Philip Dunne | |
|---|---|
 Philip Dunne (1961) | |
| Born | Philip Ives Dunne February 11, 1908 (1908-02-11) New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 2, 1992 (1992-06-03) (aged 84) Malibu, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter,film director andproducer |
Philip Ives Dunne (February 11, 1908 – June 2, 1992) was an Americanscreenwriter,film director, andproducer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at20th Century Fox. He crafted well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leadingScreen Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940s–1950s. He is best known for the filmsHow Green Was My Valley (1941),The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947),The Robe (1953) andThe Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).[1]
Dunne received twoAcademy Award nominations for screenwriting:How Green Was My Valley (1941) andDavid and Bathsheba (1951). He also received aGolden Globe nomination for his 1965screen adaptation ofIrving Stone's novelThe Agony and the Ecstasy, as well as several peer awards from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), including theLaurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.
Many notable directors worked with Dunne's screenplays, includingCarol Reed,John Ford,Jacques Tourneur,Elia Kazan,Otto Preminger,Joseph L. Mankiewicz, andMichael Curtiz, among others.
Dunne was born in New York City, the son ofChicago syndicated columnist and humoristFinley Peter Dunne andMargaret Ives Abbott, the first American woman to win an Olympic medal and the daughter of theChicago Tribune's book reviewer and novelist,Mary Ives Abbott.
Although aRoman Catholic, he attendedMiddlesex School (1920–1925) andHarvard University (1925–1929). Immediately after graduation, he boarded a train forHollywood for his health and to seek work.[2]
Dunne was not initially interested in working in the film industry but that was the first place he got a job. Via a recommendation from a friend of his brother he obtained work at Fox as a reader at $35 a week.[2] Also among readers at the time wasLeonard Spigelgass. Dunne later recalled:
We got nothing but the worst stuff; all the good books and plays went through the New York readers’ department. We got the pathetic originals written by out-of-work screenwriters. I kept seeing ways that I thought I could improve them. I'd write a synopsis, and I'd make it better. I couldn't help it. It would be an obvious thing that the guy had missed. And when you learn to synopsize a story, you learn to construct it. At the same time, I was moonlighting writing short stories, so all these things came together."[3]
In 1931, Dunne was fired from Fox after less than a year at the studio in a cost-cutting move. He was briefly under contract at MGM, writing a comedy for them, but was unhappy with his work and resigned after handing in his first draft. This script was subsequently filmed asStudent Tour (1934), which Dunne never saw.[4][5]
Dunne also worked uncredited onMe and My Gal (1932).[citation needed]
The first important screenplay of Dunne's career wasThe Count of Monte Cristo (1934), produced byEdward Small. Dunne was brought on to the project after the novel had been distilled to a treatment by directorRowland V. Lee and Dan Totheroh, and Dunne helped finesse the script into scenes and did the dialogue. Dunne later credited Lee as an important mentor for him.[6]
Small kept Dunne on to work on the script forThe Melody Lingers On (1935).[5] He was also credited forHelldorado (1935), the latter at Fox forJesse Lasky, another early mentor.
He did some minor uncredited work onUnder Pressure (1935) andMagnificent Obsession (1935).
Dunne received a lot of acclaim for his adaptation ofThe Last of the Mohicans (1936) for Small which he wrote withJohn L. Balderstone. Dunne claimed the script was hurt by later rewrites from another writer, but the script, rather than the original novel, formed the basis of the1992 film version.[5]
For Universal he wroteBreezing Home (1937) which he later said was the first of what he considered only four original screenplays he would write in his career.[3]
After working for various studios, he moved to20th Century Fox in 1937, where he would remain for 25 years (excepting 4 years civilian war service during World War II), scripting 36 films in total and directing 10. He also produced several of his later films.
His first assignment at Fox wasLancer Spy (1937), with George Sanders. He then did three films in collaboration withJulien Josephson which established him as one of the leading writers at the studio:Suez (1938),Stanley and Livingstone (1939), andThe Rains Came (1939).
Alone Dunne wroteSwanee River (1939), andJohnny Apollo (1940) (rewriting Rowland Brown's draft).
He wroteHow Green Was My Valley (1941) originally developed withWilliam Wyler then taken over by John Ford.[7] He also wroteSon of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942).
From 1942 to 1945, Dunne was the Chief of Production for the Motion Picture Bureau,U.S. Office of War Information, Overseas Branch. He wrote films such asSalute to France (1943).[2]
Notably, he produced the non-fiction shortThe Town (1944), directed byJosef von Sternberg, which has received some critical acclaim.[8]
Dunne returned to Fox after the war and quickly re-established himself as one of the studio's leading writers with credits includingThe Late George Apley (1947), andThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).
He wroteForever Amber (1947) in collaboration withRing Lardner Jr and wroteEscape (1948) andThe Luck of the Irish (1948). He revisedDudley Nichols' script forPinky (1949).[4]
In 1949 he andOtto Preminger were working on a filmThe Far East Story which was never made.[9]
Dunne moved into spectacles withDavid and Bathsheba (1951), based on the story in the Bible but which Dunne considered his second "original". It was a huge hit. Zanuck put Dunne onQueen of Sheba but it was never made.[10]
He also wroteAnne of the Indies (1951) andLydia Bailey (1952).[citation needed]
Dunne turned producer withWay of a Gaucho (1952) which he also wrote.[11][12] As a writer only he worked onThe Robe (1953), the first movie in CinemaScope and a huge success. Dunne had enjoyed writingDavid and Bathsheba but said working onThe Robe was "a chore" which he only did "as a favor to Zanuck".[13]
He was announced for a filmThe Story ofJezebel which was not made. Dunne wrote the sequel toThe Robe,Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), his third original, which was also a hit.
However another spectacle Dunne wrote (from a draft byCasey Robinson),The Egyptian (1954), was a box-office disappointment. Dunne says he acted as an unofficial producer on this film.[13]
Dunne was assigned to producePrince of Players (1955) from a script byMoss Hart. When he could not find a director he was happy with,Darryl F. Zanuck suggested Dunne to do the job himself.[14]
Dunne later said "I started directing too late and, no question, at the wrong time. Twentieth Century Fox, the studio system, were falling apart. The boat had sailed."[15]
Dunne wrote, produced and directedThe View from Pompey's Head (1955). He wrote and directedHilda Crane (1956). That was produced by Herbert Swope who also producedThree Brave Men (1957) which Dunne wrote and directed.[16]
He directed and did some writing onIn Love and War (1958), a war time drama, featuring many of the studio's young contract players.Edward Anhalt wrote it andJerry Wald produced.[17]
Dunne wrote and directed two films for producerCharles Brackett:Ten North Frederick (1958) with Gary Cooper, andBlue Denim (1959).
In 1961, he directedWild in the Country, starringElvis Presley, from a screenplay byClifford Odets and produced by Wald.[citation needed]
In 1962, he directedLisa, based on the novelThe Inspector byJan de Hartog and featuringStephen Boyd andDolores Hart, which was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture – Drama. Dunne did not write it.[18][6]
Dunne worked onThe Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) as a writer only.[19] Although based on a novel byIrving Stone, Dunne later said he considered this an original. "I called itQuirt and Flagg in theSistine Chapel", he said later.[20]
He wrote and directedBlindfold (1966), at Universal. It was his last feature. He was reportedly working on an adaptation ofThe Consort a novel by Anthony Hextall Smith, but it was never made.[21]
The 1992 filmThe Last of the Mohicans, directed byMichael Mann and starringDaniel Day-Lewis, was based on Dunne's 1936 screenplay of theFenimore Cooper novel.[citation needed]
In addition to screenwriting, Dunne wrote syndicated newspaper articles and was a contributor toThe New Yorker andThe Atlantic Monthly magazines.[citation needed]
He wrote speeches for various Democratic politicians such asAdlai Stevenson.[4]
He also wrote a stage play,Mr. Dooley's America (1976), based on his father's humor, and another,Politics (1980).[citation needed]
His books includeMr Dooley Remembers (1963) andTake Two: A Life in Movies and Politics (1980). His short stories appeared in theNew Yorker and his essays were regular features ofTime, theLos Angeles Times, and theHarvard Review.[22]
He was a winner of the Laurel Award (1962) and the Valentine Davies Award (1974).
The week before he died he was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Writers Guild.[4]
Dunne has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, in front of 6725Hollywood Boulevard, just west of Las Palmas Ave.
Dunne was a co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild and served as vice-president of its successor, theWriters Guild of America, from 1938 to 1940. He later served on the Board of Governors of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) from 1946 to 1948.[citation needed]
Before World War II, he was a member of theCommittee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, a group founded in May 1940 that advocated militarymateriel aid to Britain as the best way to keep the United States out of the war.[citation needed]
Dunne was a key participant in theHollywood Blacklist episode of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1947 he co-founded theCommittee for the First Amendment withJohn Huston andWilliam Wyler in response to hearings held by theHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Dunne, Huston, and Wyler, along with fellow membersHumphrey Bogart,Lauren Bacall,Danny Kaye, andGene Kelly, appeared before HUAC in Washington, D.C. in October 1947, protesting HUAC's activities and methods. Dunne was neversubpoenaed or blacklisted himself, nor was he accused of anyCommunist Party affiliations.[23]
As a writer and director, Dunne frequently worked with others who either were, had been, or would become blacklisted, includingRing Lardner Jr.,Clifford Odets,Albert Maltz, andMarsha Hunt. Additionally, Dunne was a character witness forDalton Trumbo at the latter's trial forcontempt of Congress.[citation needed]
The original credits forThe Robe (1953) gave Dunne the sole screenplay credit, when in factHollywood Ten memberAlbert Maltz had made significant contributions. In 1997, the WGA restored full writing credits to blacklisted writers whose names were left out of films they worked on. The following is from the WGA's "Blacklisted Writers Receive Credit" press release of April 2, 1997:
In the case of The Robe there was an extraordinary amount of information gathered to indicate that Maltz was entitled to shared screenplay credit. In addition, Philip Dunne did not believe he deserved sole screenplay credit but it was not until many years later that he learned that a blacklisted writer had worked on the project. Amanda Dunne, Philip's widow, confirms that Philip would have been happy to share screenplay credit with Maltz.
Dunne's political stance was decidedly liberal and reformist, but he was also determinedly anti-Communist. His involvement in the Committee for the First Amendment can arguably be read as just that—support for Constitutional free speech against a government entity (HUAC) that, to Dunne, seemed determined to usurp those rights. At various times dating to before the Second World War, he clashed with fellow members of the Screen Writers Guild who he felt were "pro-Stalin" Communists. Dunne's anti-Communist leanings would seem to be verified by his uninterrupted employment as a screenwriter on major Hollywood productions throughout the blacklist period, despite his quite vocal denunciation of HUAC.[citation needed]
Dunne married the former Amanda Duff (1914–2006) on July 13, 1939.[24] They had three children.[citation needed] He died in 1992.
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