Czenzi Ormonde (March 3, 1906 – July 24, 2004) was an American novelist and screenwriter. After moving as a teenager to Los Angeles, she worked at several Hollywood studios as a secretary, working with

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor a ...

. There, she started writing and publishing short stories in magazines. In 1948, she published her first novel, ''Laughter from Downstairs'', based on a her childhood memories. In 1950, she met Alfred Hitchcock who was having trouble recruiting a writer for the screenplay of '' Strangers on a Train'', after clashing with the original writer

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...

was approached but unable to take the work. Being too busy at the time, he suggested his assistant Ormonde. Ormonde produced much of the screenplay for the movie but was not credited as the main screenwriter, Raymond Chandler retaining the main credit despite most of his work not appearing in the movie. Hitchcock biographer Patrick McGilligan describes Ormonde and Barbara Keon collaborating on the screenplay; biographer Donald Spoto adds

Alma Reville Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982), was an English director, editor, and screenwriter. She was the wife of the film director Alfred Hitchcock. She collaborated on scripts for her husband's films, including ''Shad ...

, Hitchcock's wife, as a third collaborator.Spoto, Donald (1983). The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-31462-X., p. 344. Ormonde wrote a second novel, ''Solomon and the Queen of Sheba'' in 1954. She also wrote the screenplay for the movie ''

Step Down to Terror ''Step Down to Terror'' (also known as ''The Silent Stranger'') is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Harry Keller and starring Colleen Miller, Charles Drake and Rod Taylor. It is a remake of the 1943 Alfred Hitchcock film ''Shado ...

'' and an animated version of the '' 1001 Arabian Nights''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormonde, Czenzi Screenwriters from Idaho 1906 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American novelists American screenwriters