Edward Anhalt (March 28, 1914 – September 3, 2000) was an American screenwriter, producer, and documentary filmmaker. After working as a journalist and documentary filmmaker for

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

and

CBS-TV CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, he teamed with his wife

Edna Anhalt Edna Anhalt (born Edna Thompson) was an American screenwriter, television writer, and film producer. Together with then-husband Edward Anhalt, she enjoyed some considerable success in a 10-year stretch from 1947 to her retirement in 1957. This ...

, one of his five wives, during World War II to write pulp fiction.

Early life and education

Anhalt was born in New York City. He began writing at the age of 15, with his first play being '' On the Rocks: A Political Comedy'' by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. He got criticized by Shaw for messing with his work, and went to attend Columbia and Princeton universities instead.

Career

During World War II, Anhalt served with the

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

First Motion Picture Unit in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

as a scenarist for training films. After the war, Anhalt graduated to writing screenplays for thrillers, initially using the joint pseudonym Andrew Holt. The works by him and his wife,

had attracted Hollywood, and they moved from New York to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he made his first screenwriting debut in 1946 with ''

Strange Voyage ''Strange Voyage'' is a 1946 American adventure film directed by Irving Allen and starring Eddie Albert, Forrest Taylor and Elena Verdugo. Plot A man goes looking for treasure. Cast *Eddie Albert as Chris Thompson *Forrest Taylor as Skipper *Ra ...

''. Put under contract by Columbia, the Anhalts scripted '' Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back'' (1947). After a stint at

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

during which they won the Academy Award for Best Story for the screen story to the urban thriller '' Panic in the Streets'' (1950), the husband and wife team returned to Columbia as writer-producers, earning another

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for their story to the thriller '' The Sniper'' in 1952. The Anhalts wrote the 1952 screen version of Carson McCullers' '' The Member of the Wedding'', which preserved the stage performances of Julie Harris, Brandon deWilde and Ethel Waters. After the couple divorced, Anhalt proved a versatile, consistently effective (and reputedly speedy) scenarist. He penned the adaptation of Irwin Shaw's World War II novel '' The Young Lions'' (1958) and ''

Wives and Lovers "Wives and Lovers" is a 1963 song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It has been recorded by numerous male and female vocalists, instrumentalists and ensembles, most notably by Jack Jones in 1963. That recording earned the 1964 Grammy Award for ...

'' (1963). The screenwriter earned a second Academy Award for his adaptation of Jean Anouilh's play ''

Becket ''Becket or The Honour of God'' (french: Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu) is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 117 ...

'' (1964). Subsequent solo outings included '' Girls! Girls! Girls!'' (1962), ''

The Boston Strangler The Boston Strangler is the name given to the murderer of 13 women in the Boston, Massachusetts, area during the early 1960s. The crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo based on his confession, details revealed in court during a separate case, ...

'' (1968), ''

The Madwoman of Chaillot ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (french: La Folle de Chaillot) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woma ...

'' (1969), and two for

Ely A. Landau Ely Abraham Landau (January 20, 1920 – November 4, 1993) was an American producer and production executive best remembered for films of plays in the American Film Theatre series. Landau began working in television as a director and producer i ...

American Film Theater From 1973 to 1975, using approximately 500 movie theaters across the US, The American Film Theatre presented two seasons of film adaptations of well-known plays. Each film was shown only four times at each theatre. By design, these were not films ...

, ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'' (1973) and '' The Man in the Glass Booth'' (1975). He had box office successes with ''

The Satan Bug ''The Satan Bug'' is a 1965 American crime science fiction suspense film from United Artists, produced and directed by John Sturges, that stars George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, and Dana Andrews. The screenplay by James Clavell an ...

'' (1965) and '' Jeremiah Johnson'' (1972). In the early 1970s, Anhalt returned to the small screen, earning an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

QB VII ''QB VII'' by Leon Uris is a dramatic courtroom novel published in 1970. The four-part novel highlights the events leading to a libel trial in the United Kingdom. The novel was Uris's second consecutive #1 ''New York Times'' Best Seller and thi ...

'' (1974). Three years later, he scripted the

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

vehicle '' Contract on Cherry Street'' ( NBC) and contributed to the small screen remake of ''

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...

'' (NBC, 1981) and the biblically inspired ''

The Day Christ Died ''The Day Christ Died'' is a 1980 American television film directed by James Cellan Jones. The collaborative production by 20th Century Fox and CBS-TV dramatizes the last 24 hours of Jesus Christ's life and is based on Jim Bishop's 1957 book of t ...

'' (CBS, 1982). Anhalt was also the guiding force behind the 1985 NBC miniseries ''

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

''. His feature film output towards the end of his life included films like ''

Escape to Athena ''Escape to Athena'' is a 1979 British adventure comedy war film directed by George P. Cosmatos. It stars Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono and Elliott Gould. The film i ...

'' (1979), ''

Green Ice ''Green Ice'' is a 1981 British adventure film starring Ryan O'Neal. It was also released under the name ''Operation Green Ice''. Plot A down on his luck engineer gets involved in an adventure with a mysterious woman and an emerald magnate. Cast ...

'' (1981), ''

The Holcroft Covenant ''The Holcroft Covenant'' is a 1978 novel by Robert Ludlum. In 1985 it was made into a film of the same name. Plot The novel concerns Noel Holcroft, New York City architect and secretly the son of Heinrich Clausen, chief economic adviser to the ...

'' (1985) and ''

The Neon Empire ''The Neon Empire'' is a 1989 American television crime-drama miniseries directed by Larry Peerce and starring Ray Sharkey and Linda Fiorentino. It originally aired on two consecutive nights (December 3 and 4, 1989) on Showtime. Plot Junior Morlo ...

''.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anhalt, Edward 1914 births 2000 deaths American male screenwriters American documentary filmmakers Columbia University alumni Princeton University alumni Film producers from New York (state) First Motion Picture Unit personnel United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Writers from New York City Best Story Academy Award winners Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners 20th-century American businesspeople Screenwriters from New York (state) Deaths from cancer in California 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters