Philip Dunne (writer)
This article is about an American screenwriter. For the UK politician, see Philip Dunne MP.Philip Dunne (
February 11,
1908 â€"
June 2,
1992) was a Hollywood
screenwriter,
film director, and
producer, who worked prolifically from
1932 until
1965. He spent the majority of his career at
20th Century Fox crafting well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leading
Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "
Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940's-50's. He is best known for the films
How Green Was My Valley (
1941),
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (
1947),
The Robe (
1953), and
The Agony and the Ecstasy (
1965).
Philip Ives Dunne was born in
New York City, the son of
Chicago syndicated columnist Finley Peter Dunne and Margaret Ives (Abbott) Dunne, the daughter of the
Chicago Tribunes book reviewer and novelist, Mary Ives Abbott.
Although a Roman Catholic, he attended the Middlesex School (1920-1925) and Harvard University (1925-29). Immediately after graduation, he boarded a train for Hollywood. His first screenplay (uncredited) was Me and My Gal, released in 1932. His first credited screenplay was The Count of Monte Cristo, released in 1934. After working for various studios, he moved to 20th Century Fox in 1937, where he would remain for 25 years (excepting 4 years civilian war service during World War II), scripting 36 films in total and directing 10. He also produced several of his later films.
Dunne was a co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild and served as vice-president of its successor, the Writers Guild of America from 1938 to 1940 . He later served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), from 1946 to 1948.
Before World War II, he was a member of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, a group founded in May, 1940, that advocated military materiel aid to Britain as the best way to keep the United States out of the war.
From 1942 to 1945, Dunne was the Chief of Production for the Motion Picture Bureau, U.S. Office of War Information, Overseas Branch; notably, he produced the non-fiction short The Town (1944), directed by Josef von Sternberg, which has received some critical acclaim.
In 1947 he co-founded the Committee for the First Amendment to protest the House Un-American Activities Committee's (HUAC) investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood. He appeared before HUAC with other Hollywood figures in a well publicized meeting in October 1947.
Dunne married the former Amanda Duff on July 13, 1939; they had three children, Miranda, Philippa, and Jessica.
In 1980 he published his memoirs, Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics'.
Dunne died of
cancer on
June 2,
1992 in
Malibu,
California, aged 84.
Dunne received two
Academy Award nominations for screenwriting:
How Green Was My Valley (
1941) and
David and Bathsheba (
1951). He also received a
Golden Globe nomination for his screen adaptation of
Irving Stone's novel
The Agony and the Ecstasy (
1965), as well as several peer awards from the
Writer's Guild of America (WGA).
Many notable directors worked with Dunne's screenplays, including
Carol Reed,
John Ford,
Jacques Tourneur,
Elia Kazan,
Otto Preminger,
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and
Michael Curtiz, among others.
In
1961 he directed
Wild in the Country starring
Elvis Presley, from a screenplay by
Clifford Odets.
The
1992 film
The Last of the Mohicans, directed by
Michael Mann and starring
Daniel Day-Lewis, was based on Dunne's 1936 screenplay of the
Fenimore Cooper novel.
In addition to screenwriting, Dunne wrote syndicated newspaper articles and was a contributor to
The New Yorker and
The Atlantic Monthly magazines. He also wrote a stage play,
Mr. Dooley's America (1976), based on his father's humor, and another,
Politics (1980). His books include
Mr Dooley Remembers (1963) and
Take Two-A Life in Movies and Politics (1980). His short stories appeared in the
New Yorker and his essays have been regular features of
Time Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the Harvard Review''. He was a winner of the Laurel Award (1962) and Valentine Davies Award (1974).
He has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of 6725 Hollywood Blvd., just west of Las Palmas Ave.
Dunne was a key participant in the
Hollywood Blacklist episode of the 1940's and 1950's. In 1947 he co-founded the
Committee for the First Amendment with
John Huston and
William Wyler in response to hearings held by the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Dunne, Huston, and Wyler, along with fellow members
Humphrey Bogart,
Lauren Bacall,
Danny Kaye, and
Gene Kelly, appeared before HUAC in Washington, D.C. in October 1947, protesting HUAC's activities and methods. Dunne was never
subpoenaed or blacklisted himself, nor was he accused of any Communist Party affiliations.
As a writer and director, Dunne frequently worked with others who either were, had been, or would become blacklisted, including
Ring Lardner Jr.,
Clifford Odets,
Albert Maltz, and
Marsha Hunt. Additionally, Dunne was a character witness for
Dalton Trumbo at the latter's trial for
contempt of Congress.
The original credits for
The Robe (
1953) gave Dunne the sole screenplay credit, when in fact
Hollywood Ten member
Albert Maltz had made significant contributions. In 1997, the WGA restored full writing credits to blacklisted writers whose names were left out of films they worked on. The following is from the WGA's "Blacklisted Writers Receive Credit" press release of April 2, 1997:
"In the case of The Robe there was an extraordinary amount of information gathered to indicate that Maltz was entitled to shared screenplay credit. In addition, Philip Dunne did not believe he deserved sole screenplay credit but it was not until many years later that he learned that a blacklisted writer had worked on the project. Amanda Dunne, Philip's widow, confirms that Philip would have been happy to share screenplay credit with Maltz."
Dunne's political stances were decidedly liberal and reformist, but he was also determinedly anti-Communist. His involvement in the Committee for the First Amendment can arguably be read as just that - support for Constitutional free speech against a government entity (HUAC) that, to Dunne, seemed determined to usurp those rights. At various times dating to before the Second World War, he clashed with fellow members of the
Screen Writers Guild whom he felt were "pro-Stalin" Communists. Dunne's anti-Communist leanings would seem to be verified by his uninterrupted employment as a screenwriter on major Hollywood productions throughout the blacklist period, despite his quite vocal denunciation of HUAC.
*"Never in all my years in this chancy and unstable profession did I ever realize that I was sleepwalking along a precipice. I ignored the fact that the rate of professional mortality among screen writers is extremely high...It wasn't courage or arrogance or insensitivity; I suspect it was the irascible Horatio Alger in my blood. If I had it to do all over again I would perish of sheer fright."
*"All over town the industrious communist tail wagged the lazy liberal dog."
*
The Agony and the Ecstacy (1965, screenplay)
*
Blindfold (1965, screenplay and director)
*
Wild in the Country (1961, director)
*
The Egyptian (1954, screenplay with
Casey Robinson)
*
The Robe (1953, screenplay, with
Albert Maltz)
*
David and Bathsheba (1951, screenplay)
*
Pinky (1949, screenplay with
Dudley Nichols)
*
Forever Amber (1947, screenplay with
Ring Lardner Jr.)
*
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947, screenplay)
*
Son of Fury (1942, screenplay)
*
How Green Was My Valley (1941, screenplay)
*
Johnny Apollo (1940, screenplay with
Rowland Brown)
*
Stanley and Livingstone (1939, screenplay with
Julien Josephson)
*
The Last of the Mohicans (1936, screenplay, remade 1992)
*
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934, screenplay with
Rowland V. Lee and
Dan Totheroh)
*Contemporary Authors:
Philip Dunne, Thompson Gale, 2004
*Philip Dunne,
Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics, McGraw, 1980 (ISBN 0879101571)
*[
1] - Writers Guild of America's 1997 press release on restoration of blacklist credits
