DeWitt Bodeen (July 25, 1908 — March 12, 1988) was an American film

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

television writer 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. ...

best known for writing '' Cat People'' (1942).

Biography

Born Homer DeWitt Bodeen on July 25, 1908, in Fresno,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, he began his career as an actor and wrote more than 20 plays before entering the film business. He began his career in the film industry when his stage work drew the attention of film writer and producer Val Lewton, who arranged for Bodeen to work as a research assistant to British novelist Aldous Huxley. He published his first book-length contribution to entertainment history in 1937, ''Ladies of the Footlights'', a slim volume of theater celebrity profiles. Republished in 2013 by Literary Licensing. In the late 1930s, he began working for RKO and worked his way up to a script writer. His screenwriting credits include ''Cat People'' (1942), '' The Curse of the Cat People'' (1944), '' The Seventh Victim'' (1943), '' The Enchanted Cottage'' (1945), '' I Remember Mama'' (1948), '' Night Song'' (1948), and ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quick ...

'' (1962). His play ''Harvest of Years'' premiered on Broadway in January 1948. It ran for two weeks. Beginning in the 1950s he moved to television, writing mainly for anthology shows including '' Robert Montgomery Presents'', '' Climax!'', and '' Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'' among others. Bodeen was gay. In the 1950s he was Val Dufour's companion, living with him. In his later years he became a historian of Hollywood and the film industry. He wrote articles for the journal ''

Films in Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

'' and ''Focus on Film''. His books included ''The Films of Cecil B. DeMille'' (1969), ''The Films and Career of Maurice Chevalier'' (1973), ''From Hollywood!: the careers of 15 great American stars'' (1972), and ''More from Hollywood!: the careers of 15 great American stars'' (1977). He was still writing in 1979 at the age of 70, when he lived at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He died there on March 12, 1988.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodeen, Dewitt 1908 births 1988 deaths American male screenwriters American television writers American male television writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters