William Anthony McGuire (July 9, 1881 – September 16, 1940) was an American playwright,

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and producer and screenwriter, including ''

The Kid From Spain ''The Kid from Spain'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Leo McCarey. Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar composed the songs, and Busby Berkeley is credited with creating and directing the film's musical scenes. It was Jane Wyman's film debut ...

'' (1932) starring Eddie Cantor. McGuire earned an Oscar nomination for the 1936 film ''

The Great Ziegfeld ''The Great Ziegfeld'' is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and ...

'', the Best Picture Oscar winner of 1936. Born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, McGuire made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut in 1910 as author of the play ''The Heights''. He went on to write, direct, and produce ''Twelve Miles Out'' (1925) and ''If I Was Rich'' (1926) and write and direct '' Rosalie'' (1928), ''

Whoopee! ''Whoopee!'' is a 1928 musical comedy with a book based on Owen Davis's play, ''The Nervous Wreck.'' The musical libretto was written by William Anthony McGuire, with music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Gus Kahn. The musical premiered on Bro ...

'' (1928), ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

'' (1928), and '' Show Girl'' (1929). McGuire is quoted by the gossip columnist Sidney Skolsky as saying of his profession and milieu, "Broadway's a great street when you're going up. When you're going down -- take Sixth Avenue."Skolsky, Sidney, Times Square Tintypes (1930: Ives Washburn), dedication page. McGuire died of

uremia Uremia is the term for high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, in the blood that would be no ...

in Beverly Hills, California.

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* * 1881 births 1940 deaths American theatre directors American male screenwriters Writers from Chicago American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from Illinois 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub