Ernest Paul Lehman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lehman

Ernest Paul Lehman[1] (December 8, 1915 - July 2, 2005) was an American screenwriter.[2] He received six Academy Award nominations during his career, without a single win.[2] At the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his ingenious and influential works for the screen that has inspired new generations of screenwriters and captivated filmmakers, actors, film critics, and audiences by the beauty of his screenwriting. He was the first screenwriter to receive that honor. The award was presented to him by friend and The Sound of Music star Julie Andrews.

Early years

Lehman was born in New York City, the son of Gertrude (Thorn) and Paul E. Lehman.[3] He was from a wealthy Jewish Long Island family whose fortunes were seriously affected by the Great Depression. Upon his graduation from College of the City of New York (The City College of New York), Lehman became a freelance writer. Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living" so he began writing copy for a publicity firm which focused on plays and celebrities. This experience helped form the basis of his 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success, which he co-wrote with Clifford Odets. Lehman wrote many short stories and novellas for magazines like Colliers, Redbook and Cosmopolitan. These attracted the attention of Hollywood and in the mid-1950s Paramount Pictures signed him to a writing contract. His first film, Executive Suite, was a success and he was asked to collaborate on the romantic comedy Sabrina, which also became a hit. Some of his most visible contributions to the Hollywood canon are the screenplay adaptations of West Side Story[2] and the mega-hit film version of The Sound of Music.[2]

Collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock

In 1958, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had hired Hitchcock to make a film called The Wreck of the Mary Deare. Collaborating with Lehman, Hitchcock gave the studio North by Northwest instead. One of Lehman's only original screenplays, the film starred Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill, a Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of menacing spies (led by James Mason and Martin Landau). Lehman later said he intended North by Northwest to be "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures." The writing process took Lehman an entire year, including several periods of writer's block as well as a trip to Mount Rushmore to do research for the film's climax.

North by Northwest was one of Lehman's greatest triumphs in Hollywood and a huge hit for Hitchcock. For his efforts, Lehman received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, as well as a 1960 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Other projects

In addition to screenwriting, Lehman tried his hand at producing, and was among a distinct few in Hollywood who had faith in a film adaptation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He managed to persuade studio executive Jack Warner to allow him to take on the project, and the stark film was a critical sensation, garnering many Academy Award nominations. Lehman was nominated for an Academy Award for 1969's Hello, Dolly! starring Barbra Streisand.[2]

In 1972, Portnoy's Complaint, based on the novel by Philip Roth, was the first and only film Lehman directed.[2] Later, the 1976 screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot earned Lehman a second Edgar Award. By 1979, Lehman had stopped writing screenplays aside from some television projects, turning down offers to write for Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible. Lehman did complete adapted screenplays for two never-made films, one an adaptation of the Noël Coward classic Hay Fever, another a musical version of Zorba the Greek envisioned for director Robert Wise and actors Anthony Quinn and John Travolta.

In 1977, Lehman published the bestselling novel The French Atlantic Affair, about a group of unemployed, middle-class Americans who hijack a French cruise ship for a $35 million ransom. It was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1979.

Death

Lehman died at UCLA Medical Center after a prolonged illness and was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by a wife, Laurie, and his son Jonathan, as well as two sons (Roger and Alan) from his first marriage.

Writing credits

Filmography[edit] Executive Suite (1954) Sabrina (with Billy Wilder & Samuel Taylor) (1954) The King and I (1956) Sweet Smell of Success (with Clifford Odets) (1954) (also Story) North by Northwest (1959) West Side Story (1961) The Prize (1963) The Sound of Music (1965) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Hello, Dolly! (1969) Portnoy's Complaint (1972) (also Director) Family Plot (1976) Black Sunday (with Kenneth Ross & Ivan Moffatt) (1977) Bibliography[edit] Sweet Smell of Success: And Other Stories, short stories (1957) The French Atlantic Affair, novel (1977) Screening Sickness and Other Tales of Tinsel Town, essays (1982) Farewell Performance, novel (1982)

Accolades

Lehman received a total of six Academy Award nominations throughout his whole career, yet he failed to receive a single win. At the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2001, he became the first screenwriter to receive an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Lehman did, however, received more honorable recognition from the Writers Guild of America than any other screenwriter in film history.

Awards

Award Date of ceremony Category Film Result Academy Award 1955 Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor) Lost to George Seaton for The Country Girl Nominated 1960 Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen North by Northwest Lost to Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene, Stanley Shapiro, and Maurice Richlin for Pillow Talk 1962 Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium West Side Story Lost to Abby Mann for Judgment at Nuremberg 1967 Best Motion Picture of the Year Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons 1970 Best Motion Picture of the Year Hello, Dolly! Lost to Jerome Hellman for Midnight Cowboy 2001 Academy Honorary Award "in appreciation of a body of varied and enduring work." Honorary Golden Globe Award 1955 Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor) Won 1967 Best Motion Picture – Drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons Nominated Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons 1970 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Hello, Dolly! Lost to Stanley Kramer and George Glass for The Secret of Santa Vittoria Edgar Allan Poe Award 1960 Best Motion Picture Screenplay North by Northwest Won 1977 Family Plot 1978 Black Sunday (shared with Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat) Lost to Robert Benton for The Late Show Nominated Writers Guild of America Award 1955 Best Written American Comedy Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor) Won Best Written American Drama Executive Suite Lost to Budd Schulberg for On the Waterfront Nominated 1957 Somebody Up There Likes Me Lost to Michael Wilson for Friendly Persuasion Best Written American Musical The King and I Won 1960 Best Written American Comedy North by Northwest Lost to Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond for Some Like It Hot Nominated 1962 Best Written American Musical West Side Story Won 1966 The Sound of Music 1967 Best Written American Drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1972 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement Honorary 1977 Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium Family Plot Lost to Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman for The Pink Panther Strikes Again Nominated