Howard Estabrook (born Howard Bolles, July 11, 1884 – July 16, 1978) was an American actor, film director and producer, and screenwriter.

Biography

Born Howard Bolles in Detroit, Michigan, Howard Estabrook began his career in 1904 as a stage actor in New York. He made his film debut in 1914 during the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

, and would go on to appear in several features including '' Four Feathers''. Estabrook left films in 1916 for a try at the business world, but returned in 1921. Estabrook took on executive positions with various studios, and eventually began producing films in 1924. He soon found his calling in screenwriting. He was responsible for several of what have come to be regarded as classics of Hollywood including '' Hell's Angels'' (1930) and '' Street of Chance'' (1930), for which he was nominated for an

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 ...

. The following year, he won an Academy Award for

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

for '' Cimarron'', starring

Richard Dix Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

and Irene Dunne. In 1935, he (along with Hugh Walpole and

Lenore J. Coffee Lenore Jackson Coffee (July 13, 1896 – July 2, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. Biography Lenore was born in San Francisco in 1896 to Andrew Jackson Coffee Jr. and Ella Muffley. She attended Dominican College i ...

) adapted the

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

novel '' David Copperfield'' for the 1935 film version starring

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathet ...

and

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931 ...

. Estabrook continued in his screenwriting career for three decades, as well as directing and producing films before his death on July 16, 1978, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Howard Estabrook papers
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 1884 births 1978 deaths Film producers from Michigan American male screenwriters American male silent film actors American male stage actors Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners Male actors from Detroit Silent film directors Film directors from Michigan 20th-century American male actors Screenwriters from Michigan 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-film-director-1880s-stub