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Ernest Lehman Biography (c. 1915-)

Full name, Ernest Paul Lehman; born in 1915 (some sources say 1920 and 1923),in New York, NY; married; wife's name, Jacqueline; children: Roger, Alan. Career: Screenwriter, producer, and director. Wall Street Magazine, copyeditor; Broadway press agent; freelance fiction writer and journalist for national magazines; American Film magazine, monthly columnist; also wrote novels and novellas. Member: Writers Guild of America (president, 1983-85; board of directors, member). Awards, Honors: Golden Globe Award, film-best screenplay, and Academy Award nomination, best writing-screenplay, 1955, both for Sabrina(with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor); Edgar Allen Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, best motion picture screenplay, 1959, and Academy Award nomination, best writing-story, and screenplay-written directly for the screen, 1960, both for North by Northwest; Academy Award nomination, best writing, screenplay based on material from another medium, 1962, for West Side Story; Academy Award nominations, best picture and best writing, screenplay based on material from another medium, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best screenplay, all 1967, both for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Academy Award nomination, best picture, 1970, for Hello, Dolly!; Edgar Allen Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, best motion picture screenplay, 1976, for The Family Plot. Addresses: Contact: Writers Guild of America, 7000 West Third St., Los Angeles, CA90048-4329.

The Ernest Lehman Collection is housed at the Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Occupation

Screenwriter, producer, director

Birth Details

c. 1915

New York, New York, United States

Famous Works

• CREDITS
• Film Work
• Producer, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Warner Bros., 1966
• Producer, Hello, Dolly!, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1969
• Producer and director, Portnoy's Complaint, Warner Bros., 1972
• WRITINGS
• Screenplays
• The Inside Story (based on Lehman's story), 1948
• Executive Suite, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1954
• (With Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor) Sabrina, Paramount, 1954
• Somebody Up There Likes Me, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956
• The King and I (based on the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein),Twentieth Century-Fox, 1956
• Sweet Smell of Success (based on Lehman's short story "Tell Me About It Tomorrow"), United Artists, 1957
• North by Northwest (also known as The Man in Lincoln's Nose, Breathless, and In a Northwesterly Direction), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1958
• From the Terrace (based on the novel by John O'Hara), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1960
• West Side Story, United Artists, 1961
• The Prize (based on the novel by Irving Wallace), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963
• The Sound of Music (also known as The Rebel Novice Nun; based on the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1965
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Warner Bros., 1966
• Hello, Dolly! (based on the play "The Matchmaker" by Thornton Wilder), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1969
• Portnoy's Complaint (based on the novel by Philip Roth), Warner Bros., 1972
• Family Plot, Universal, 1975
• Black Sunday, Paramount, 1977
• Television Writer
• Specials
• The 59th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, 1987
• The 60th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, 1988
• The 62nd Annual Academy Awards Presentation, 1990
• Fiction
• The Comedian and Other Stories, New American Library (New York), 1957
• The Sweet Smell of Success and Other Stories, New American Library, 1957
• North by Northwest, Viking Press (New York), 1972
• The French Atlantic Affair, Atheneum, 1977
• Farewell Performance, McGraw-Hill (New York), 1983
• Nonfiction
• Screening Sickness and Other Tales of Tinsel Town (collected articles), 1982
• Other
• Contributor to periodicals, including American Film, Collier's, and Classic Images.

Recent Updates

July 2, 2005: Lehman died on July 2, 2005, in Los Angeles, California,of a heart attack. He was 89. Source: New York Times, www.nytimes.com, July 6, 2005.

Further Reference

Adaptations:

• The Comedian was broadcast on Playhouse 90, CBS, 1957; Sabrina was adapted into a new version by Paramount, 1995.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

• Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 44: American Screenwriters, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1986.
• International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1997.

Periodicals:

• New York Times, October 30, 1983, .
• Times December 30, 1969, (London)*