- Nunnally Johnson
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Nunnally Johnson Born Nunnally Hunter Johnson
December 5, 1897
Columbus, GeorgiaDied March 25, 1977 (aged 79)
Los Angeles, CaliforniaSpouse Dorris Bowdon (1939-1977) Nunnally Hunter Johnson (December 5, 1897 – March 25, 1977) was an American filmmaker who wrote, produced, and directed motion pictures.
Johnson was born in Columbus, Georgia. He began his career as a journalist, writing for the Columbus Enquirer Sun, the Savannah Press, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the New York Herald Tribune. He also wrote short stories and a collection of these, There Ought To Be a Law, was published in 1930.
Johnson's first connection with film work was the sale of screen rights to one of his stories in 1927. Johnson asked his editor if he could write film criticism articles in 1932. When this request was denied, he decided to relocate to Hollywood and work directly in the film industry.
Quickly finding work as a scriptwriter, Johnson was hired fulltime as a writer by 20th Century-Fox in 1935. He soon began producing films as well and co-founded International Pictures in 1943 with William Goetz. Johnson also directed several films in the 1950s, including two starring Gregory Peck.
Johnson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1940 for The Grapes of Wrath and the Directors Guild of America Best Directors Award in 1956 for The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
Johnson died of pneumonia in Hollywood in 1977 and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[1]
Contents
Personal life
Johnson's first marriage, in 1919, was to Alice Mason, with whom he had one daughter, Marjorie Fowler (film editor, born 16 July 1920). Mason and Johnson divorced in 1920. His second marriage was to Marion Byrnes in 1927, with whom he also had a daughter, Nora Johnson. Byrnes's and Johnson's marriage ended in 1938.
While filming The Grapes of Wrath, Johnson met his third wife, a fellow southerner, actress Dorris Bowdon, a Mississippi native. The two were married in 1939 and together had three children; daughter Christie Johnson Lucero, daughter Roxanna Johnson Lonergan and Johnson's only son, Scott Johnson.
In 1964, Johnson adapted daughter Nora Johnson's novel The World of Henry Orient for a film of the same title starring Peter Sellers.
Filmography
Year Title Functioned as Writer Producer Director 1927 Rough House Rosie Yes* 1933 A Bedtime Story Yes Mama Loves Papa Yes* 1934 Moulin Rouge Yes The House of Rothschild Yes Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back Yes Kid Millions Yes 1935 Cardinal Richelieu Yes** Yes Baby Face Harrington Yes Thanks a Million Yes The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo Yes Yes 1936 The Prisoner of Shark Island Yes Yes The Country Doctor Yes Dimples Yes The Road to Glory Yes** Yes Banjo on My Knee Yes Yes 1937 Nancy Steele Is Missing! Yes Cafe Metropole Yes Slave Ship Yes Love Under Fire Yes 1939 Jesse James Yes Yes Wife, Husband and Friend Yes Yes Rose of Washington Square Yes Yes*** 1940 The Grapes of Wrath Yes Yes I Was an Adventuress Yes** Yes Chad Hanna Yes Yes 1941 Tobacco Road Yes 1942 Roxie Hart Yes Yes Moontide Yes** The Pied Piper Yes Yes Life Begins at Eight-Thirty Yes Yes 1943 The Moon Is Down Yes Yes Holy Matrimony Yes Yes 1944 Casanova Brown Yes Yes The Keys of the Kingdom Yes 1945 The Woman in the Window Yes Yes The Southerner Yes Along Came Jones Yes 1946 The Dark Mirror Yes Yes 1947 The Senator Was Indiscreet Yes 1948 Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid Yes Yes 1949 Everybody Does It Yes Yes 1950 Three Came Home Yes Yes The Gunfighter Yes** Yes The Mudlark Yes Yes 1951 The Long Dark Hall Yes The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel Yes Yes 1952 Phone Call from a Stranger Yes Yes We're Not Married! Yes Yes O. Henry's Full House Yes** My Cousin Rachel Yes Yes 1953 How to Marry a Millionaire Yes Yes 1954 Night People Yes Yes Yes Witness to Murder Yes** Black Widow Yes Yes Yes 1955 How to Be Very, Very Popular Yes Yes Yes 1956 The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Yes Yes 1957 Oh, Men! Oh Women! Yes Yes Yes The Three Faces of Eve Yes Yes Yes 1959 The Man Who Understood Women Yes Yes Yes 1960 The Angel Wore Red Yes Yes Flaming Star Yes 1962 Something's Got to Give Yes Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation Yes 1963 Take Her, She's Mine Yes 1964 The World of Henry Orient Yes 1965 Dear Brigitte Yes** 1967 The Dirty Dozen Yes * Writer of original story
** Uncredited writer
***Co-producerBibliography
- Manchel, Frank. (1990). Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography. In Chapter 5 Comparative Literature. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 1252. ISBN 0-8386-3412-5. Google Book Search. Retrieved on March 11, 2009.
- Lloyd, Craig (2006-04-27). "Nunnally Johnson (1897-1977)". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1520. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
References
- ^ Obituary Variety, March 30, 1977, page 79.
External links
Films directed by Nunnally Johnson Night People (1954) · Black Widow (1954) · How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955) · The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) · Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) · The Three Faces of Eve (1957) · The Man Who Understood Women (1959) · The Angel Wore Red (1960)Categories:- Screenwriter stubs
- American screenwriters
- American film producers
- American film directors
- People from Columbus, Georgia
- 1897 births
- 1977 deaths
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