Richard Murphy | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1912-05-08)May 8, 1912 Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | May 19, 1993(1993-05-19) (aged 81) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery,Culver City,California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter Film director Film producer |
Richard Murphy (May 8, 1912 – May 19, 1993) was anAmerican screenwriter, film director and producer. His screenplays forBoomerang (1947) andThe Desert Rats (1953) were nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay andBest Original Screenplay, respectively.
Born inBoston,Massachusetts, Murphy worked forLiterary Digest in the 1930s before leaving in 1937 to work in the short film department atMGM. Murphy's first screenwriting credit was for providing the story forBack in the Saddle, a 1941Gene Autrywestern.
While in theArmy Air Forces duringWorld War II, Murphy reached the rank of captain seeing action in thePacific theater countries ofNew Guinea and thePhilippines. Murphy returned to the States and started working for20th Century Fox. In 1947 he wrote the award-winning filmBoomerang. He received the first of twoOscar nominations for this screenplay, with his second in 1953 for the World War II filmThe Desert Rats. He also directed a few films before moving into television in the 1960s when he wrote and created television series. Murphy's last screenplay was forThe Kidnapping of the President in 1980.
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Film or series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Nominated | Writers Guild of America Award | The Robert Meltzer Award (Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene) | Cry of the City |
| 1951 | Nominated | The Robert Meltzer Award (Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene) | Panic in the Streets | |
| Nominated | Best Written American Drama | Panic in the Streets | ||
| 1952 | Nominated | Best Written American Comedy | You're in the Navy Now | |
| 1960 | Nominated | Best Written American Drama | Compulsion | |
| 1970 | Won | Valentine Davies Award | - | |
| 1948 | Nominated | Academy Award | Best Writing, Screenplay | Boomerang! |
| 1954 | Nominated | Best Writing, Story and Screenplay | The Desert Rats |
