, creativity, art and with one project more daring the other.
His film debut was in 1984 dark humored thriller Blood Simple (1984) starring Frances McDormand (Joel's wife) and M. Emmet Walsh in a deep story revolving a couple of romantic lovers followed by an insisting private eye. The film received critical acclaim, some award nominations to Ethan (best writing at the Film Independent Spirit Awards) and became a cult following over the years. Their second work was the comedy Raising Arizona (1987) starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter as a unusual couple trying to create their family by kidnapping babies from a rich family.
Miller's Crossing (1990) was the third film of the brothers, a mob drama with heavy influences from several criminal dramas and with a stellar cast that included Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and Jon Polito (the latter three would become regular actors in the Coen's films).
Their views on the Hollywood era of the 1930's was the central theme is the great Barton Fink (1991), created from a writers block both brothers suffered during the making of their previous film. John Turturro stars as a writer who suffers from a breakdown when he's commissioned to a big budget Hollywood project. The film was a breakthrough for the Coens marking their first win at the Cannes Film Festival (Joel got the Palme d'Or) and the first time a film of their received Oscar nominations. The underrated comedy The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) was what followed; but no one could predict their next big and boldest move that would definitely put Ethan and Joel on the spotlight once and for all.
The comedy of errors Fargo (1996) was a huge critical and commercial success. With its crazed story of a man who hires two loonies to kidnap his own wife and a pregnant policewoman tracking the leads to the crime, Ethan and Joel came at their greatest moment that couldn't be missed. The film received several awards during award season and the Coen's got their first Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category. What came next was the underrated yet hilariously good The Big Lebowski (1998) starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi. Those masterpieces made their career in the late 1990's cementing the duo as one of the greatest writers and directors of their generation, if not, from all time.
The Odyssey retold for the 1930's in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); the intelligent noir The Man Who Wasn't There (2001); the comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and a remake The Ladykillers (2004) marked their way into the early 2000's. Certaintly of period of minor hits and some downer moments.
The big return was with the highly acclaimed No Country for Old Men (2007), where the brothers swooped at the Oscars with three wins: Best Picture, Screenplay and Writing, an adaptation from the Cormac McCarthy's novel.
A Serious Man (2009), Burn After Reading (2008), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) were the subsequent films, all well received by audiences or got awards recognition, mostly nominations.
A shift from tone and career move was writing with other writers and for another directors: for Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (2014), for Spielberg in Bridge of Spies (2015) and George Clooney in Suburbicon (2017).
As for personal life, Ethan has been married to Tricia Cooke since 1990. Tricia works as an assistant editor in several of the Coen brothers films.4349 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI. Upon his return to Maison Desti, he invented a kissproof lipstick, Red-Red Rouge, in 1920. Shortly after his first marriage, his mother demanded that he return control of the company to her. Kicked out of Maison Desti, he turned to inventing. A tickertape machine, an intaglio photo-etching process, an automobile and an airplane were among his some of his commercially unsuccessful inventions. He began writing stories and, while recovering from an appendectomy in 1929, wrote his first play, "The Guinea Pig". In financial trouble over producing his plays, he moved to Hollywood in 1932 to make money. It wasn't long before he became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his work and wanted to direct the scripts he wrote. Paramount gave him this chance as part of a deal for selling his script for The Great McGinty (1940), at a cheap price. The film's success launched his career as writer/director and he had several hits over the next four years. That success emboldened him to become an independent filmmaker, but that did not last long--he had a string of commercial failures and acquired a reputation as an expensive perfectionist. He moved to France to make what turned out to be his last movie, The French, They Are a Funny Race (1955). He died at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City, in 1959.4283 points- Writer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Jules Furthman was a magazine and newspaper writer when he began writing for films in 1915. When the U.S. entered WWI Furthman used the name "Stephen Fox" for his screenplays because he thought his name sounded too German, but he reverted to his real name after the war. Furthman became one of the most prolific, and well-known, screenwriters of his time, and was responsible for the screenplays of some of Hollywood's most highly regarded films, such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), To Have and Have Not (1944) and Nightmare Alley (1947).4231 points- Samson Raphaelson was born on 30 March 1896 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Suspicion (1941), The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and That Lady in Ermine (1948). He was married to Dorothy Deborah Wegman and Rayna DeCosta Simons. He died on 16 July 1983 in New York City, New York, USA.4228 points
- Writer
- Producer
- Soundtrack
I.A.L. Diamond was born on 27 June 1920 in Ungheni, Romania [now Moldova]. He was a writer and producer, known for The Apartment (1960), Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). He was married to Barbara Diamond. He died on 21 April 1988 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.4088 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
One of the most critically and commercially successful screenwriters in Hollywood history, Lehman grew up on Long Island, graduated from NY's City College. One of his first jobs was as a copywriter for a Broadway publicist. This experience would later be reflected in his novel and screenplay, "Sweet Smell of Success." He also worked as a radio comedy writer, and as editor of a financial magazine. He freelanced short stories for the likes of Collier's magazine and one of these fiction piece 'The Comedian' led to his first job in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Paramount in the mid 1950s. Nick Roddick, in Dictionary of Literary Biography, praised Lehman as "a champion of the well-crafted, what-happens-next screenplay." Served as president of the Writers Guild of America from 1983-85.4070 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Robert Riskin was born on 30 March 1897 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). He was married to Fay Wray. He died on 20 September 1955 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.3958 points- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).3883 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Richard Brooks was an Academy Award-winning film writer who also earned six Oscar nominations and achieved success as a film director and producer.
He was born Reuben Sax on May 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from West Philadelphia HS, attended Philadelphia's Temple University for two years, before dropping out and later working as a sports reporter and radio journalist in the 1930s. After a stint as a writer for the NBC network, he worked for one season as director of New York's Mill Pond Theatre, and then headed to Los Angeles. There he broke into films as a script writer of "B" movies, Maria Montez epics, serials, and did some radio writing. During the Second World War, he served with the US Marines for two years.
Richard Brooks made his directorial debut with MGM's Crisis (1950) starring Cary Grant. He scripted and directed The Brothers Karamazov (1958) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and two years later won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Elmer Gantry (1960). He had six Oscar nominations and 25 other nominations during his film career. Brooks was a writer and director of Chekhovian depth, who mastered the use of understatement, anticlimax and implied emotion. His films enjoyed lasting appeal and tended to be more serious than the usual mainstream productions. Brooks was regarded as "independent" even before he officially broke away from the studio system in 1965. In the 1980s, he had his own production company.
Richard Brooks died of a heart failure on March 11, 1992, in Beverly Hills, California, and was laid to rest in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6422 Hollywood Blvd., for his contribution to the art of motion picture.3882 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Dudley Nichols was born on 6 April 1895 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Sister Kenny (1946), The Informer (1935) and Stagecoach (1939). He was married to Esther "Esta" Varez. He died on 4 January 1960 in Hollywood, California, USA.3715 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
The son of a railway superintendent, Nunnally Johnson was schooled in Columbus, Georgia, graduating in 1915. He worked for the local newspaper as a delivery boy, became a junior reporter for the Savannah Press and then moved on to New York in 1919. There, his journalistic career really took off, particularly as a principal news reporter for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Evening Post for which he wrote a humorous weekly column. An exceptionally literate individual, possessed of great wit, he was at his best writing social satire, lampooning conventions. This side of him was well showcased by some fifty short stories he submitted to the Saturday Evening Post and the New Yorker between 1925 and 1932.
Stymied in his efforts at writing film critique, Johnson made his way to Hollywood in 1932 and was initially signed by United Artists as a screenwriter. He only stayed a year before joining 20th Century Fox, where he became closely associated with Darryl F. Zanuck, not only in the capacity of writer, but also as associate producer and occasional director. His first contract ran from 1935 to 1942, his second from 1949 to 1963. During the interval, he co-founded International Pictures with independent producer William Goetz but the venture proved to be short-lived. The company was absorbed after less than three years by Universal, Goetz becoming head of production for the expanded Universal-International. Johnson returned to Fox.
During his time as a screenwriter, Johnson rarely ever worked in collaboration. Instead he showcased his own original work as well as displaying an innate flair for adapting classic novels into film scripts. Of particular note are his efforts for director John Ford, which included John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road (1941) and - also as producer/director - the psychological drama The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Add to that the gangster satire Roxie Hart (1942), and the brilliantly clever Fritz Lang-directed film noir The Woman in the Window (1944), both of which Johnson also produced. Not confined to any single genre, Johnson applied himself with equal vigour to westerns (The Gunfighter (1950)), war films (The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)) and comedies (How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)). His consistently intelligent treatment of such diverse A-grade material made him the highest paid writer in Hollywood.3685 points- Writer
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sergio Amidei was born on 3 October 1904 in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He was a writer and producer, known for Rome, Open City (1945), Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1977) and General Della Rovere (1959). He died on 14 April 1981 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.3504 points- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as sound-man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola's first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of "This Property is Condemned" by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Patton (1970), the film for which Coppola won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola's 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti (1973), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1971, Coppola's film The Godfather (1972) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola's next film was The Conversation (1974), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather Part II (1974), rivaled the success of The Godfather (1972), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1993). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards. Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit The Black Stallion (1979). With George Lucas, Coppola executive produced Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), directed by Paul Schrader and based on the life and writings of Yukio Mishima. Coppola also executive produced such films as The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982) The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Barfly (1987), Wind (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), etc.
He helped to make a star of his nephew, Nicolas Cage. Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.3486 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Director
Anders Thomas Jensen was born on 6th April 1972 in Frederiksværk on Sjælland in Denmark to Carl Benny Jensen and Kirsten Jensen (born Sørensen). He attended the high school in Frederiksværk from 1988 to 1991. In 1990 while still in high school, he wrote and directed 10 år på bagen - 3 år i skyggen (1990) (TV).
He made his film debut in 1996 with the short films Café Hector (1996), Davids bog (1996), Hvileløse hjerte (1996) and the Academy Award nominated Ernst & Lyset (1996), which he also directed. The following year Jensen wrote and directed Wolfgang (1997), which also earned an Academy Award nomination for best short film. He also made a rare appearance in front of the camera in Royal Blues (1997). Baby Doom (1998) and Albert (1998), both released in 1998, were the first feature films with screenplay co-written by Jensen.
After being nominated two previous years Jensen finally won in 1999 an Oscar for best short film with Election Night (1998). He followed it with writing the screenplay for two successful films in 1999, Mifune (1999) and In China They Eat Dogs (1999). Jensen was nominated for a Robert for the both films, but neither won. Mifune, directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen was the third dogme film. I Kina spiser de hunde (In China They Eat Dogs), directed by Lasse Spang Olsen and starring Kim Bodnia, was the first of typical Jensen screenplays with an original mixture of humour and action. The formula was very effective and the film was a huge hit in Denmark. In a way it created a new genre, Danish action comedies, as it spawned several imitations as well as a prequel three years later. In 2000 Jensen co-wrote the screenplay for Dykkerne (2000) and The King Is Alive (2000), the fourth dogme-film which is a story about a group of people who decides to stage Shakespeare's King Lear in the desert.
After having written screenplays for films in various genres, in 2000 he also his feature film debut as a director with Flickering Lights (2000). Blinkende lygter (Flickering Lights) tells the story of four small time crooks from Copenhagen who steal 4,000,000 DKR from a gangster boss. Unfortunately their escape route won't take them further than the countryside before the car breaks down. That leads them to renovate an old guesthouse while tring to lay low. With Denmark's best talents Søren Pilmark, Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Iben Hjejle, it was a huge blockbuster hit in Denmark and also gained interest abroad. Blinkende lygter also gained a Bodil nomination for the best picture of the year, a Robert nomination for best screenplay and won the audience award at the Robert festival. By now already an established name on the Danish movie scene he wrote the screenplays to Count Axel (2001), made an uncredited contribution to Fukssvansen (2001), Lone Scherfig's Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002) and Susanne Bier's celebrated Open Hearts (2002) highlighted by strong performances from Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Paprika Steen. The screenplay of Elsker dig for evigt (Open Hearts) also showed a completely different side of him. In 2002 he also wrote the screenplay for Lasse Spang Olsen's Gamle mænd i nye biler (2002), the prequel to In China They East Dogs. Jensen received his fourth Robert nomination for the screenplay of Gamle mænd i nye biler (Old Men In New Cars).
Jensen then wrote and directed The Green Butchers (2003). With outstanding performances by Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen, Jensen contributed yet another characteristic story of two butchers with very unorthodox methods. This time Jensen was for De Grønne slagtere (The Green Butchers) nominated for both screenplay and direction at the Robert Festival. He also wrote the screenplays for Søren Kragh-Jacobsen's Skagerrak (2003) and Rembrandt (2002). Skagerrak tells the story of Danish Marie (Iben Hjejle) who finds happiness when she least expects it as she is offered to be a surrogate mother in Northern Scotland. Rembrandt on the other hand continues the adventures of Danish small time crooks, as they by mistake steal a painting by Rembrandt which causes them more problems that they ask for. In 2004 Jensen wrote the screenplay for Susanne Bier's Brothers (2004). Brødre (Brothers), starring Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas is a story of two brothers whose lives alter in many ways when one is sent to war in Afghanistan and the other one takes his place in the brother's family. For Brothers Jensen finally won a Robert for best screenplay. In February 2005 premiered Solkongen (2005), directed by Tomas Villum Jensen, and followed by Adam's Apples (2005) in April 2005. Jensen's third directorial effort Adams æbler is written and directed by himself and stars once again Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Ulrich Thomsen. His next contribution will be After the Wedding (2006) (After the Wedding), which will be directed by Susanne Bier and with Mads Mikkelsen and Rolf Lassgård in leading roles. Efter brylluppet is due to be released in March 2006.3386 points- Writer
- Producer
Julius J. Epstein was born on 22 August 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Casablanca (1942), Reuben, Reuben (1983) and Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). He was married to Frances Sage and Ann Margot Laszlo. He died on 30 December 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.3378 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, graduating in 1994.
Graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Majored in English.
Shortly after graduating from Georgetown University, Jonathan Nolan served as a production assistant on Memento (2000).
Wrote the short story, "Memento Mori", on which the film Memento (2000) is based.
Was co-writer, with his brother Christopher Nolan, on The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Also co-wrote the Terminator Salvation (2009).3363 points- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
Born in Cape Town, Union of South Africa in 1934, Ronald Harwood moved to London in 1951 to pursue a career in the theatre. After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he joined the Shakespeare Company of Sir Donald Wolfit, one of the last 'actor-manager' of Great-Britain. From 1953 to 1958, Harwood became the personal dresser of Sir Donald. He would later draw from this experience in his play 'The Dresser' and write a biography 'Sir Donald Wolfit CBE: His life and work in the Unfashionable Theatre'.
In 1960, he started a new career as a writer and would prove to be quite prolific, penning plays, novels and non-fiction books. He also worked often as a screenwriter but he seldom wrote original material directly for the screen, rather acting as an adapter sometimes of his own work.
One of the recurring themes in Harwood's work is his fascination for the stage, its artists and artisans as displayed in the aforementioned 'The Dresser', his plays 'After the Lions' (about Sarah Bernard) ,'Another time' (about a gifted piano player), 'Quartet' (about aging opera singers) and his non-fiction book 'All the world's a stage', a general history of theater. Harwood also has a strong interest in the WWII period, as highlighted by the films 'Operation daybreak', 'The Statement', 'The Pianist', and his play turned to film 'Taking sides'. Based on true stories, the two last films feature once again musicians as their main characters.
Made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974 and Commander of the British Empire in 1999, Harwood was president of the international PEN Club from 1993 to 1997 after presiding the British section during the four previous years.3315 points- Writer
- Director
Thea von Harbou was born on 27 December 1888 in Tauperlitz, Döhlau, Bavaria, Germany. She was a writer and director, known for Metropolis (1927), M (1931) and Woman in the Moon (1929). She was married to Fritz Lang and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. She died on 1 July 1954 in Berlin, Germany.3238 points- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Dalton Trumbo, the Oscar-winning screenwriter, arguably the most talented, most famous of the blacklisted film professionals known to history as the Hollywood 10, was born in Montrose, Colorado to Orus Trumbo and his wife, the former Maud Tillery.
Dalton Trumbo was raised at 1124 Gunnison Ave. in Grand Junction, Colorado, where his parents moved in 1908. His father, Orus, worked in a shoe store. Dalton, the first child and only son, was later joined by sisters Catharine and Elizabeth. The young Dalton peddled the produce from his father's vegetable garden around town and had a paper route. While attending Grand Junction High School (Class of 1924), he worked at The Daily Sentinel as a cub reporter. Of his early politics, a much older Dalton Trumbo told how he asked his father for five dollars so he could join the Ku Klux Klan, a mass organization after the First World War. He didn't get the five dollars.
While at university, he realized that his calling was as a writer. He worked on the school's newspaper, humor magazine and yearbook, while also toiling for the Boulder Daily Camera. He left school his first year to follow his family to Los Angeles. The family moved due to financial difficulties after his father had been terminated by the shoe company. In L.A., Dalton enrolled at the University of Southern California but was unable to complete enough credits for a degree. Orus Trumbo died of pernicious anemia in 1926, and Dalton had to take a job to become the breadwinner for his widowed mother and two younger sisters. Dalton Trumbo took on whatever jobs were available, including repossessing motorcycles and bootlegging, which he quit because it was too dangerous. Eventually, Trumbo took a job at the Davis Perfection Bakery on the night shift and remained for nearly a decade. Trumbo continued to write, mostly short stories, becoming more and more anxious and eventually desperate to leave the bakery, fearing that he would never achieve his destiny of becoming an important writer. During this time, he sold several short stories, written his first novel and worked for the "Hollywood Spectator" as a writer, critic and editor. His work also appeared in "Vanity Fair" and "Vogue" magazines. Trumbo's first novel, "Eclipse" (1934), was set in fictional Shale City, Colorado (a thinly veiled Grand Junction) during the 1920s and 1930s, with characters who resembled notable community members. One of its main characters, John Abbott, is modeled after Trumbo's father. Dalton had tried, perhaps unfairly he admitted later, to avenge his father on the town where he had failed.
In 1934, Warner Bros. hired Trumbo as a reader, a job that entailed reading and summarizing plays and novels and advising whether they might be adapted into movies. It lead to a contract as a junior screenwriter at its B-pictures unit. In 1936, the same year he of his first screen credit for the B-move Road Gang (1936), Trumbo met his future soulmate Cleo Fincher and they married two years later. Daughter Nikola was born in 1939 and son Christopher in 1940. A daughter was added, Mitzi, the baby of the family.
He wrote the story for Columbia's Canadian-made Tugboat Princess (1936), clearly influenced by Captain January (1936), which had been made into a silent in 1924 before being remade with superstar Shirley Temple, substituting a tugboat in the original with a lighthouse. His screenplays for such films as Devil's Playground (1937) showed some concern for the plight of the disenfranchised, but the Great Depression still existed, and social commentary was inevitable in all but fantasies and musicals.
After leaving Warners, he worked for Columbia, Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and beginning in 1937, M.G.M., the studio for which he would do some of his best work in the 1940s. By the late 1930s, he had worked himself up to better assignments, primarily for RKO (though he returned to Warners for The Kid from Kokomo (1939)), and was working on A-list pictures by the turn of the decade. He won his first Oscar nod for RKO's Kitty Foyle (1940), for which Ginger Rogers won the Academy Award for best actress as a girl from a poor family who claws her way into the upper middle class via a failed marriage to a Main Line Philadelphia swell.
By the time of America's entry into World War II, Trumbo was one of the most respected, highest paid screenwriters in Hollywood. He had also established a name for himself as a left-wing political activist whose sympathies coincided with those of the American Communist Party (CPUSA), which hewed to the line set by Moscow.
Trumbo was part of the anti-fascist Popular Front coalition of communists and liberals in the late 1930s, at the time of the Spanish Civil War. The Popular Front against Nazism and Fascism was been torn asunder in August 1939 when the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. Many party members quit the CPUSA in disgust, but the true believers parroted the party line, which was now pro-peace and against US involvement in WWII.
Trumbo reportedly did not join the Party until 1943 and harbored personal reservations about its policies as regards enforcing ideological conformity. However, the publication of his anti-war novel "Johnny Got His Gun" in 1939 coincided with the shift of the CPUSA's stance from anti-Hitler to pro-peace, and his novel was embraced by the Party as the type of literature needed to keep the US out of the war. Trumbo agreed with the Party's pro-peace platform. The book, about a wounded World War One vet who has lost his limbs, won the American Book Sellers Award (the precursor to the National Book Award) in 1939. In a speech made in February 1940, four months before the Nazi blitzkrieg knocked France out of the war, Trumbo said, "If they say to us, 'We must fight this war to preserve democracy,' let us say to them, 'There is no such thing as democracy in time of war. It is a lie, a deliberate deception to lead us to our own destruction. We will not die in order that our children may inherit a permanent military dictatorship.'"
His speech was a rebuke to New Deal liberals. The Party began demonizing President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who hated Hitler and was pro-British, as a war-monger. The Party ordered its members to henceforth be pro-peace and anti-FDR in their work and statements. In June 1941, after Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, the CPUSA shifted gears to become pro-war, supportive of FDR's aggressive behavior towards Nazi Germany.
Shortly after the German invasion, Trumbo instructed his publisher to recall all copies of "Johnny Got His Gun" and to cease publication of the book. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the German declaration of war against the U.S. catapulted the U.S. into both the Asian and European theaters of World War II, the book - always popular with peace-lovers and isolationists who opposed America's involvement in foreign wars - suddenly became popular among native fascists, too. However, it proved hard to get a copy of the book during the war years.
Trumbo joined the CPUSA in 1943, the same year Victor Fleming's great patriotic war movie A Guy Named Joe (1943), with a Trumbo screenplay, appeared on screens. In 1944, Original Story was a separate Oscar category and David Boehm and Chandler Sprague were nominated in that category for an Academy Award. Trumbo's screenplay was overlooked. Like other communist screenwriters, he proved to be an enthusiastic writer of pro-war propaganda, though except for the notorious pro-Stalin Mission to Moscow (1943), few films displayed any overt communist ideas or propaganda. One that did was Tender Comrade (1943) , which Trumbo wrote as a Ginger Rogers vehicle for RKO. Directed by his future Hollywood 10 comrade Edward Dmytryk, it depicted a mild form of socialism and collectivization among women working in the defense industry. He also wrote the patriotic classic Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) for M.G.M., which was based on the Doolittle Raid of 1942.
Trumbo voluntarily invited FBI agents to his house in 1944 and showed them letters he had received from what he perceived were pro-fascist peaceniks who had requested copies of "Johnny Got His Gun", then out-of-print due to Trumbo's orders to his publisher. He turned those letters over to the FBI and later kept in contact with the Bureau, a fact that would later haunt blacklisted leftists, urging that the F.B.I. deal with them. His actions conformed to the CPUSA policy of denouncing anyone who opposed the war.
In 1945, the last year of the war, MGM released the Margaret O'Brien / Edward G. Robinson vehicle, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), penned by Trumbo. Robinson was a future member of the Hollywood "gray-list" with those, like Henry Fonda who were suspected of leftist sympathies or for being Fellow Travelers, but who could not be officially blacklisted. Drawing on his own rural childhood, it was a picture of a young girl's life on a farm in rural Wisconsin. The year 1945 was crucial for Trumbo and other Hollywood party members in terms of the CPUSA's desire to have their work reflect the party's ideological agenda.
HCUA was originally created in 1934 as the Special Committee on Un-American Activities to look into the activities of fascist and pro-Nazi organizations. Then popularly known as the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, the Special Committee on Un-American Activities exposed fascist organizations, including a planned coup d'etat against President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the so-called Business Plot. Later on, it became known as the House Un-American Activities Committee or the Dies Committee after the new chairman, Martin Dies. HCUA originally was tasked with investigating the involvement of German Americans with the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
HCUA became a standing committee in 1946, still tasked with investigating suspected threats of subversion or propaganda that attacked "the form of government guaranteed by our Constitution." The focus was solely on the communists and their allies, so-called Fellow Travelers who made common cause with communists during the War Years. Fellow Travelers was a loose term that seemed to embrace many liberal FDR New Deal Democrats.
HCUA subpoenaed suspected communists in the entertainment industry. Trumbo's screenplay for Tender Comrade (1943), which concerned three Army wives who pool their resources while their husbands are away fighting was denounced as communist propaganda. However, writer-producer James Kevin McGuinness, a conservative who was a friendly witness before HCUA, testified that left-wing screenwriters did not inject propaganda into their movie scripts during World War II. McGuiness testified "[The movie industry] profited from reverse lend-lease because during the [war] the Communist and Communist-inclined writers in the motion picture industry were given leave of absence to be patriotic. During that time...under my general supervision Dalton Trumbo wrote two magnificent patriotic scripts, A Guy Named Joe (1943) and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)."
Appearing before HCUA in October 1947 with Alvah Bessie, Herbert J. Biberman, Lester Cole, John Howard Lawson, 'Ring Lardner Jr' , Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott, and Samuel Ornitz, Trumbo - like the others - refused to answer any questions. In a defense strategy crafted by CPUSA lawyers, the soon-to-be-known-as "Hollywood 10" claimed that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to refuse to answer inquiries into their political beliefs as well as their professional associations. One line of questioning of HCUA was to ask if the subpoenaed witnesses were members of the Screen Writers Guild in order to smear the SWG. It was a gambit played by the Committee as it knew that which of the 10 were in the unions, and it knew which were communist. As Arthur Miller has pointed out, HCUA left the Broadway theater alone, despite the fact that there were communists working in it, because no one outside of the Northeastern U.S. really cared about theater or knew who theatrical professionals were, and thus, it could not generate the publicity that HCUA members craved and courted through their hearings.
HCUA cited them for contempt of Congress, and the Hollywood 10 were tried and convicted on the charge. All were fined and jailed, with Trumbo being sentenced to a year in federal prison and a fine of $1,000. He served 10 months of the sentence. The Hollywood 10 were blacklisted by the Hollywood studios, a blacklist enforced by the very guilds they helped create. Trumbo and the other Hollywood 10 screenwriters were kicked out of the Screen Writers Guild (John Howard Lawson had been one of the founders of the SWG and its first president), which meant, even if they weren't blacklisted, they could not obtain work in Hollywood. Those who continued to write for the American cinema had to do so under assumed names or by using a "front", a screenwriter who would take credit for their work and pass on all or some of the fee to the blacklisted writer. Later, as one of the Hollywood Ten, Trumbo claimed for himself the mantle of "Martyr for Freedom of Speech" and attacked, as rats, those who became informers for HCUA by naming names. In 1949, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., wrote in The Saturday Review of Books, that Trumbo was in fact NOT a free speech martyr since he would not fight for freedom of speech for ALL the people, such as right-wing conservatives, but only for the freedom of speech of CPUSA members. The anti-communist Schlesinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian, thought Trumbo and others like him were doctrinaire communists and hypocrites. In response, Trumbo wrote a scathing letter to The Saturday Review to defend himself, characterizing himself as a paladin championing free speech for all Americans under the aegis of the First Amendment, which the Hollywood 10 claimed gave them the right to refuse to cooperate with HCUA.
After his blacklisting and failure of the Hollywood 10's appeals, the Trumbo family exiled themselves to Mexico. In Mexico, chain-smoking in the bathtub in which he always wrote, usually with a parrot given to him by 'Kirk Douglas' perched on his shoulder, Trumbo wrote approximately thirty scripts under pseudonyms and using fronts who relayed the money to him. His works included the film noir classic Gun Crazy (1950) (AKA Gun Crazy), co-written under the pseudonym Millard Kaufman, Oscar-winning Roman Holiday (1953) (with screenwriter Ian McLellan Hunter as a front), and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) for director Otto Preminger and upon which blacklisted Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Wilson also worked).
At the 1957 Academy Awards, Robert Rich won the Oscar for best original story of 1956 for The Brave One (1956). Rich was not present to accept the award, which was accepted on his behalf by Jesse Lasky Jr. of the Screen Writers Guild. When journalists began digging in to the background of the phantom Mr. Rich, they found out he was the nephew of a producer. Suspicion then arose that Rich was a pseudonym for the blacklisted Trumbo.
Though Hollywood has always been inundated with writers, Trumbo, even while blacklisted, was prized as a good writer who was fast, reliable and could write in many genres. Despite being a communist, Trumbo's favorite themes were more in the vein of populism than Marxism. Trumbo celebrated the individual rebelling against the powers that be.
With rumors circulating that Trumbo had written the Oscar-winning The Brave One (1956), it triggered a discussion in the industry about the propriety of the blacklist, since so many screenplays were being written by blacklisted individuals who were being denied screen credit. The blacklist only worked to suppress the prices of screenplays by these talented writers. In 1958, Pierre Boulle won the Oscar for the screenplay adapted from his novel The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), which was unusual since Boulle could not speak nor write in English, which may have been the reason he did not attend the awards ceremony to pick up the Oscar in person. It was immediately realized that the screenplay had likely been written by a blacklisted screenwriter. It was - Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman.
Kirk Douglas hired Trumbo to write the script for Spartacus in 1958. In the summer of 1959 Otto Preminger hired Trumbo to write the script for Exodus. On January 20, 1960, the New York Times carried the story that Otto Preminger had hired Dalton Trumbo to write the script for Exodus, and that he would start shooting in April. On August 8, of the same year Kirk Douglas announced in Variety that Trumbo had written the script for Spartacus. Both pictures opened in the winter of 1960.
Trumbo wrote many more screenplays for A-list films, including Lonely Are the Brave (1962), The Sandpiper (1965), Hawaii (1966) , and _Fixer, The (1968). In 1970, he was awarded the Laurel Award for lifetime achievement by the Screen Writers Guild. He made a famous speech that many saw as a reconciliation of the two sides of fight. In 1971, he wrote and directed the movie adaptation of his famous anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun (1971). His last screenwriting credit on a feature film was for Papillon (1973), in which he also had a cameo role.
A six-pack-a-day smoker, he developed lung cancer in 1973. Two years later, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (which had supported the black list), Walter Mirisch, personally delivered a belated Oscar to Trumbo for his The Brave One (1956) script, now officially recognized by AMPAS as his creation. Eighteen years later, AMPAS would award him a posthumous Oscar for Roman Holiday (1953).
Dalton Trumbo died from a heart attack in California on September 10, 1976. At his memorial service, Ring Lardner Jr., his close friend and fellow Hollywood 10 member, delivered an amusing eulogy. "At rare intervals, there appears among us a person whose virtues are so manifest to all, who has such a capacity for relating to every sort of human being, who so subordinates his own ego drive to the concerns of others, who lives his whole life in such harmony with the surrounding community that he is revered and loved by everyone with whom he comes in contact. Such a man Dalton Trumbo was not."3133 points- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.3126 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Leigh Douglass Brackett was born in 1915 in Los Angeles. She was the author of numerous short stories and books regarding science fiction and has been referred to as the Queen of Space Opera. Hollywood director Howard Hawks was so impressed by one of her novels that he had his secretary call in "this guy Brackett" to help William Faulkner write the script for The Big Sleep (1946). As a screenwriter, she is best known for her work in The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo (1959), and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). She died of cancer in 1978 in Lancaster, California.3107 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Robert Rossen was born on 16 March 1908 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for The Hustler (1961), All the King's Men (1949) and Alexander the Great (1956). He was married to Sarah (Sue) Siegel. He died on 18 February 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.3101 points- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Seton I. Miller was one of Hollywood's most accomplished writers of action and adventure films in the 1930's and 40's. A graduate of Yale University, he initially entered the film industry with MGM as an actor and 'technical advisor' on Brown of Harvard (1926), a collegiate romance first filmed at Essanay in 1917. Miller did not see himself as an actor, though, and turned to screenwriting instead -- a move prompted and encouraged by a new-found friend, the budding director Howard Hawks. Often charged with script continuity and dialogue, Miller began a fruitful collaboration with Hawks from 1927. Three years and four pictures later, he followed Hawks from Fox to Warner Brothers, where he became involved as part of a larger writing team on two massive box office hits: the World War I aerial drama The Dawn Patrol (1930) and the classic gangster film Scarface (1932). Having gained a reputation for devising witty and realistic dialogue, Miller was rewarded with a long-term Warner Brothers contract in 1934.
During the next few years, Miller continued to specialise in hard-hitting, action-packed subjects, like 'G' Men (1935) and Bullets or Ballots (1936). He contributed not only well-developed characters, but also the gritty, staccato-delivered dialogue typical for Warners crime melodramas of the period. Economically made and tautly directed, these popular films further enhanced Miller's reputation. Predictably, therefore, he advanced to an even more prestigious assignment: the ambitious Errol Flynn epic The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Because the 1922 silent version with Douglas Fairbanks was still subject to copyright, an entirely new story format was required, ultimately based on a combination of traditional English lore and ballads, and given additional life by an infusion of elements from Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe". Miller collaborated on the original screenplay with Norman Reilly Raine who had done the initial draft. The resulting script, full of irreverent humour and wit, set the benchmark not only for other subsequent screen incarnations of "Robin Hood", but for the swashbuckler genre in general for years to come.
Miller's next venture proved a considerably less happy one. In early 1938, he was approached by associate producer Henry Blanke to submit a screenplay for a novel by Rafael Sabatini, "The Sea Hawk". The idea was to capitalise on the popularity of Errol Flynn, following his previous triumph in Captain Blood (1935). Miller presented a 25-page draft entitled "Beggars of the Sea" (with an entirely new plot, roughly based on the exploits of Sir Francis Drake), handing in the completed script by the end of the year. Warners, however, brought in another writer, Howard Koch, to undertake extensive rewrites, particularly in regard to characterisation, dialogue and title. Unhappy, Miller left the studio to continue as a free-lance writer.
He enjoyed further success with the intricately-plotted comedy Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), co-written with another dialogue specialist, Sidney Buchman. Further excellent scripts included a colourful swashbuckling pirate yarn -- utilising previously tried and tested ingredients -- The Black Swan (1942) (again, devised in conjunction with another outstanding American writer, Ben Hecht); and a somewhat romanticised screenplay based on a harrowing true story set in the 1830's, Two Years Before the Mast (1946). Miller was also briefly active as a producer for Paramount, but with less distinguished results. One of his last efforts, Istanbul (1957), a likeable, though cheap and cheerful studio-bound cloak-and-dagger tale about diamond smugglers, reunited him with Errol Flynn. Rather akin to Casablanca (1942) on a shoestring-budget, it caught both star and writer well past their prime. Miller retired two years later, though a co-written unpublished short story of his was used for the live action/animated Disney production Pete's Dragon (1977), three years after his death in May 1974.2954 points- Writer
- Actor
Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, India, to an Irish mother and Scottish father.
He obtained a Philosophy degree at the Gregorian University in Rome. Thereafter he obtained a law degree in Glasgow and went on to do an apprenticeship with two of Scotland's most celebrated lawyers. He became a practising lawyer.
In the mid eighties he travelled to Nicaragua, Central America, and lived there for almost three years. He worked for a Nicaraguan human rights organisation During this time he travelled widely in Guatemala and El Salvador which were both in a state of civil war.
Laverty received the Fullbright Award in 1984 and lived in Los Angeles for 18 months.
After his time in Central America Laverty made contact with the director Ken Loach and since then they have been working in constant collaboration.2946 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
Enrico Medioli was born on 17 March 1925 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer, known for The Leopard (1963), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Damned (1969). He died on 21 April 2017 in Orvieto, Umbria, Italy.2934 points- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Pier Paolo Pasolini achieved fame and notoriety long before he entered the film industry. A published poet at 19, he had already written numerous novels and essays before his first screenplay in 1954. His first film Accattone (1961) was based on his own novel and its violent depiction of the life of a pimp in the slums of Rome caused a sensation. He was arrested in 1962 when his contribution to the portmanteau film Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) was considered blasphemous and given a suspended sentence. It might have been expected that his next film, The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) (The Gospel According to St. Matthew), which presented the Biblical story in a totally realistic, stripped-down style, would cause a similar fuss but, in fact, it was rapturously acclaimed as one of the few honest portrayals of Christ on screen. Its original Italian title pointedly omitted the Saint in St. Matthew). Pasolini's film career would then alternate distinctly personal and often scandalously erotic adaptations of classic literary texts: Oedipus Rex (1967) (Oedipus Rex); The Decameron (1971); The Canterbury Tales (1972) (The Canterbury Tales); Arabian Nights (1974) (Arabian Nights), with his own more personal projects, expressing his controversial views on Marxism, atheism, fascism and homosexuality, notably Teorema (1968) (Theorem), Pigsty and the notorious Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), a relentlessly grim fusion of Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy with the 'Marquis de Sade' which was banned in Italy and many other countries for several years. Pasolini was murdered in still-mysterious circumstances shortly after completing the film.2904 points- Writer
- Director
- Actress
The most renowned female screenwriter of the 20th century, and one of the most respected scripters of any gender, Frances Marion was born in San Francisco. She modeled and acted and had some success as a commercial artist. She entered into journalism and served in Europe as a combat correspondent during World War I. She moved to Los Angeles and was employed by director Lois Weber as an assistant, in which position she received a thorough apprenticeship in the film industry. She began writing scripts and attracted the attention of Mary Pickford. The pair began a long relationship as both friends and artists, with Marion serving as Pickford's official screenwriter. She wrote many of Pickford's most famous and memorable silent films as well as many other of the great successful pictures of the 1920s and 1930s. She won Oscars for her writing on The Big House (1930) and The Champ (1931). Her influence resurrected the career of Marie Dressler and resulted in her greatest glory, and her scripts for Marion Davies are among the most memorable of that actress' oeuvre. At MGM, where she was long under contract, she enjoyed enormous creative freedom for a writer. With the death of Irving Thalberg, MGM's creative head, in 1936, Marion's power and influence waned. In 1946 she left Hollywood and thereafter concentrated on plays and novels. She was at one time married to 1920s cowboy star Fred Thomson and subsequently to director George W. Hill. She died in 1973, one of the most respected names in Hollywood history.2904 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
The Hungarian playwright and novelist Ernest Vajda was educated at a monastic college in Paps, where he graduated with a degree in electrochemistry in 1904. He added a Ph.D. to his name in 1908 and produced his first play the following year. Vajda held several editorial jobs in Hungary before moving to the United States, settling down in Beverly Hills and joining Paramount as a contract writer in 1925. He was chiefly associated with comedies starring Adolphe Menjou, and, from 1929, collaborated on several films -- noted for their continental sophistication -- with the director Ernst Lubitsch (their most celebrated effort was the classic musical comedy The Love Parade (1929)).
Vajda also continued to write plays for the Broadway stage, including the comedy "Fata Morgana", which was aired twice (in 1924 and in 1931). He moved to MGM in 1932, where he stayed for six years, working in collaboration on lavish period dramas like The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and Marie Antoinette (1938). Though he authored no further screenplays after 1941, he contributed original material to the John Philip Sousa biopic Stars and Stripes Forever (1952).2850 points- Writer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Donald Ogden Stewart was born on 30 November 1894 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Philadelphia Story (1940), An Affair to Remember (1957) and Not So Dumb (1930). He was married to Leonore (Ella) Sophie Winter Steffens and Beatrice Ames. He died on 2 August 1980 in London, England, UK.2820 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Carl Meyer was the son of a stock speculator who committed suicide. He had to leave school at 15 to work as a secretary. Mayer moved away from Graz to Innsbruck and then Vienna, where he worked as a dramatist. Meanwhile, the events of the First World War turned him into a pacifist.
In 1917 he went to Berlin, where he worked at the small Residenztheater. He befriended Gilda Langer, the leading actress of the theatre and probably fell in love with her. He was tired of his job at the theatre when he wrote the script for "Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari" (1920) together with Hans Janowitz. It is thought that Gilda Langer was supposed to star in the movie, but she suddenly engaged herself with director Paul Czinner and then died unexpectedly early in 1920. Mayer took care of her tombstone and notes from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" were engraved in it (this was found out by Olaf Brill who rediscovered the tombstone in 1995).
"Das Kabinett" made Mayer famous and soon he was a leading film writer, working with the best directors in Germany. He worked with F.W. Murnau on "Der Letzte Man" (1924, known as "The Last Laugh" in the USA) and he also wrote the scenario for Murnau's "Sunrise" (1927). But he was a perfectionist who worked slowly and this frequently resulted in conflicts or financial trouble.
Being a Jew as well as a pacifist, he had to flee Germany in 1933 after the Nazis came to power. He went to England, where he worked as an adviser to the British film industry. In London he became friends with director Paul Rotha.
In 1942 he was diagnosed with cancer. Near the end of his life he wanted to make a documentary on London, but due to anti-German sentiments he was unable to find a producer. His illness was maltreated and he died in 1944, poor and almost forgotten. All he left was 23 pounds and two books. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery and his epitaph reads 'Pioneer in the art of the cinema. Erected by his friends and fellow workers.' The city of Graz named a prize after him.2772 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Guillermo Arriaga was born on 13 March 1958 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a writer and producer, known for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), 21 Grams (2003) and Amores Perros (2000).2770 points- Paul Osborn was born on 4 September 1901 in Evansville, Indiana, USA. He was a writer, known for East of Eden (1955), South Pacific (1958) and Sayonara (1957). He was married to Millicent Green. He died on 12 May 1988 in New York City, New York, USA.2733 points
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Casey Robinson was born on 17 October 1903 in Logan, Utah, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Captain Blood (1935), Days of Glory (1944) and Diplomatic Courier (1952). He was married to Tamara Toumanova, Audray Dale and Joan Potts. He died on 6 December 1979 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.2730 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Steven Zaillian was born on 30 January 1953 in Fresno, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and A Civil Action (1998). He is married to Elizabeth Zaillian. They have two children.2710 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London--but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.2698 points- Born in 1945 in Warsaw. In 1970, graduated in law from Warsaw University. Articled as a judge and as a barrister. In legal practice since 1973. Is mainly a criminal defence lawyer, but has also specialised in family law and in protection of personal goods and chattels. During Martial Law, acted as defence counsel at numerous political trials. Was Assistant Prosecutor in the case of the abduction and murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko. For many years was a member of the Barristers' Council and Expert for the Mazowsze Region Branch of the Solidarity Trade Union. Lectured for articling law students and was member of the egzamination committee. Co-author of screenplays for 17 films directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. His screenplays were translated into 10 languages and published as books. Member of the American Academy of Motion Pictures. Regular contributor to several weekly and monthly magazines. Member of Senate (Higher Chamber of Polish Parliament) of 2nd (1991-93), 4th (1997-2001) and 5th (since 2001) term.2695 points
- Writer
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The son of a Russian émigré clothing merchant, Sidney Buchman was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on March 27 1902. He initially attended the University of Minnesota. After his family moved to New York, he continued his studies at Columbia University, graduating in 1923. The following year, he travelled to England and worked as an assistant stage manager at the Old Vic. Upon his return to New York, he tried his hand writing for the theatre and had two plays produced, "This One Man" (Broadway, 1930) and "Storm Song", both of which flopped.
In 1931, Buchman went to Hollywood, having secured a screenwriting contract with Paramount. He remained for two years, then moved on to Columbia, where he was given the opportunity to work on several sophisticated and witty comedy scripts which often juxtaposed simple, honest country folk, with slick, corrupt urbanites. Along with Frank Capra, he helped raise the studio's prestige and shake off the stigma of having once been a 'poverty row' outfit. His biggest hits were She Married Her Boss (1935), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). In view of the massive box office success of these pictures, Buchman was promoted up the ladder to producer in 1937. Five years later, he was made vice-president of production (with his own production company within the studio), effectively functioning as Harry Cohn's right-hand man.
He held this post until 1951, when he was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee and forced to admit that he had been a member of the Communist Party between 1938 and 1945. However, he steadfastly refused to 'name names'. In March 1953, he was found guilty of contempt by Congress, fined $150 and blacklisted. While based in the south of France, Buchman was given a reprieve by 20th Century Fox, who defied the blacklist, by hiring him in 1960 to work in their European department. He eventually did most of the work on the screenplay of The Mark (1961), a British/German co-production starring Maria Schell and Stuart Whitman. He was also one of the many contributors to Fox's epic Cleopatra (1963). Buchman died in his adopted home in Cannes in August 1975 at the age of 73.2665 points- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Jean Gruault was born on 3 August 1924 in Fontenay-sous-Bois, Val-de-Marne, Île-de-France, France. He was a writer and actor, known for My American Uncle (1980), Jules and Jim (1962) and The Story of Adele H (1975). He was married to Ginette Geslot. He died on 8 June 2015 in Paris, France.2627 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Screenwriter, novelist, playwright, non-fiction author. Born in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, began his career as a novelist in 1957. Started writing screenplays in 1965 with "Masquerade". A two-time Academy Award Winner, he is one of the most successful screenwriters and script doctors in Hollywood.2531 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Novelist and screenwriter, educated at Dominican College in San Rafael, California. An avid movie enthusiast in her youth, she came to films after replying to an advertising campaign launched by actress Clara Kimball Young, who was on the lookout for better scripts. Coffee won the competition and sold her the screenplay for The Better Wife (1919) for $100. Shortly after, she was offered a one-year Hollywood contract. Her initial work in the movie colony consisted of devising title cards and collaborating on adaptations from original material, invariably for romantic melodramas. By the end of the 1920's, Coffee had evolved into a sought-after 'script doctor', in addition to becoming a specialist in writing 'women's pictures' (her discernible talent being able to temper any inherent maudlin sentimentality with touches of humour or wit).
Coffee was under contract to MGM from 1929 to 1936. She eventually departed in 1937, following a dispute over salary. Her next stop was Warner Brothers, where she remained until 1944. Either as writer or co-writer, Coffee shared responsibility for the box-office success of two seminal Bette Davis vehicles: The Great Lie (1941) and Old Acquaintance (1943). Her work during the 1950's was less distinguished, though she had further hits with the suspense thriller Sudden Fear (1952) and the musical romance Young at Heart (1954).
Her husband was the novelist William J. Cowen, whom she had met while composing the script for The Volga Boatman (1926) for Cecil B. DeMille (Cowen was one of DeMille's assistants). Coffee retired to England during the 1970's. She wrote her memoirs in 1973, entitled "Reflections of a Hollywood Screenwriter".2525 points- Writer
- Editor
- Director
David Webb Peoples was born on 9 February 1940 in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He is a writer and editor, known for Unforgiven (1992), Blade Runner (1982) and 12 Monkeys (1995). He is married to Janet Peoples.2479 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Alvin Sargent was an American screenwriter who wrote Ordinary People and the Marvel screenplays for Sony: Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man. His writing for Spider-Man 2 got widespread acclaim. He also wrote a few episodes of Paper Moon. He was married to film producer Laura Ziskin, who produced the Spider-Man films he had written.2456 points- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Charles Spaak was born on 25 May 1903 in Brussels, Belgium. He was a writer and assistant director, known for The Grand Illusion (1937), Before the Deluge (1954) and Panique (1946). He was married to Janine Spaak and Claude Marcy. He died on 4 March 1975 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.2455 points- Writer
- Producer
Philip G. Epstein was born on 22 August 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Casablanca (1942), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and Mr. Skeffington (1944). He was married to Lillian Targan. He died on 7 February 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.2393 points- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Philip Yordan was born on 1 April 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Detective Story (1951), Broken Lance (1954) and Dillinger (1945). He was married to Faith Clift and Marilyn Nash. He died on 24 March 2003 in La Jolla, California, USA.2391 points- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Playwright and author of sophisticated screenplays, a graduate of Bard College and Columbia University Law School. Howard Koch started out as a practicing lawyer in Hartsdale, New Jersey, but soon found himself dissatisfied with his career choice and began to write plays on the side. His first two efforts flopped on Broadway (respectively in 1929 and 1933). Nonetheless, Koch continued, undaunted, and had his first critical success with "The Lonely Man", produced at the Blackstone Theater in Chicago in 1937. On the strength of this work he was engaged by John Houseman to write dramatic material for Orson Welles' "Mercury Theater on the Air" radio program (his starting salary was $75 for roughly sixty pages of script). Koch re-wrote H.G. Wells sci-fi story "War of the Worlds" as "Invasion from Mars" for the famous Halloween broadcast that "panicked America". It had such an effect on the public that the "New York Times" ran the headline "Many Flee Homes to Escape 'Gas Raid From Mars'".
The following year Koch moved to Hollywood and was signed to a screenwriting contract by Warner Brothers (1939-1945). He achieved lasting fame through his felicitous collaboration with brothers Philip Epstein and Julius J. Epstein in adapting Murray Burnett's adaptation of the obscure play "Everybody Comes to Rick's" to the now classic Casablanca (1942). The Epsteins concentrated on the dialogue while Koch worked out the dramatic continuity. The three subsequently shared the 1943 Academy Award for Best Screenplay (Koch sold his Oscar at auction in 1994 for $184,000 in order to fund a granddaughter's school tuition). Before and after "Casablanca", Koch worked on a variety of other subjects, turning out polished screenplays for Errol Flynn's hugely entertaining swashbuckler The Sea Hawk (1940), an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's steamy melodrama The Letter (1940), the patriotic flag-waver Sergeant York (1941) and the George Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945). His own personal favorite was his script for Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), a tender story of unrequited love set in Vienna.
Koch's reputation was sadly tarnished as a result of his work on Mission to Moscow (1943), the account of Joseph E. Davies, a former US ambassador to Russia. Although he was not particularly happy with this assignment, Koch was coerced into it by studio boss Jack L. Warner, who, in turn, was under pressure from the U.S. government to produce a picture that showcased the efforts of the Soviet Union in the fight against Nazi Germany. However, in 1947, at the height of the Red-baiting hysteria stirred up by senator Joseph McCarthy, Warner testified as a "friendly" witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), charged with "rooting out" Communist influence in the motion picture industry. Warner named Koch and other "liberals" as being Communist sympathizers, using the pro-Russian content of "Mission to Moscow" as "proof". This resulted in Koch becoming one of the so-called "Hollywood Nineteen" and finding himself being blacklisted by the industry in 1951. Unable to earn a living, he had little choice but to leave the country. Like other writers and directors in the same position, he moved to England where he continued to write screenplays under a pseudonym ("Peter Howard"). Returning to the US five years later, he bought a property near Woodstock, NY, and resumed writing plays for regional productions (as well as occasional film scripts).
In his memoirs, "As Time Goes By", Koch recalled how, early in the casting process, the stars of "Casablanca" were slated to be Dennis Morgan (!), Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan (in the Paul Henreid role of Victor Laszlo). Our appreciation of the classic film would have been rather different . . .2359 points- Writer
- Producer
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, John Michael Hayes began his writing career as a newspaper reporter. Following service with the US Army during WWII, he moved to California where he wrote for such radio dramas as Sam Spade and Inner Sanctum. Moving to film in 1952, he has amassed credits which span over 40 years and include such enduring titles as Rear Window (1954) and Peyton Place (1957). For the last several years, Mr. Hayes has taught film writing to a new generation of artists at Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, but has now (2000) retired.2308 points- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Waldo Salt was one of the many people blacklisted in Hollywood during the Red Scare, but unlike others, Salt recovered triumphantly. He wrote his first scripts in the late 1930s (MGM contract writer, 1936-42) and also served as a civilian consultant to the Office of War Information from 1942- 1945 before being blacklisted in 1951 after refusing to testify before HUAC. Salt spent several years writing under assumed names for various television series (low-budget series such as "Colonel March of Scotland Yard," for example) and undistinguished films before slowly turning his career around, working in more widely seen television and eventually winning two Oscars for his later work in film.2281 points- Writer
- Additional Crew
Franco Solinas was an Italian writer and screenwriter active from the 1950s to the early 1980s, who specialized in political and historical films. He is best known for the screenplay of The Battle of Algiers (1966), which was nominated for three Academy Awards. He worked with several acclaimed directors, including Joseph Losey, Costa-Gavras, Gillo Pontecorvo, and Francesco Rosi.2278 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter Jo Swerling, who also was a Tony Award-winning Broadway writer and lyricist, was born in Berdichev, Ukraine in what was then the Russian Empire. His family emigrated from Czarist Russia and he grew up on the Lower East Side in New York City.
From a youthful job peddling newspapers, he worked his way up to becoming a journalist, working on newspapers and magazines in the 1920s, including the prestigious "Vanity Fair". He became a playwright, like other famous journalists of the era (most notably Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of The Front Page (1931) fame). Swerling wrote the stage show "Street Cinderella" for the The Marx Brothers and the screenplay for their first film, the 1921 comedy short Humor Risk (1921), starring Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo. Groucho supposedly hated it so much, he burned the negative. The movie was never released.
Swerling's first legitimate production on the Great White Way was the musical-revue "The New Yorkers", which ran for a then-respectable 52 performances in March and April 1927. Swerling wrote the book and the lyrics for the songs. His next foray on Broadway was the more successful "Kibitzer", an original comedy he co-wrote with Edward G. Robinson (who also co-starred in the show). It ran for 120 performances in February through June 1929.
Wall Street famously laid an egg in October 1929, and Swerling would not be back on Broadway for 21 years. Hollywood beckoned.
In 1929, Universal adapted his play "The Understander" into the movie Melody Lane (1929) while Paramount released The Kibitzer (1930) the following year (without the participation of Edward G. Robinson). Columbia Pictures, the premier studio on Hollywood's "Poverty Row", hired Swerling, and his first screen credit was for the screenplay for Frank Capra's Ladies of Leisure (1930). He would received screen credit on Capra's next five films in the period 1930-32, before Capra turned to Robert Riskin as his main collaborator. (Jo would work on the screenplay for Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), providing additional scenes.)
Swerling worked on scores of films before he received his last screen credit for King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) in 1961. He received his sole Oscar nomination for The Pride of the Yankees (1942). He was one of the many screenwriters, including Ben Hecht, who worked uncredited on the Oscar-winning Gone with the Wind (1939) screenplay (won by Sidney Howard).
Swerling's greatest professional success came when he returned to Broadway, co-writing the book for the classic musical Guys and Dolls (1955) with Abe Burrows, for which he shared the Tony and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical. The show was a smash, running from November 1950 to November 1953 for a total of 1,200 performances. The screenplay for the 1955 movie adaptation was written by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose brother Herman J. Mankiewicz shared an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay in 1943 with Swerling.
Jo Swerling died in Los Angeles, California on October 23, 1964. He was 71 years old.2253 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount productions in Hollywood, most of them Jack Oakie vehicles. Still in his 20s, he produced first-class MGM films, including The Philadelphia Story (1940). Having left Metro after a dispute with studio chief Louis B. Mayer over Judy Garland, he then worked for Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century-Fox, producing The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), when Ernst Lubitsch's illness first brought him to the director's chair for Dragonwyck (1946). Mankiewicz directed 20 films in a 26-year period, successfully attempted every kind of movie from Shakespeare adaptation to western, from urban sociological drama to musical, from epic film with thousands of extras to a two-character picture. A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) brought him wide recognition along with two Academy Awards for each as a writer and a director, seven years after his elder brother Herman J. Mankiewicz won Best Screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). His more intimate films like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Barefoot Contessa (1954)--his only original screenplay--and The Honey Pot (1967) are major artistic achievements as well, showing Mankiewicz as a witty dialoguist, a master in the use of flashback and a talented actors' director (he favored English actors and had in Rex Harrison a kind of alter-ego on the screen).2248 points- Producer
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Peter Märthesheimer was born on 9 July 1937 in Kiel, Germany. He was a producer and writer, known for Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1972), Der Bulle & das Mädchen (1985) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979). He died on 18 June 2004 in Berlin, Germany.2211 points- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Agenore Incrocci was born on 4 July 1919 in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), The Organizer (1963) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). He died on 15 November 2005 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.2204 points- Writer
- Soundtrack
Frances Goodrich was born on 21 December 1890 in Belleville, New Jersey, USA. She was a writer, known for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), The Thin Man (1934) and Easter Parade (1948). She was married to Albert Hackett, Henrik Van Loon and Robert Ames. She died on 29 January 1984 in New York City, New York, USA.2173 points- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Albert Hackett was born on 16 February 1900 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), The Thin Man (1934) and Easter Parade (1948). He was married to Gisella (Svetlik) Orkin and Frances Goodrich. He died on 16 March 1995 in New York City, New York, USA.2173 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Rustam Ibragimbekov was born on 5 January 1939 in Baku, USSR [now Azerbaijan]. He was a writer and producer, known for A Trap for the Ghost, (2011), The Saint (1997) and Close to Eden (1991). He was married to Ludmila Dukhovnaya and Shohrat Ibrahimbeyova. He died on 11 March 2022 in Moscow, Russia.2142 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Claudine West was born on 16 January 1890 in Nottingham, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Random Harvest (1942). She died on 11 April 1943 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.2126 points- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Herman J. Mankiewicz, now known primarily as the man who co-wrote Citizen Kane (1941) with Hollywood's greatest wunderkind, Orson Welles, was one of the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood and the head of Paramount's screen-writing department in the late 1920s and early '30s. He reached the pinnacle of his craft soon after arriving in Hollywood, then started to make a quickening descent as alcoholism and cynicism adversely affected his career by the end of that decade. His collaboration with Welles, which brought both men the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1942, gave his career a boost in the early 1940s, and he garnered another Oscar nod the following year for writing The Pride of the Yankees (1942) about the recently deceased New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig.
Herman was born on November 7, 1897 in New York City, the son of Johanna (Blumenau) and Franz Mankiewicz. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Germany, and after living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the family, along with Herman's kid brother Joe, moved back to the Big Apple in 1913. Mankiewicz took a degree in philosophy at Columbia and became an editor of the "American Jewish Chronicle" before going to fight the Great War with the Marine Corps.
The hard-drinking Mankiewicz, like so many of the screenwriters of the Talkie period, started out as a newspaperman. After World War One was over, he was hired by the Paris-based American Red Cross News Service, eventually moving on to the "Chicago Tribune" where he covered German politics in Berlin. He served as dancer Isadora Duncan's publicist while in Europe.
A married man who ultimately sired three children with his long-suffering wife, the former Sara Aaronson, Mankiewicz returned to the city of his birth to write for the "New York World". He established himself as a prime wit rivaled only by George S. Kaufman, and pieces he wrote appeared in the top magazines of the time, including "Vanity Fair." He eventually worked at the "New York Times" with Kaufman as a drama critic before moving on to the "New Yorker" magazine, where he served in the same capacity. He also tried his hand as a Broadway dramatist. His comedy "The Good Fellow" was a flop in 1926, closing after seven performances, though his next effort, "The Wild Man of Borneo (1941)" that he co-wrote with Marc Connelly, lasted all of 15 performances before closing in 1927.
In the last years of silent pictures, Mankiewicz heeded the admonition of Horace Greeley to "Go West, young man" and moved to Hollywood. He wrote intertitles, most notably for Josef von Sternberg's classic The Last Command (1928). Paramount made him the chief of their scenario department, where he hired talented writers in his own mold, men like Ben Hecht, another hard-drinking, ink-stained wretch from the newspaper industry. "Mank" was a talented wordsmith and he soon became the highest paid writer in Hollywood, as his position was solidified with the advent of sound and the need for real dialogue that could be spoken onscreen by actors, not read by audiences, many of whom moved their lips while following along, eyes agog. The new Talkies demanded fast, crisp dialogue, and Mank was the man to provide it. His biting wit and taste for satire went down well with the audiences for the new Talkies. He eventually brought his kid brother Joseph L. Mankiewicz to Hollywood. (With four Oscars out of 10 nominations, Joe -- a triple threat as writer-director-producer -- eventually surpassed his elder brother, creating some classics of his own such as All About Eve (1950).)
Herman Mankiewicz produced the The Marx Brothers pictures Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932) and Duck Soup (1933). His penultimate gig as a producer at Paramount was on W.C. Fields's 1932 Olympics comedy Million Dollar Legs (1932), on which brother Joe worked as a writer. Surprisingly, Herman wold not produce another movie until 1949, but his bad-boy behavior, which included gambling as well as hard partying, apparently was taking its toll. Mankiewicz's career was hampered not just by his alcoholism, but also by his cynicism. He despised Hollywood.
Mankiewicz went back to New York in early 1932 to make his Broadway debut as an actor, playing a waiter, in the play "Blessed Event", which was a modest hit. Eventually, Paramount let him go. By 1934, he was a contact writer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and by the end of the decade, his reputation was suffering, as he had lost the lofty perch he once occupied.
Orson Welles claimed that he had to assign producer John Houseman to keep Mankiewicz sober during the drafting of the "Citizen Kane" screenplay. After that film gave his career a boost, film critic Pauline Kael wrote that he became even more erratic and unreliable due to his drinking. Mankiewicz apparently found it hard to fit into the increasingly hierarchical structure of the movie industry, which was far removed from the far more relaxed days of the early talkies.
He died in Hollywood, a place he despised, at the age of 55 on March 5, 1953.2123 points- Michael Wilson was born on 1 July 1914 in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer, known for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and 5 Fingers (1952). He was married to Zelma Wilson. He died on 9 April 1978 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.2123 points
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After completing studies in literature at the University of Vienna, Walter Reisch began his screen career as an extra and title writer in 1918. He eventually made the acquaintance of Stephan Lorant, a refuge from the Horty regime in Hungary, who, within a single year, had made a name for himself in Austrian films as a film maker and cinematographer. Lorant gave Reisch a break by promoting him as his assistant director on Die Narrenkappe der Liebe (1921). Reisch followed Lorant to Berlin -- then the artistic hub of Europe -- to work as his assistant cameraman. He subsequently continued on in the same capacity, working on documentary newsreeels in Switzerland.
In 1925, Reisch returned to Austria to specialise as a scenarist. Before long, his growing reputation led the producer Erich Pommer to sign him to a contract with Germany's leading film company Ufa, where he had the opportunity to work alongside another gifted Viennese writer named Billy Wilder. Much of Reisch's work at this time was adapted from literary classics, but he also used some of his own original stories as material. From 1930, he managed to fulfill his long-standing ambition to write lyrics for operatic films. For the next three years, he contributed to many melodies which became popular across the European continent, featured in films like Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt (1930), The Theft of the Mona Lisa (1931) and A Blonde Dream (1932).
With the rise of Nazism, Reisch, like most creative talent of Jewish background, was forced to join the mass exodus from Germany. He had a brief resurgence in Vienna, where he worked under Willi Forst on the comedy Masquerade in Vienna (1934) and the Franz Schubert biopic Unfinished Symphony (1934). Both turned out to be solid international hits. By 1936, the political situation in Austria had made it untenable for Reisch to continue his work. Almost penniless, he moved on to join his previous mentor Alexander Korda (for whom he had worked as assistant in his student days) in London. After writing and directing the comedy Men Are Not Gods (1936), starring Miriam Hopkins, Reisch unexpectedly received an offer from Louis B. Mayer, who was on a tour of European cities scouting for talent. Soon bound for MGM, Reisch crossed the Atlantic aboard the cruise liner Normandie, with ice-skating star Sonja Henie and actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Gertrude Lawrence as fellow passengers.
At MGM (1938-48), his chief contribution was in story construction, solving continuity problems, providing narrative, inventing characters and making relationships between characters plausible and compelling. It remained for other writers, like Charles Brackett or Wilder, to sort out the dialogue. Reisch also had a knack for tailoring scripts to suit a specific star, which he achieved to great effect for Greta Garbo (with Ninotchka (1939)), Clark Gable (with Comrade X (1940)) and Ingrid Bergman (with Gaslight (1944)). Reisch had another crack at directing with Song of Scheherazade (1947). It ended up being made at Universal, because MGM, having an over-abundance of directors under contract, wanted to keep their writers doing what they did best. Though made relatively cheaply, "Song of Scheherazade" turned out to be an ill-advised piece of kitsch, centred around a purely fictitous romance between composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and a dancer. The film was roundly slammed by critics and Reisch was never again approached to direct another picture.
Despite this setback, he returned to best writing form after joining 20th Century Fox in 1949, though he had to adapt himself to a new working methodology: budgets and schedules were tighter and just about everything had to be run past Darryl F. Zanuck; the studio also tended to lean towards action subjects, rather than musical comedy, romantic melodrama or wry satire, which had hitherto been Reisch's forte. Nonetheless, his lengthy tenure at Fox encompassed two massive back-to-back hits. In collaboration with his former writing partner Charles Brackett, he first worked on location at Niagara Falls, devising the entire original story for Niagara (1953), Brackett handling the dialogue and production. Reisch next worked on Titanic (1953), for which he developed many of the characters by researching contemporary newspaper articles. For this, he was made co-recipient of the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay in 1954. His last worthy effort was a powerful, underrated drama based on a sensational 1906 scandal: The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955). Zanuck wanted a star vehicle for his latest acquisition, Joan Collins, and Reisch obliged by selling him on the Thaw-White murder case, with Collins in the role of actress Evelyn Nesbit. He had the script ready within ten weeks, painstakingly researched from the original transcripts, and, as he later proudly claimed, '70 % fact and only 30% fictionalised'!
In 1959, a strike of the Screen Writer's Guild prevented Reisch from working for six months. When he was finally able to return, a regime change at Fox had taken place, and, as part of a general purge, his contract was not renewed.2071 points- Writer
- Music Department
- Actress
Songwriter ("New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "The Party's Over", "Just in Time"), author and actress. educated at New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree. While a student, she acted with the Washington Square Players. She was a member of the Revuers, a night club act which also included Judy Holliday and Adolph Green. She wrote the Broadway stage scores for "Wonderful Town" (which garnered a Tony award from the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing in 1953), "Peter Pan", and "Do Re Mi". She was also the co-librettist for "On The Town", "Billion Dollar Baby", "Two in the Aisle", "Bells Are Ringing", "Say, Darling", "Subways Are For Sleeping", and "Fade Out - Fade In". She appeared with Adolph Green on stage in "A Party", and on television. Joining ASCAP in 1945, her chief lyrics, libretto and screenplay collaborator was Adolph Green, and her chief musical collaborators were Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, Morton Gould, and Andre Previn. Her other popular-song compositions include "I Get Carried Away", "I Can Cook, Too", "Some Other Time", "Lucky to Be Me", "Bad Timing", "Ohio", "A Little Bit in Love", "It's Love", "A Quiet Girl", "The French Lesson", "If You Hadn't But You Did", "Give a Little, Get a Little", "There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby", "Long Before I Knew You", "Never-Never Land", "Something's Always Happening on the River", "Dance Only With Me", "Adventure", "Make Someone Happy", "Fireworks", "Ride Through the Night", "Comes Once in a Lifetime", "I'm Just Taking My Time", "Now", "Fade Out - Fade In", and "Get Acquainted".2060 points- Writer
- Actor
- Music Department
Songwriter ("New York, New York", "The Party's Over", "Just in Time", "Make Someone Happy"), author and actor, educated at City College of New York. While he was a student, he acted with the Washington Square Players and had a part in the road company of "Having a Wonderful Time". A member of The Revuers with Betty Comden (with whom he also appeared on stage in "A Party" and on TV") and Judy Holliday, he appeared with the troupe in night clubs. His Broadway stage score for "Wonderful Town" won Drama Critics and Tony awards in 1953. His other stage scores included "Peter Pan" and "Do Re Mi", and he was the co-librettist for "On the Town", "Billion Dollar Baby", "Two on the Aisle", "Bells Are Ringing", "Subways Are For Sleeping", and "Fade Out - Fade In". His chief collaborator in lyrics, libretto and screenplay work was Betty Comden, and his chief musical collaborators included Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, André Previn and Morton Gould. His popular-song compositions also included "I Get Carried Away", "I Can Cook, Too", "Some Other Time", "Lonely Town", "Lucky to Be Me", "Bad Timing", "Ohio", "A Little Bit in Love", "It's Love", "A Quiet Girl", "The French Lesson", "If You Hadn't But You Did", "Give a Little, Get a Little", "There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby", "Long Before I Knew You", "Never-Never Land", "Something's Always Happening on the River", "Dance Only With Me", "Adventure", "Fireworks", "Ride Through the Night", "Comes Once in a Lifetime", "I'm Just Taking My Time", "Now", "Fade Out - Fade In", and "Get Acquainted".2060 points- Writer
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- Actor
Giuseppe De Santis was born on 11 February 1917 in Fondi, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tragic Hunt (1947), Giorni d'amore (1954) and Bitter Rice (1949). He was married to Gordana Miletic. He died on 16 May 1997 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.2035 points- Lithuanian-born author and screenwriter, in the U.S. from 1894. Hoffenstein graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and subsequently went to work as a reporter for a local newspaper. By 1913, he had moved on to a position as a drama critic for the New York Evening Sun. At the same time, he contributed articles and short stories to Vanity Fair and a regular column to The New York Tribune, as well as writing poetry (one of his collections was entitled "Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing", 1928).
Hoffenstein settled in Los Angeles in 1931 and was employed as a screenwriter by Paramount until 1936, and by 20th Century Fox, from 1941 to 1948. He was twice an Oscar co-nominee, respectively for Best Adaptation and Best Screenplay for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) (considered one of the best adaptations of a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson) and Laura (1944). He was hired for the latter by supervising producer Bryan Foy. At the time, "Laura" was intended to be a B-movie. After Hoffenstein's revised screenplay (he was chiefly responsible for creating the acidulous character Waldo Lydecker, played brilliantly by Clifton Webb) was submitted, the picture was upgraded to A-status. Hoffenstein died just three years later at the age of 56.2023 points - Actor
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Bryan Forbes was born on July 22, 1926 in Stratford, London, England as John Theobald Clarke. He was an actor, writer, and director, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Whisperers (1967) and Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). He was married to Nanette Newman and Constance Smith. He died on May 8, 2013 in Virginia Water, Surrey, England.2007 points- Writer
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Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and filmmaker from Waxahachie, Texas who is known for screenwriting Bonnie & Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer and Superman. He won two Academy Awards for writing and directing Kramer vs. Kramer. He directed other feature films including Twilight, Bad Company and Nobody's Fool. He is married to Sallie Rendig since 1964.2001 points- Writer
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- Music Department
During the 1930s, it was fashionable to be a part of the radical political movement in Hollywood. Lillian Hellman devoted herself to the cause along with other writers and actors in their zeal to reform. Her independence set her apart from all but a few women of the day, and gave her writing an edge that broke the rules. Born in New Orleans in 1905, but raised in New York after the age of five, she studied at Columbia. She married Arthur Kober in 1925, did some work in publishing and wrote for the Herald Tribune. When her husband, also a writer, got a job with Paramount, they moved out to California. It was there that she met Dashiell Hammett and subsequently divorced Kober. Their relationship lasted, in one form or another, for 30 years. Her first important work was the play "The Children's Hour," which was based on a true incident in Scotland. This was an amazingly successful play, and gave Lillian a definite standing in the literary community. Her next venture, a play called "Days To Come," was a complete failure so off she went to Europe. There, she took in the Spanish Civil War and traveled around with Ernest Hemingway. When back in the States, she wrote "The Little Foxes," which opened in 1939 and was a financial windfall for her. She also followed Dorothy Parker and other highly esteemed writers to Hollywood where she was well compensated for her screenwriting efforts. While it may have been fun and daring to be part of a radical political group in the 1930s, with the '40s came the Un-American Activities Committee. She was forced to testify in government hearings, and there was the threat of black lists and tax problems. She remained a visible force and became almost an icon in her later years. Despite an assortment of health issues, including being practically blind, she traveled, lectured, and promoted her political beliefs. She was 79 when she died in 1984, and yet she is still very much with us. It's been over 60 years since it originally opened, but "The Little Foxes," along with other works, is still being produced at all levels of the theater. What writer could ask for anything more?1992 points- Writer
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The Russian theatre and film director Andrei Konchalovsky is an elder brother of Nikita Mikhalkov, born August, 20, 1937. As a youngster he planned to pursue a career of a musician and learned to play piano but his love for cinema outweighed and he entered VGIK-the major state film school where he studied under Mikhail Romm. At VGIK he met Andrei Tarkovsky, they collaborated on Ivan's Childhood (1962) and Andrei Rublev (1966). For his feature debut The First Teacher (1965), he chose the book by Chingiz Aitmatov about the post-1917 Revolution period in the southern Russia. His next film Istoriya Asi Klyachinoy, kotoraya lyubila, da ne vyshla zamuzh (1966) although made in 1966 was not released until a decade later because it failed to comply with the strict requirements of the Russian censorship of the period. A Nest of Gentry (1969) - a study of the 19 c. aristocracy - was praised for its visual beauty but attacked by critics as mannered. Konchalovsky's powerful Uncle Vanya (1970) from the play by 'Anton Chekhov_ is regarded by many people as one of the best films in the Russian language ever. Siberiade (1979) - a dramatic and realistic story of the lives of the people of Siberia - was internationally acclaimed and brought Konchalovsky to the attention of American and European producers. From then on-wards his career has been international in scope. Pleasing critics and audiences worldwide, he made the English language films Maria's Lovers (1984), Runaway Train (1985), Duet for One (1986) (praised for Max von Sydow's brilliant performance), and the award-winning Homer and Eddie (1989) starring Whoopi Goldberg. Konchalovsky moved to the mainstream territory with the action packed Tango & Cash (1989). Charasteristically he still insists that this work is no less laudable than any of his others. He also directed plays and operas in a number of European cities. In the early 1990s he returned to Russia and directed several theatre productions most notably "The Seagull" by Chekhov and "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg. Residing in Moscow Konchalovsky sometimes makes short excursions to Hollywood to make mainstream TV productions like the Emmy-winning The Odyssey (1997) and The Lion in Winter (2003) in which Glenn Close gave an award-winning performance. His Russian-French co-production House of Fools (2002) - a story set in an asylum that stands on the border between Russia and Chechenya during the war in Chechenya - was warmly received in Europe and won an honor at the 2002 Venice Film Festival. However the film antagonized the critics in Russia. In the very beginning of his career he was credited as Mikhalkov- Konchalovsky. Later he adopted his mother's maiden name to distinguish himself from his younger brother, Nikita Mikhalkov, who was rapidly becoming a famous filmmaker himself. For his last feature film The Postman's White Nights (2014), shot digitally in his home country Russia, Andrey Konchalovsky won the 'Best Director' award at the 'Venice International Film Festival' in 2014.1988 points- Writer
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Jerzy Stefan Stawinski was born on 1 July 1921 in Zakret, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a writer and director, known for Eroica (1958), Zamach (1959) and Pingwin (1965). He was married to Helena Amiradzibi-Stawinska. He died on 12 June 2010 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.1972 points- Writer
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Ruggero Maccari was born on 28 June 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Family (1987), A Special Day (1977) and I Knew Her Well (1965). He died on 8 May 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.1968 points- Writer
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Wendell Mayes was born on 22 July 1918 in Hayti, Missouri, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Death Wish (1974). He died on 28 March 1992 in Santa Monica, California, USA.1903 points- Writer
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Detroit-born Stirling Silliphant (born Sterling Dale Silliphant) was the son of a Canadian immigrant. The family moved to California when he was about two. He grew up in Glendale and graduated from the University of Southern California in 1938. During World War II he was an army lieutenant, and after his discharge in 1946 he got a job with the Walt Disney Studios in the Publicity Department. Shortly afterward he relocated to New York City to take a job as Publicity Director for 20th Century-Fox. In 1953 he moved back to Hollywood with the goal of becoming a writer/producer, and managed to obtain financing for his first film project, The Joe Louis Story (1953), a project he produced but did not write. A few more film jobs followed, and in 1955 he heard that Disney was coming up with a new TV series for children. He personally went to Walt Disney himself with some ideas on what kinds of stories should be featured on the show. Walt liked his ideas and hired him to write and produce a segment of the show, The Mickey Mouse Club (1955), that would showcase different types of careers that children might be interested in when they got older, to be called "What I Went to Be". THe first entry in the series, "Airline Pilot and Airline Hostess", was received well by adults and critics, but unfortunately kids weren't all that thrilled about it. There were to be further entries in the series, but Silliphant and Disney clashed over the lukewarm reception given the first entry, resulting in Disney's firing him and canceling the series altogether.
His dismissal from Disney didn't hurt Silliphant's career, however. He went on to write well-received episodes for many different series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Perry Mason (1957), and helped to create the hit series Route 66 (1960) and Naked City (1958), writing most of the episodes for "Route 66" and acting as Executive Story Editor for "Naked City". He didn't restrict himself to television, however. He authored more than 50 books, wrote numerous screenplays (winning the Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967)) for directors such as Sam Peckinpah (The Killer Elite (1975)) and Clint Eastwood (The Enforcer (1976) and penned a string of well received made-for-television movies, such as Pearl (1978) and Fly Away Home (1981).
Silliphant married Tiana Du Long in 1974 and they had one child. In the 1980s he moved his family to Thailand, all the while continuing to write mini-series and made-for-TV films.
He died of prostate cancer in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996.1899 points- Bodeen started out as a stage actor and playwright. In his latter capacity, he enjoyed a moderate amount of success with "Escape to Autumn" and "Thing of Beauty", before finding work as a reader in Hollywood. One of Bodeen's plays, "Embers at Haworth" (about the Bronte sisters), came to the attention of Val Lewton, who was at the time working for David O. Selznick on an adaptation of Jane Eyre (1943). Lewton promptly hired Bodeen as a research assistant to work on the script with Aldous Huxley. When Lewton left Selznick after being signed as producer by RKO, he invited Bodeen to join him as part of a unit, specifically tasked with turning out horror movies to be filmed within a budget of $150,000. Bodeen would earn $75 per week (Lewton's own salary was only $250). The other members of this close-knit group included the director Jacques Tourneur, the editor (soon to be promoted to director) Mark Robson, composer Roy Webb and the writer Ardel Wray. For several weeks, Lewton and Bodeen (by now close friends) accumulated experience in the genre by viewing classic horror films from the previous decade, including Paramount's Island of Lost Souls (1932).
The first, and most successful, of the cycle of horror films on which Lewton and Bodeen collaborated, was Cat People (1942). As it turned out, both title and subject were rather imposed upon them by RKO studio chief Charles Koerner. Koerner had this notion that traditional movie monsters had been sufficiently dealt with, while nobody had done anything yet with a cat motif. Though initially apprehensive, Bodeen, eschewing traditional methodology, wrote the script as a study of psychological terror (a novelisation based on his story was later published by horror writer Gary Brandner). "Cat People" was completed in just 24 days and came in well under budget. Koerner was at first disappointed upon seeing the first cut, but quickly changed his mind once the picture began to break records at the box office. Some sources have even suggested, that it may have helped save the studio from bankruptcy.
Bodeen worked on two more entries in this series: The Seventh Victim (1943) (with a creepy shower scene, precursor to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)); and The Curse of the Cat People (1944), which, in spite of its title, was neither a sequel to "Cat People", nor a horror film in any true sense, but merely a subtle, overly ambiguous study of childhood loneliness. Bodeen did better work as co-writer (with Herman J. Mankiewicz) of another fable, the sentimental feel-good film The Enchanted Cottage (1945), based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. After his second contract with RKO expired in 1947, Bodeen free-lanced for a while and then concentrated on writing teleplays. He was several times nominated for Writer's Guild Awards. A regular contributor to film journals, he also authored several books on Hollywood stars, as well as one on "The Films of Cecil B. DeMille".1878 points - Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Paul Haggis established himself over twenty years with an extensive career in television, before his big break into features arrived when he became the first screenwriter to garner two Best Film Academy Awards back-to-back for his scripts: "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, and "Crash" (2005) which Paul directed himself.
In 2006, among others, Haggis penned two Clint Eastwood productions, "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," for which he earned his third Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. He also co-wrote "Casino Royale," which garnered considerable acclaim for reinvigorating the James Bond spy franchise.
In 2007, Haggis wrote, directed, and produced "In the Valley of Elah." The film starred Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon, and earned Jones a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance.
In 2010, his film "The Next Three Days" was released, starring Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, and Elizabeth Banks.
And in 2013 he wrote and directed the romantic, personal drama "Third Person," which starred Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, James Franco, and Kim Basinger.
Most recently, Haggis directed and executive produced all six episodes of the HBO mini-series "Show Me A Hero," starring Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener, Winona Ryder, James Belushi, and Alfred Molina.
Currently, Haggis is co-directing a feature length documentary on the AIDS crisis in San Francisco, called "5B."
Equally committed to his private and social concerns, Haggis is the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice. Under this umbrella, many of his friends in the film business have come forward to major build schools and clinics serving the children of the slums of Haiti (www.APJNow.org).1863 points- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Robert E. Sherwood, a brilliant multifaceted writer, was born to Arthur Murray and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, educated at the Milton Academy (Massachusetts) and Harvard, and was wounded while serving with the Canadian Black Watch in WWI. His literary career started with jobs as movie critic at Vanity Fair and Life magazines, but he became a full-time writer with the success of his play "The Road to Rome" in 1927. His first movie writing job came in 1924, rewriting the subtitles for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Over the years he worked with most of the major talents in the film business, including Alexander Korda, George S. Kaufman and Samuel Goldwyn, often working without credit. During WWII Sherwood served in a number of posts, most notably as director of the overseas branch of the Office of War Information (OWI). He resigned in 1944 and returned to film writing, winning an Oscar for his script for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Sherwood received numerous literary awards throughout his career, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1936, '39, '41, and '49, and the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history in 1949.1854 points- William Rose was born on 31 August 1918 in Jefferson City, Missouri, USA. He was a writer, known for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Ladykillers (1955) and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). He was married to Tania Rose. He died on 10 February 1987 in Jersey, Channel Islands, UK.1850 points
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a film until he was 18. Although he more than made up for lost time when studying at Calvin College, Columbia University and UCLA's graduate film program, his influences were far removed from those of his contemporaries--Robert Bresson, Yasujirô Ozu and Carl Theodor Dreyer (about whom he wrote a book, "Transcendental Style in Film") rather than Saturday-morning serials. After a period as a film critic (and protégé of Pauline Kael), he began writing screenplays, hitting the jackpot when he and his brother, Leonard Schrader (a Japanese expert), were paid the then-record sum of $325,000, thus establishing his reputation as one of Hollywood's top screenwriters, which was consolidated when Martin Scorsese filmed Schrader's script Taxi Driver (1976), written in the early 1970s during a bout of drinking and depression. The success of the film allowed Schrader to start directing his own films, which have been notable for their willingness to take stylistic and thematic risks while still working squarely within the Hollywood system. The most original of his films (which he and many others regard as his best) was the Japanese co-production Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985).1840 points- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Tobias Lindholm was born on 5 July 1977 in Næstved, Denmark. He is a writer and director, known for Another Round (2020), The Hunt (2012) and A Hijacking (2012).1837 points- Producer
- Writer
- Director
James Schamus is an American film producer, director and screenwriter who is known for his collaborations with Taiwanese film director Ang Lee. He wrote the award winning wuxia film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Eat Drink Man Woman, Pushing Hands, The Ice Storm, the cult classic Marvel film Hulk, Taking Woodstock and Lust, Caution. He is the co-founder of the Good Machine production company.1820 points- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Christopher Hampton was born on 26 January 1946 in Faial, Açores, Portugal. He is a writer and producer, known for The Father (2020), Atonement (2007) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988). He has been married to Laura de Holesch since 1971. They have two children.1794 points