Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman (born
December 8,
1915 in
New York City - died
July 2 2005 in
Los Angeles, California) was a successful
screenwriter in Hollywood. He received 6
Academy Award nominations during his screenwiting career. In
2001 he received an honorary Oscar for his works, the first screenwriter to receive that honor.
Lehman was born into a wealthy
Long Island family whose fortunes were seriously affected by the
Great Depression. Upon his graduation from
College of the City of New York (The City College of New York), Lehman became a freelance writer. Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living" so he began writing copy for a publicity firm which focused on plays and celebrities. This experience helped form the basis of his
1957 film
Sweet Smell of Success, which he co-wrote with
Clifford Odets. Lehman churned out a slew of short stories and novellas for magazines like
Colliers,
Redbook and
Cosmopolitan. These attracted the attention of
Hollywood and in the mid-
1950's
Paramount Pictures signed him to a writing contract. His first film,
Executive Suite, was a success and he was asked to colloborate on the romantic comedy
Sabrina, which also became a hit. Perhaps his most visible contribution to the Hollywood canon is the screenplay of the
1965 mega-hit film version of
The Sound of Music.
Perhaps Mr. Lehman's most important contribution to Hollywood as a writer was his ingenious screenplay for the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film,
North By Northwest, which starred Cary Grant as a Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of spies including James Mason and Martin Landau.
When Lehman wrote North By Northwest for
Alfred Hitchcock,
MGM Studios had actually hired Mr. Hitchcock to make a film called
The Wreck Of The Mary Deare. With Lehman he gave the studio
North By Northwest instead. In an
Audio commentary (DVD) by Lehman himself on
North By Northwest, he stated that he "wanted to write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures." Even though it took him an entire year and several periods of
writer's block, as well as a trip to
Mount Rushmore to scale the faces of the famous monument (he only got halfway to the top and bought a camera to give to the park ranger to photograph the famous monument for him),
North By Northwest was one of Lehman's greatest triumphs in Hollywood and was a huge hit for
Alfred Hitchcock.
In addition to screenwriting, Lehman tried his hand at producing, and was among a distinct few in Hollywood who had faith in a film adaptation of
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He managed to persuade studio executive
Jack Warner to allow him to take on the project, and the stark film was a critical sensation, garnering many
Academy Award nominations. Unfortunately, his next film as producer,
1969's
Hello, Dolly!, starring
Barbra Streisand (a controversial casting choice), was considered a critical and financial failure.
In
1972 Lehman directed his first and last film,
Portnoy's Complaint. He basically retired from screenwriting in
1979, aside from some television projects.
Lehman died at
UCLA Medical Center after a prolonged illness and was interred in the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in
Los Angeles. He is survived by a wife, Laurie, and his son Jonathan, as well as two sons (Roger and Alan) from his first marriage.
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The King and I (
1956)
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North by Northwest (
1959)
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West Side Story (
1961)
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The Sound of Music (
1965)
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (
1966)
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