Ben Hecht

Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 - April 18, 1964) was one of the most prolific of all Hollywood screenwriters, even though he professed hatred and disdain for the motion picture industry. Hecht was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and as a young man moved to Chicago, where he became a reporter and, eventually, a short-story writer and novelist. He eventually landed in New York, where he met movie mogul David O. Selznick. The two were to be lifelong friends and frequent collaborators.

Hecht eventually moved to Hollywood, where he scripted Josef von Sternberg's gangster story Underworld in 1927, and won an Oscar for his work at the first Academy Awards presentation. His most famous work was the stage comedy The Front Page, which he wrote with frequent collaborator Charles MacArthur. It was first translated to film in 1931 and three more times, most notably as Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday in 1940. Much of Hecht's later work was uncredited, as he worked as a "script doctor".

Hecht had an early talk show that was shown on television in the New York metropolitan area in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ben Hecht's Academy Award nominations

• 1947 Nominated Notorious
• 1941 Nominated Angels Over Broadway
• 1940 Nominated Wuthering Heights
• 1936 Won The Scoundrel
• 1935 Nominated Viva Villa!
• 1929 Won Underworld

Ben Hecht's writing filmography

• Kiss of Death
• Casino Royale
• Circus World
• Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
• Cleopatra
• Billy Rose's Jumbo
• Mutiny on the Bounty
• Walk on the Wild Side
• North to Alaska
• John Paul Jones
• the Gun Runners
• Queen of Outer Space
• Kiss of Death
• Legend of the Lost
• A Farewell to Arms
• Miracle in the Rain
• The Iron Petticoat
• Notre Dame de Paris
• Trapeze
• The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
• The Indian Fighter
• The Man with the Golden Arm
• Guys and Dolls
• Living It Up
• Ulisse
• Light's Diamond Jubilee (television)
• Indiscretion of an American Wife
• Angel Face
• Hans Christian Andersen
• Monkey Business
• Actors and Sin
• The Wild Heart
• The Thing From Another World
• The Secret of Convict Lake
• Strangers on a Train
• September Affair
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Edge of Doom
• Perfect Strangers
• Love Happy
• The Inspector General
• Whirlpool
• Roseanna McCoy
• Big Jack
• Portrait of Jennie
• Cry of the City
• Alfred Hitchcock's Rope
• The Front Page
• The Miracle of the Bells
• Dishonored Lady
• Her Husband's Affairs
• The Paradine Case
• Ride the Pink Horse
• Kiss of Death
• Duel in the Sun
• Notorious
• Specter of the Rose
• Gilda
• Cornered
• Spellbound
• Watchtower Over Tomorrow
• Lifeboat
• The Outlaw
• China Girl
• Journey Into Fear
• The Black Swan
• Ten Gentlemen from West Point
• Roxie Hart
• Lydia
• The Mad Doctor
• Comrade X
• Second Chorus
• Angels Over Broadway
• Foreign Correspondent
• The Shop Around the Corner
• His Girl Friday
• I Take This Woman
• Gone with the Wind
• The Marx Brothers at the Circus
• Lady of the Tropics
• It's a Wonderful World
• Some Like It Hot (1939)
• Wuthering Heights
• Let Freedom Ring
• Stagecoach
• Gunga Din
• Angels with Dirty Faces
• The Goldwyn Follies
• Nothing Sacred
• The Hurricane
• The Prisoner of Zenda
• Woman Chases Man
• King of Gamblers
• A Star Is Born
• Soak the Rich
• The Scoundrel
• Spring Tonic
• Barbary Coast
• Once in a Blue Moon
• The Florentine Dagger
• The President Vanishes
• Crime Without Passion
• Shoot the Works
• Twentieth Century
• Upperworld
• Viva Villa!
• Riptide
• Queen Christina
• Design for Living
• Turn Back the Clock
• Topaze
• Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
• Back Street
• Rasputin and the Empress
• Million Dollar Legs
• Scarface
• The Beast of the City
• The Unholy Garden
• The Sin of Madelon Claudet
• Monkey Business
• Homicide Squad
• Quick Millions
• Le Spectre vert
• Roadhouse Nights
• Street of Chance
• The Unholy Night
• The Great Gabbo
• The Big Noise
• American Beauty
• Underworld
• The New Klondike