Film Noir Writers

1. Raymond Chandler

An American novelist, writer of crime fiction featuring the private detective Philip Marlowe, Raymond (Thornton) Chandler was born in Chicago of an American father and an Anglo-Irish mother. He moved to England when his parents divorced. He attended Dulwich College and studied languages in France ...

2. James M. Cain

Writer | Double Indemnity

James M. Cain was a 'Film Noir' author. His father was a professor, and president, of 'Washington College'. His mother was an opera singer in Maryland.

James graduated from the same college in 1910, and became a writer for 'Baltimore American', then 'Baltimore Sun' [still being published] by 1914. ...

3. Martin Goldsmith

Writer | The Narrow Margin

Martin Goldsmith was born on November 6, 1913 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The Narrow Margin (1952), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Detour (1945). He died on May 24, 1994 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.

4. Steve Fisher

Writer | Destination Tokyo

Steve Fisher was born on August 29, 1912 in Marine City, Michigan, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Destination Tokyo (1943), Hell's Half Acre (1954) and Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955). He was married to Edithe Seimes. He died on March 27, 1980 in Canoga Park, ...

5. Daniel Mainwaring

Writer | Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Daniel Mainwaring was born on February 27, 1902 in Oakland, California, USA. He was a writer, known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Out of the Past (1947) and Against All Odds (1984). He died on January 31, 1977 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Daniel Mainwaring's pseudonym

6. Jonathan Latimer

Writer | The Big Clock

American writer of thrillers and film scripts, the son of a Chicago lawyer and a violinist. He was named 'Jonathan' after a famous ancestor who had served as a colonel on George Washington's staff during the American Revolutionary War. Latimer was a graduate of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. ...

7. Horace McCoy

Writer | Speed Wings

Horace McCoy was born on April 14, 1897 in Pegram, Tennessee, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Speed Wings (1934), The Lusty Men (1952) and Dangerous Mission (1954). He died on December 16, 1955 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.

8. Robert Rossen

Writer | The Hustler

Robert Rossen was born on March 16, 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 February 18, 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.

9. Vera Caspary

Writer | Laura

Vera Caspary was born on November 13, 1899 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was a writer, known for Laura (1944), A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and Laura. She was married to Isadore Goldsmith. She died on June 13, 1987 in New York City, New York, USA.

10. Abraham Polonsky

Writer | Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

Writer-director Abraham Lincoln Polonsky, one of the most prominent victims of the Hollywood blacklisting of communists and social progressives in the post-World War II period, was born on December 5, 1910, in New York, New York. An unreconstructed Marxist, Polonsky never hid his membership in the ...

11. A.I. Bezzerides

Writer | Kiss Me Deadly

A.I. Bezzerides was born on August 9, 1908 in Samsun, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was a writer and actor, known for Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and They Drive by Night (1940). He was married to Von Gorne, Yvonne and Silvia Richards. He died on January 1, 2007 in Los ...

12. Graham Greene

Writer | The Fallen Idol

Graham Greene was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century and his influence on the cinema and theatre was enormous. He wrote five plays and almost all of his novels, including "Brighton Rock", "The Ministry of Fear" and "The End of the Affair", have been brought to the screen. A superb ...

13. Eric Ambler

Writer | A Night to Remember

Eric Ambler was born on June 28, 1909 in London, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for A Night to Remember (1958), The Purple Plain (1954) and The Cruel Sea (1953). He was married to Joan Harrison and Louise Smith Crombie. He died on October 22, 1998 in London, England, UK.

14. Philip Yordan

Writer | Detective Story

Philip Yordan was born on April 1, 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 March 24, 2003 in La Jolla, California, USA.

15. Jay Dratler

Writer | Laura

Jay Dratler was born on September 14, 1911 in New York City, New York, USA. Jay was a writer and producer, known for Laura (1944), Call Northside 777 (1948) and Breaking Point (1963). Jay died on September 21, 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico.

16. Roy Huggins

Writer | The Fugitive

Roy Huggins was born on July 18, 1914 in Litelle, Washington, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Fugitive (1993), City of Angels (1976) and U.S. Marshals (1998). He was married to Adele Mara and Bonnie Marie Porter. He died on April 3, 2002 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

17. James Curtis

Writer | They Drive by Night

James Curtis was born on July 4, 1907 in Sturry, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for They Drive by Night (1938), Missing Ten Days (1940) and There Ain't No Justice (1939). He died in 1977 in Camden, London, England, UK.

18. José Giovanni

Writer | Mon père, il m'a sauvé la vie

Joseph Damiani, a.k.a José Giovanni, was born on June 22th, 1923, to a Corsican family. He did many little jobs when he was a teenager. Washing dishes in a train-restaurant, lumberjack, coal miner, waiter in a hotel restaurant of Chamonix. He was arrested for fraud and condemned to one year in jail...

19. Mel Dinelli

Writer | The Window

Mel Dinelli was born on October 6, 1912 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Mel was a writer and producer, known for The Window (1949), The Spiral Staircase (1946) and Beware, My Lovely (1952). Mel died on November 28, 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

20. Samuel Fuller

Writer | Shock Corridor

At age 17, Samuel Fuller was the youngest reporter ever to be in charge of the events section of the New York Journal. After having participated in the European battle theater in World War II, he directed some minor action productions for which he mostly wrote the scripts himself and which he also ...

21. William Faulkner

Writer | To Have and Have Not

William Faulkner, one of the 20th century's most gifted novelists, wrote for the movies in part because he could not make enough money from his novels and short stories to support his growing number of dependants. The author of such acclaimed novels as "The Sound and the Fury" and "Absalom, Absalom...

22. Leigh Brackett

Writer | Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

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 "...

23. David Goodis

Writer | The Edge

David Goodis was born on March 2, 1917 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer, known for The Edge (1989), Nightfall (1956) and Dark Passage (1947). He was married to Elaine Astor and Grayson Hall. He died on January 7, 1967.

24. Frank Gruber

Writer | Twenty Plus Two

Frank Gruber, one of the "kings of pulp fiction", was born in Elmer, Minnesota. After serving a stint in the army, he took on various writing jobs, including trade journal editor and correspondence school teacher. During the early 1930s he got his break writing "quickie" detective stories for what ...

25. Sydney Boehm

Writer | The Big Heat

Sydney Boehm was born on April 4, 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Big Heat (1953), The Atomic City (1952) and When Worlds Collide (1951). He was married to Ellen Kaspertia. He died on June 25, 1990 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

26. Auguste Le Breton

Writer | Du rififi chez les hommes

Auguste Le Breton was born on February 18, 1913 in Lesneven, Finistère, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Rififi (1955), The Good Thief (2002) and Riff Raff Girls (1959). He died on May 31, 1999 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France.

27. Jim Thompson

Writer | Paths of Glory

Jim Thompson was born on September 27, 1906 in Anadarko, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Paths of Glory (1957), The Killing (1956) and The Getaway (1972). He died on April 7, 1977 in Hollywood, California, USA.

28. Donald E. Westlake

Writer | The Grifters

Donald E. Westlake was born on July 12, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Grifters (1990), Payback (1999) and The Stepfather (2009). He was married to Abigail Adams, Sandra Foley and Nedra Henderson. He died on December 31, 2008 in San Tancho, Mexico.

29. Nathanael West

Writer | It Could Happen to You

Born as Nathan Weinstein, the only son of a wealthy Manhattan real estate developer, West grew up as an overly spoiled child, largely burdened by the belief that he shouldn't be expected to work or show up on time or in any other way trouble himself to get by in the world. The Depression did a lot ...

30. Crane Wilbur

Writer | The Bat

Actor, screenwriter and director Crane Wilbur was born Erwin Crane Wilbur on November 17, 1886, in Athens, NY. The nephew of the great stage actor Tyrone Power Sr., Wilbur first took to the boards as an actor, making his Broadway debut billed as Erwin Crane Wilbur on June 3, 1903, in a trilogy of ...

31. Charles Williams

Writer | Dead Calm

Charles Williams was born in San Angelo, Texas, and grew up there and in New Mexico. He attended Brownsville High School in Texas through the tenth grade. In the United States Merchant Marine, from 1929 to 1939, he served as a radio operator. Williams joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, and ...

32. John Huston

Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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,...

33. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

34. P.J. Wolfson

Producer | Boy Slaves

P.J. Wolfson was born on May 22, 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Boy Slaves (1939), The Devil Is Driving (1932) and Saigon (1947). He died on April 16, 1979 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

35. W.R. Burnett

Writer | The Great Escape

One of the most influential writers in screen history, W. R. Burnett has contributed countless classic moments in cinema.

Born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1899. By the time he left in 1927, he'd written over a hundred short stories and five novels, all unpublished. At 28, he left a civil service job ...

36. Gerald Butler

Writer | Third Time Lucky

Gerald Butler was born on July 31, 1907. He was a writer, known for Third Time Lucky (1949), Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) and On Dangerous Ground (1951). He died in February 1988 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, UK.

37. Budd Schulberg

Writer | On the Waterfront

Budd Schulberg was born on March 27, 1914 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for On the Waterfront (1954), Everglades! (1961) and A Face in the Crowd (1957). He was married to Betsy Ann Langman, Geraldine Brooks, Agnes Victoria Anderson and Virginia Ray. He died on...

38. Hugo Butler

Writer | Los pequeños gigantes

Hugo Butler, the screenwriter, was born on May 4, 1914 in Calgary, Alberta, the son of a silent movie actor and screenwriter. Butler worked as a journalist and playwright before moving to Hollywood in 1937, where he established himself as a screenwriter. In 1940, he married actress and screenwriter ...

39. Dalton Trumbo

Writer | Roman Holiday

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 ...

40. Howard Koch

Writer | Casablanca

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 ...

41. Michel Audiard

Writer | Under Suspicion

After the Liberation Michel Audiard started a career as a movie magazine writer. Under the pen name of Jacques Potier he worked for short-lived titles such as "L'Etoile du Soir" and "Cinévie". One day, André Hunebelle, the popular French filmmaker, asked him if he thought he could write an ...

42. Jacques Prévert

Writer | Les enfants du paradis

Jacques Prévert was born on February 4, 1900 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Children of Paradise (1945), The Score (2001) and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). He was married to Janine Tricotet and Simone Dienne. He died on April 11,...

43. Albert Simonin

Writer | Mélodie en sous-sol

Albert Simonin was born on April 18, 1905 in Paris, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Any Number Can Win (1963), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). He was married to Marie-Hélène Bourquin and Marie Bondor. He died on February 15, 1980 in Paris, France.

44. Billy Wilder

Writer | The Apartment

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 ...

45. Charles Brackett

Writer | Sunset Blvd.

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 ...

46. Ira Levin

Writer | Rosemary's Baby

Author, playwright and composer Ira Levin decided on a career of a writer at the age of 15. Educated at the elite Horace Mann school, he went on to two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He earned ...

47. John C. Higgins

Writer | Main Street After Dark

John C. Higgins was born on April 28, 1908 in Winnipeg, Canada. He was a writer, known for Main Street After Dark (1945), Raw Deal (1948) and The File of the Golden Goose (1969). He was married to Gail Otto. He died on July 2, 1995 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.

48. Maxwell Shane

Writer | The Glass Wall

Maxwell Shane was born on August 26, 1905 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Glass Wall (1953), Nightmare (1956) and Fear in the Night (1946). He died on October 25, 1983 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

49. Earl Felton

Writer | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Earl Felton was born on October 16, 1909 in Sandusky, Ohio, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Happy Time (1952) and Bengal Tiger (1936). He died on May 2, 1972 in Studio City, California, USA.

50. Gerald Drayson Adams

Writer | Kissin' Cousins

A former business executive and literary agent who was educated at Oxford University in England, Gerald Drayson Adams began writing for the screen in the mid-1940s. He wrote mostly second features, specializing in action/adventure and western films, and ended his career with an Elvis Presley ...

51. Paul Jarrico

Writer | The Girl Most Likely

Producer and screenwriter who, among many in his craft labeled in the late 1940's and early 1950's as 'subversive' by the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, was blacklisted, Jarrico in the prime of his career. His name was left out of the credits of most American films that he wrote ...

52. Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writer | Le salaire de la peur

Beginning his film career as a screenwriter, Henri-Georges Clouzot switched over to directing and in 1943 had the distinction of having his film The Raven (1943) banned by both the German forces occupying France and the Free French forces fighting them, but for different reasons. He shot to ...

53. Ben Hecht

Writer | Notorious

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...

54. Thea von Harbou

Writer | Metropolis

Thea von Harbou was born on December 27, 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 July 1, 1954 in Berlin, Germany.

55. Frank Partos

Writer | The Snake Pit

Frank Partos was born on July 2, 1901 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was a writer, known for The Snake Pit (1948), Honolulu (1939) and College Scandal (1935). He was married to Maria Mariska Partos. He died on December 23, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

56. Charles Bennett

Writer | Foreign Correspondent

Born just before the century turned, Charles Bennett made his writing debut as a child in 1911, fought in France during World War I while still a teen and resumed his acting career after the war's end. In 1926 he dropped acting to concentrate on being a playwright, later turning one of his most ...

57. Richard H. Landau

Writer | The Black Hole

Richard H. Landau was born on February 21, 1914 in New York City, New York, USA. Richard H. was a writer and producer, known for The Black Hole (1979), The Rat Patrol (1966) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974). Richard H. died on September 18, 1993 in Century City, California, USA.

58. Charles F. Haas

Producer | Moonrise

Harvard-educated Charles Haas entered films in 1935 as an extra at Universal. He was soon promoted to assistant director, then branched out into directing documentaries and industrial films. During WW II he made training films for the Army Signal Corps. After the war he went back to work for ...

59. Richard Brooks

Writer | In Cold Blood

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 ...

60. Edward Dein

Director | Seven Guns to Mesa

Edward Dein was born on May 24, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Seven Guns to Mesa (1958), Sword of Granada (1953) and Shack Out on 101 (1955). He died on February 14, 1984 in Encino, California, USA.

61. Gordon Gordon

Writer | That Darn Cat!

Gordon Gordon was born on March 12, 1906 in Anderson, Indiana, USA. He was a writer, known for That Darn Cat! (1965), Men of Annapolis (1957) and Experiment in Terror (1962). He was married to Mildred Gordon and Mary Dorr DOB: 1918-2004. He died on March 14, 2002 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

62. Mildred Gordon

Writer | That Darn Cat!

Mildred Gordon was born on July 24, 1905 in Eureka, Kansas, USA. She was a writer, known for That Darn Cat! (1965), Men of Annapolis (1957) and Experiment in Terror (1962). She was married to Gordon Gordon. She died on February 3, 1979 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

63. Brian Clemens

Writer | The Avengers

Brian Clemens left school at the age of 14. After national service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he worked his way up from messenger boy to copywriter at an advertising agency, writing in his spare time. One of his scripts was accepted by the BBC in 1955. He joined a production company, ...

64. Jimmy Sangster

Writer | Dracula

One of the driving, creative forces behind the legendary Hammer Studios, Jimmy Sangster was born on December 2, 1927, in Kinmel Bay, North Wales. He began in the film industry as a production assistant at age 16 during WWII. After this gig, he worked as a gofer and assistant projectionist for ...

65. Sidney Gilliat

Writer | State Secret

Sidney Gilliat, the English director, screenwriter, and producer, was born on February 15, 1908 in Edgely, Cheshire, England. He began his screen-writing career in the silent movie era, writing inter-titles, going uncredited for his contributions to Honeymoon Abroad (1928), Champagne (1928), and ...

66. Frank Launder

Writer | The Blue Lagoon

Frank Launder, initially a civil servant and repertory actor, started as a scriptwriter in the late 1920s on such classics as The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Night Train to Munich (1940). He joined forces with Sidney Gilliat and together they wrote, directed and produced over 40 films. Frank Launder ...

67. Ben Barzman

Writer | Blind Date

Ben Barzman was an Anglo-Canadian best known as a screenwriter who was blacklisted during the post-World War II "Red scare" in Hollywood. Born on October 12, 1910, in Toronto, he moved to the United States, where he established himself as a screenwriter during the war. He is probably best known for ...

68. Robert E. Kent

Writer | Twice-Told Tales

Robert E. Kent was born on August 31, 1911 in Canal Zone, Panama. He was a writer and producer, known for Twice-Told Tales (1963), Pier 5, Havana (1959) and Inside Detroit (1956). He died on December 11, 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

69. Orville H. Hampton

Writer | One Potato, Two Potato

Orville H. Hampton was born on May 21, 1917 in Rockford, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and cinematographer, known for One Potato, Two Potato (1964), The Atomic Submarine (1959) and Red Snow (1952). He was married to Rosemary Ann Sheridan and Ruth Villemin. He died on August 8, 1997 in Los Angeles,...

70. Waldo Salt

Writer | Midnight Cowboy

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 ...

71. Bernard Gordon

Producer | Pánico en el Transiberiano

Bernard Gordon was born on October 29, 1918 in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Horror Express (1972), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). He was married to Jeannette Lewin. He died on May 11, 2007 in Hollywood Hills, California,...

72. Wolf Rilla

Director | Village of the Damned

Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1920, Wolf Rilla was the son of German actor Walter Rilla. When Nazi leader Adolf Hitler came to power, the elder Rilla--who was Jewish--moved his family to London, England.

After completing his education, Wolf went to work for the BBC World Review in 1942, and in the ...

73. Muriel Box

Writer | The Seventh Veil

Muriel Box was born on September 22, 1905 in New Malden, Surrey [now in Kingston upon Thames, London], England, UK. She was a writer and director, known for The Seventh Veil (1945), Mr. Lord Says No (1952) and A Novel Affair (1957). She was married to Gerald Gardiner and Sydney Box. She died on May...

74. Sydney Box

Producer | The Seventh Veil

Sydney Box was born on April 29, 1907 in Beckenham, Kent, England, UK. He was a producer and writer, known for The Seventh Veil (1945), Holiday Camp (1947) and Forbidden Cargo (1954). He was married to Muriel Box. He died on May 25, 1983 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

75. John Paxton

Writer | Murder, My Sweet

John Paxton was born on May 21, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Murder, My Sweet (1944), Crossfire (1947) and Kotch (1971). He died on January 5, 1985 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

76. Charles Lederer

Writer | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Charles Lederer was born on December 31, 1911 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Thing from Another World (1951) and His Girl Friday (1940). He was married to Anne Shirley and Virginia Nicolson. He died on March 5, 1976 in ...

77. John Gilling

Director | The Pirates of Blood River

John Gilling was born on May 29, 1912 in London, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for The Pirates of Blood River (1962), The Gamma People (1956) and Murder Will Out (1952). He died on November 22, 1984 in Madrid, Spain.

78. Jean Aurenche

Writer | Le juge et l'assassin

Jean Aurenche was born on September 11, 1904 in Pierrelatte, Drôme, France. He was a writer and director, known for The Judge and the Assassin (1976), L'étoile du Nord (1982) and Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975). He died on September 29, 1992 in Bandol, Var, France.

79. Henri Jeanson

Writer | La vie en rose

Henri Jeanson was born on March 6, 1900 in Paris, France. He was a writer and actor, known for The Loves of Colette (1948), Lady Paname (1950) and Nana (1955). He was married to Claude Marcy and Marion Delbo. He died on November 6, 1970 in Équemauville, Calvados, France.

80. Vernon Sewell

Director | Radio Cab Murder

Vernon Sewell was educated at Malborough College. He was one of the crew of "castaways" with Michael Powell on the Shetland island of Foula to make The Edge of the World (1937). He later became one of the mainstays in the "B" movie niche of the British film industry, and in his almost 40-year ...

81. Janet Green

Writer | Sapphire

Janet Green was born on July 4, 1908 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Sapphire (1959), Victim (1961) and The Clouded Yellow (1950). She died on March 30, 1993 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

82. Victor Canning

Writer | Family Plot

Victor Canning was born on June 16, 1911 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Family Plot (1976), Spy Hunt (1950) and Shark (1969). He died on February 21, 1986 in Cirencester, England, UK.

83. Daniel B. Ullman

Writer | Dial Red O

Daniel B. Ullman was born on October 18, 1918 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Dial Red O (1955), The Invaders (1967) and Badlands of Montana (1957). He was married to Gloria. He died on October 23, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

84. Ken Hughes

Writer | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Ken Hughes was an award-winning writer and director who flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, though he continued directing into the early 1980s. Born in Liverpool, England, on January 19, 1922, Hughes decided early in his life that he wanted to be a filmmaker. When he was 14 years old he won an ...

85. Dwight Taylor

Writer | Top Hat

Dwight Taylor was born on January 1, 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Top Hat (1935), Pickup on South Street (1953) and The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939). He was married to Marigold Lockhart Langworthy and Natalie Visart. He died on December 31, 1986 in ...

86. Leo Townsend

Writer | Fireball 500

Leo Townsend was born on May 11, 1908 in Faribault, Minnesota, USA. He was a writer, known for Fireball 500 (1966), I'd Rather Be Rich (1964) and Dangerous Crossing (1953). He was married to Pauline Townsend. He died on November 2, 1987 in Riverside County, California, USA.

87. Robert Presnell Jr.

Writer | McCloud

Robert Presnell Jr. was born on July 21, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and director, known for McCloud (1970), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Norman Corwin Presents (1971). He was married to Marsha Hunt and Kathryn (Kay) Elaine Brown. He died on June 14, 1986 in Sherman Oaks, ...

88. Don Martin

Writer | Shakedown

Don Martin was born on April 3, 1911 in Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Shakedown (1950), Triple Threat (1948) and Search for Danger (1949). He died on December 24, 1985 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

89. Harry Essex

Writer | Creature from the Black Lagoon

New York-born Harry Essex planned on a writing career throughout his young life. Among his first jobs were stints on the New York newspapers "The Daily Mirror" and "The Brooklyn Eagle", short stories for "Collier's" and "The Saturday Evening Post" and even a Broadway play titled "Something for ...

90. Lamar Trotti

Writer | Yellow Sky

Author and screenwriter, often preoccupied with American history as viewed from a Southern perspective. Born in Atlanta, Trotti studied writing at Columbia University and was also the first person to graduate from the University of Georgia's Henry Grady School of Journalism. In 1923, he became the ...

91. Irving Allen

Producer | Climbing the Matterhorn

Irving Allen started his film career in 1929 as an editor. He turned to directing in the 1940s, and two shorts he directed, Forty Boys and a Song (1941) and Climbing the Matterhorn (1947), won Academy Awards. His feature film output, however, was not particularly successful, and in the 1950s he and...

92. Sidney Sheldon

Writer | Easter Parade

Sheldon was born in Chicago on February 17, 1917. He began writing as a youngster and at the age of ten he made his first sale of a poem for $10. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs and while attending Northwestern University he contributed short plays to drama groups.

At seventeen...

93. Fred Niblo Jr.

Writer | The Criminal Code

Fred Niblo Jr. was born on January 23, 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. Fred was a writer, known for The Criminal Code (1930), You May Be Next! (1936) and Motor Madness (1937). Fred was married to Patricia Henry. Fred died on February 18, 1973 in Encino, California, USA.

94. Nelson Gidding

Writer | The Andromeda Strain

Born in New York and educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard, Nelson Gidding said that he had been interested in writing ever since he was a child and had a poem published in the Boy Scouts magazine ("That was as recently as the mid-'20s!" he laughed). A POW during World War II, Gidding ...

95. Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writer | All About Eve

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 ...

96. Don Mankiewicz

Writer | Rosetti and Ryan

Donald Mankiewicz was born in Berlin into an illustrious creative family, his father being the screen-writer Herman Mankiewicz and his uncle film director Joseph Mankiewicz, whilst his brother Frank would also distinguish himself as a journalist. Brought up in Beverly Hills - where his parents' ...

97. Blake Edwards

Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again

Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...

98. Ranald MacDougall

Writer | Mildred Pierce

Ranald MacDougall was born on March 10, 1915 in Schenectady, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Mildred Pierce (1945), The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) and Cleopatra (1963). He was married to Nanette Fabray and Lucille Margaret Brophy. He died on December 12, 1973 in ...

99. Robert Smith

Writer | Invasion, U.S.A.

Robert Smith is known for Invasion, U.S.A. (1952), The Second Woman (1950) and Science Fiction Theatre (1955).

100. George Bricker

Writer | Blonde Alibi

George Bricker was born on July 18, 1898 in St. Mary's, Ohio, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Blonde Alibi (1946), Tangier Incident (1953) and A Man's World (1942). He died on January 22, 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA.