Anthony Veiller Biography

American screenwriter

Anthony Veiller (23 June 1903 – 27 June 1965) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He wrote for 41 films between 1934 and 1964.

Life and career

Veiller was born on 23 June 1903 in New York City to playwright and screenwriter Bayard Veiller and English-born actress Margaret Wycherly. He moved to Hollywood in 1930.

Veiller was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. In 1937, he co-wrote (with Morrie Ryskind) the screenplay for Stage Door, starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou. This very loose adaptation of the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Veiller was also Oscar-nominated for writing (with uncredited help from John Huston and Richard Brooks) The Killers (1946), an adaptation of the short story by Ernest Hemingway. The film introduced Burt Lancaster to filmgoers, and won an Edgar Award as best mystery film of 1946. In 2008, it was included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

During the Second World War he worked with Frank Capra on several films in the do*entary/propaganda film series collectively *led Why We Fight. In 1946 (the same year as The Killers), Veiller co-wrote The Stranger, directed by and starring Orson Welles. For State of the Union (1948), again directed by Capra, Veiller was credited as co-producer as well as co-writer. Veiller worked with director John Huston on several films: Moulin Rouge (1952), Beat the Devil (1953), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), and The Night of the Iguana (1964), the film of the Tennessee Williams play that became Veiller's final screen credit.

Veiller died on 27, June 1965 of cancer in Hollywood, California, four days after his 62nd birthday. He was buried in the St. Mary Churchyard, Bepton, Chichester, West Sussex, England as was his mother.

Filmography

  • The Witching Hour (1934) - screenplay, producer
  • Menace (1934) - screenplay
  • The Notorious Sophie Lang (1934) - screenplay
  • Break of Hearts (1935) - screenplay
  • Star of Midnight (1935) - screenplay
  • College Scandal (1935) - uncredited writer
  • Jalna (1935) - screenplay
  • Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) - screenplay
  • The Lady Consents (1936) - screenplay
  • The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) - screenplay
  • Swing Time (1936) - uncredited writer
  • A Woman Rebels (1936) - screenplay
  • Winterset (1936) - screenplay
  • The Soldier and the Lady (1937) - screenplay
  • Stage Door (1937) - screenplay
  • Radio City Revels (1938) - screenplay
  • The Saint in New York (1938) - screenplay
  • Gunga Din (1939) - uncredited writer
  • Let Us Live (1939) - screenplay
  • Disputed P*age (1939) - screenplay
  • Typhoon (1940) - producer
  • Safari (1940) - producer
  • The Quarterback (1940) - producer
  • Moon Over Burma (1940) - producer
  • Victory (1940) - producer
  • New York Town (1941) - producer
  • Her Cardboard Lover (1942) - screenplay
  • Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942) (do*entary) - uncredited writer
  • Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia (1943) (do*entary) - uncredited writer, narrator
  • Why We Fight: The National Socialist German Workers' Partys Strike (1943) (do*entary) - uncredited writer, narrator
  • Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain (1943) (do*entary) - uncredited director, narrator
  • *ignment in Brittany (1943) - screenplay
  • Know Your Ally: Britain (1944) (do*entary) - uncredited director
  • Tunisian Victory (do*entary) (1944) - uncredited writer
  • Adventure (1945) - screenplay
  • War Comes to America (1945) (do*entary) - uncredited writer
  • Two Down and One to Go (1945) (do*entary) - screenplay
  • Here is Germany (1945) (do*entary) - uncredited writer, narrator
  • The Stranger (1946) - screenplay
  • The Killers (1946) - screenplay
  • State of the Union (1948) - screenplay, *ociate producer
  • Colorado Territory (1949) - producer
  • Backfire (1950) - producer
  • Chain Lightning (1950) - producer
  • Dallas (1950) - producer
  • Along the Great Divide (1951) - producer
  • Fort Worth (1951) - producer
  • Force of Arms (1951) - producer
  • Red Planet Mars (1952) - screenplay, producer
  • Moulin Rouge (1952) - screenplay
  • Beat the Devil (1953) - uncredited writer
  • That Lady (1955) - screenplay
  • Safari (1956) - screenplay
  • Monkey on My Back (1957) - screenplay
  • The Adventures of Tugboat Annie (1958) (TV series) - executive producer
  • Solomon and Sheba (1959) - screenplay
  • Timbuktu (1959) - screenplay
  • Markham (1960) (TV series) writer of episodes
  • The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) - screenplay
  • The Night of the Iguana (1964) - screenplay

References

    External links

    • Anthony Veiller at IMDb