Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 - April 18, 1964) was one of the most prolific of all Hollywood screenwriters, even though he professed hatred and disdain for the motion picture industry. Hecht was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and as a young man moved to Chicago, where he became a reporter and, eventually, a short-story writer and novelist. He eventually landed in New York, where he met movie mogul David O. Selznick. The two were to be lifelong friends and frequent collaborators.
Hecht eventually moved to Hollywood, where he scripted Josef von Sternberg's gangster story Underworld in 1927, and won an Oscar for his work at the first Academy Awards presentation. His most famous work was the stage comedy The Front Page, which he wrote with frequent collaborator Charles MacArthur. It was first translated to film in 1931 and three more times, most notably as Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday in 1940. Much of Hecht's later work was uncredited, as he worked as a "script doctor".
Hecht had an early talk show that was shown on television in the New York metropolitan area in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ben Hecht's Academy Award nominations
Ben Hecht's writing filmography
Referenced By
1894 | 18 April | 18th April | 28 February | 28th February | A Star Is Born (1937) | Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay | Academy Awards/Writing Screenplay Adaptation | Alfred Hitchcock's Rope | Alfred Hitchcocks Rope | Angels With Dirty Faces | April 18 | April 18, 2002 | April 18th | Charles MacArthur | Cleopatra (movie) | Duel in the Sun | February 28 | February 28th | Film writer | Foreign Correspondent | George Antheil | George Kaufman | George S. Kaufman | George S. Kaufmann | George S Kaufmann | Gunga Din | Heathcliff | His Girl Friday | James MacArthur | Jumbo | Lewis Milestone | List of film remakes | List of people by name: He | List of people by name: He-Hh | List of people by name: Hf | List of people by name: Hg | List of people by name: Hh | List of screenwriters | Notorious | Rope (Alfred Hitchcock) | Rope (film) | Rope (movie) | Scarface (1932) | Scarface (1932 movie) | Screenwriter | Scriptwriter | Spellbound | Stagecoach (film) | Stagecoach (movie) | Stanislav Szukalski | The Front Page | The Man with the Golden Arm | The Prisoner of Zenda | The Shop Around the Corner | The Sin of Madelon Claudet | Twentieth Century (movie) | Viva Villa | Viva Villa! | Wuthering Heights
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