Charles Spencer Belden (April 21, 1904 – November 3, 1954) was an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and journalist, known for writing

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s to several

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

films in the 1930s, notably ''

Charlie Chan at the Opera ''Charlie Chan at the Opera'' is considered by many to be the best Warner Oland Charlie Chan film, probably due to the presence of Boris Karloff as the principal suspect, as well as faux operatic music composed by Oscar Levant. This is the 13th fi ...

'' (1936). His 1932 short story "The Wax Works" served as the basis for the 1933 film ''

Mystery of the Wax Museum ''Mystery of the Wax Museum'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery- horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. and filmed in two-color ...

''. He was married to stage actress Beth Milton in the early 1930s and to actress

Joan Marsh Joan Marsh (July 10, 1914 – August 10, 2000) was an American child actress in silent films between 1915 and 1921. Later, during the sound era, she resumed her acting career and performed in a variety of films during the 1930s and 1940s. Ear ...

who had starred in ''

Charlie Chan on Broadway ''Charlie Chan on Broadway'' (1937) is a Charlie Chan film. This is the 15th film starring Oland as Chan and produced by Fox. Plot While Charlie Chan and his number one son, Lee, are aboard a New York-bound transatlantic liner returning from Ger ...

'' (1937), from 1938 to 1943. He was born in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

, and died in the

Motion Picture Country Hospital The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as temp ...

, Los Angeles, at the age of 50.

References

External links

* 1904 births 1954 deaths American male screenwriters People from Montclair, New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub