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To: Fedora

Donald Ogden Stewart (1894 - 1980)

Occupation: Screenwriter, playwright, novelist

Born: November 30, 1894, Columbus, OH
Died: 1980
Education: Yale

After WW I service in the Navy and travels in Europe, he settled in New York and began writing satirical novels, which were quite popular in the 20s. In 1928 he was introduced to the theater by a college chum, Philip Barry, who wrote the part of socialite Nick Potter in his play Holiday with Stewart in mind. Stewart played the part on Broadway.


Fascinated with stage life, he wrote his first play, Rebound (1930), in which he also played one of the leading parts, and followed this with a musical Fine and Dandy (1930). As early as 1925, Stewart had been assigned to adapt one of his own novels for the screen, but the project was shelved and instead he wrote an adaptation of the play Brown of Harvard, which was released in 1926.

In 1930, Stewart settled in Hollywood as a screenwriter, following an appearance in a supporting part in the film Not So Dumb. He soon gained a reputation for his sophisticated screenplays and sparkling dialogue. He won an Academy Award for the script of The Philadelphia Story (1940), which he adapted from the Philip Barry play. After Hitler's rise to power he became involved in the political activities of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.


This association came back to haunt him during the McCarthy era, when it was claimed the organization had been a cover-up for a Communist cell. Blacklisted, he left Hollywood for good in 1951 and settled in London, where he wrote his autobiography in 1970.

Biography from Katz's Film Encyclopedia


34 posted on 04/18/2005 12:00:35 PM PDT by Liz (One of it's most compelling tenets is Catholicism's acknowledgement of individual free will.)
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To: Liz

Thanks. There's more on Stewart in his FBI file, which identifies him as "one of the principal leaders of the Communist element in the motion picture industry" from 1936 on. About that time he became chairman of the League of American Writers, the American affiliate of the International Union of Revolutionary Writers, a Comintern front.


42 posted on 04/18/2005 12:36:28 PM PDT by Fedora
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