Albert Hackett
Hackett with his wife Frances Goodrich
Born	Albert Maurice Hackett (1900-02-16)February 16, 1900 New York City
Died	March 16, 1995(1995-03-16) (aged 95)
Occupation	Dramatist screenwriter actor
Spouse	Frances Goodrich ​ ​ (m. 1931; died 1984)​ Gisella Svetlik ​ ​ (m. 1985)​
Parents	Florence Hackett (mother) Arthur V. Johnson (stepfather)
Relatives	Raymond Hackett (brother) Blanche Sweet (sister-in-law)

Albert Maurice Hackett^{[citation needed]} (February 16, 1900 – March 16, 1995^[1]) was an American actor,dramatist andscreenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wifeFrances Goodrich. Their film work includes the first three installments in theThin Man series,It's a Wonderful Life,Easter Parade,Father of the Bride andSeven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Goodrich and Hackett won aPulitzer Prize for Drama, theNew York Drama Critics' Circle award, and aTony Award for Best Play for their playThe Diary of Anne Frank. They received four nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Hackett was born inNew York City,^[2] the son of actressFlorence Hackett (née Hart) and Maurice Hackett. He attendedProfessional Children's School and started out as a child actor at age six, appearing on stage and in films. He toured in vaudeville.^[3][4] His brother was actorRaymond Hackett. Their stepfather was the early film actorArthur V. Johnson, who married their mother Florence around 1910. Raymond's second wife was silent film actressBlanche Sweet.^[5]

Hackett acted in many films, includingAnne of Green Gables (1919).^[6] His Broadway credits as a performer includeMr. and Mrs. North (1941),Up Pops the Devil (1930),Mirrors (1928),Off-Key (1927),Twelve Miles Out (1925),The Nervous Wreck (1923),Up the Ladder (1922),Just a Woman (1914) andThe Happy Marriage (1909). His Broadway credits as a writer includeThe Diary of Anne Frank (1955 and 1997),The Great Big Doorstep (1942),Bridal Wise (1932),Everybody's Welcome (1931) andUp Pops the Devil (1930).^[7]

For the summer of 1928, Hackett joined the summer stock cast at Denver'sElitch Theatre. Fellow cast member,Frances Goodrich, showed him a script she had written, entitledSuch A Lady, and they rewrote it together. This was the beginning of their collaboration.^[8]

Soon after marryingGoodrich in 1931, the couple moved toHollywood to write the screenplay for their stage successUp Pops the Devil forParamount Pictures. In 1933, they signed a contract withMGM and remained with the studio until 1939. Among their earliest assignments was writing the screenplay forThe Thin Man (1934). They were encouraged bydirectorW. S. Van Dyke to use the writing ofDashiell Hammett as a basis only and to concentrate on providing witty exchanges for the principal characters,Nick and Nora Charles^[6] (played byWilliam Powell andMyrna Loy). The resulting film became one of the year's major hits, and the script, considered to show a modern relationship in a realistic manner for the first time, was considered groundbreaking, although it preceded enforcement of theMotion Picture Production Code.^{[citation needed]}

The Hacketts receivedAcademy Award for Screenplay nominations forThe Thin Man,After the Thin Man (1936),Father of the Bride (1950) andSeven Brides for Seven Brothers (1955).^[9] They wonWriters Guild of America awards forEaster Parade (1949),Father's Little Dividend (1951),Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) andThe Diary of Anne Frank (1959), and were nominated forIn the Good Old Summertime (1949),Father of the Bride (1950) andThe Long, Long Trailer (1954). They also won aPulitzer Prize for Drama and theNew York Drama Critics' Circle award for their original playThe Diary of Anne Frank. Some of their other films includeAnother Thin Man (1939) andIt's a Wonderful Life (1946).^{[citation needed]}

When Hackett first met Goodrich, she was married to the popular historianHendrick Willem Van Loon. They divorced in 1930 and Hackett and Goodrich were married the following year.^[3]

In 1985, one year after Goodrich's death, Hackett married Gisella Svetlik, a former dancer who had appeared in the original Broadway productions ofKiss Me, Kate,Carousel,Follow the Girls,Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'! andPaint Your Wagon.^[10] She was the widow of theatrical agent and Emmy Award-winningThe Phil Silvers Show writer Harvey Orkin. Svetlik and Hackett were together until his death.

Hackett died of pneumonia at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan in 1995.^[3][11][4]

• "Albert Hackett Biography".filmreference. 2008. Retrieved2008-12-17.
• "Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett".filmreference. 2008. Retrieved2008-12-17.
• Holmstrom, John.The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 16.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAlbert Hackett.

• Albert Hackett at theInternet Broadway Database
• Albert Hackett atIMDb
• Albert Hackett at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1900 births
• 1995 deaths
• American male screenwriters
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
• 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
• American male dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American male actors
• American male stage actors
• American male film actors
• American male silent film actors
• American male child actors
• Male actors from New York City
• 20th-century American screenwriters

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