Dudley Nichols | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1895-04-06)April 6, 1895 Wapakoneta, Ohio, United States |
| Died | January 4, 1960(1960-01-04) (aged 64) Los Angeles,California, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter,film director |
Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an Americanscreenwriter andfilm director. He was the first person to decline anAcademy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for theScreen Writers Guild; he would later accept hisAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1938.
Dudley Nichols was born April 6, 1895, inWapakoneta, Ohio.[1] He studied at theUniversity of Michigan where he was active member of the Sigma chapter ofTheta Xi fraternity.
After working as a reporter for theNew York World, Nichols moved to Hollywood in 1929 and became one of the most highly regarded screenwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. He collaborated on many films over many years with directorJohn Ford, and was also noted for his work withGeorge Cukor,Howard Hawks,Fritz Lang andJean Renoir.[1]
Nichols wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for films includingBringing Up Baby (1938),Stagecoach (1939),For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943),Scarlet Street (1945),And Then There Were None (1945),The Bells of St. Mary's (1945),Pinky (1949) andThe Tin Star (1957).[2]
Nichols initially declined the Academy Award he received in 1936 forThe Informer, due to a dispute between theScreen Writers Guild, of which he was a founder, and theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[3] He collected the award at the 1938 Oscar ceremony.[4] He served as president of the Screen Writers Guild in 1937 and 1938.
He also co-wrote the documentaryThe Battle of Midway, which won the 1942Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Nichols produced anddirected three films—Government Girl (1943),Sister Kenny (1946) andMourning Becomes Electra (1947)—for which he also wrote the screenplay.[5][6]
In 1954 he received theLaurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from theWriters Guild of America.[7]
He died inHollywood of cancer in 1960 and was interred in theHollywood Forever Cemetery.
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