Lysander Pierre Collings (September 22, 1900 - December 21, 1937), known professionally as Pierre Collings, was a writer and filmmaker who, along with

Sheridan Gibney Sheridan de Raismes Gibney (June 11, 1903 – April 12, 1988) was a writer and producer in theater and film. He attended Amherst College and received an honorary M.A. from it. He later served as an instructor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. ...

, won two

Academy Awards 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 ...

in 1936 for ''

The Story of Louis Pasteur ''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' is a 1936 American black-and-white biographical film from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by William Dieterle, that stars Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise and Donald Woods, and Paul Muni as t ...

''. Their screenplay was adapted from their own work, leading to awards for both

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# ...

and

Best Story Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

Career

Collings started in the motion picture industry at 17 as a messenger boy and worked as a cameraman before becoming known for his writing. He wrote a number of screenplays in the mid-late 1920s and although he was less active and suffered from a number of personal issues in the 1930s, it was then that his best known work was released. ''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' was nominated for Best Picture and won Best Actor for

Paul Muni Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...

, in addition to winning Best Story and Best Adapted Screenplay for Collings and Gibney. Unusually, the pair won Best Adapted Screenplay for adapting their own work. The Best Story category was discontinued in 1957 in favor of

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

Personal life

Collings was born in Nova Scotia, Canada to American parents, Francis and Olive Collings. In 1926 he married Natalie Harris. The couple divorced in 1930. He was arrested for

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is i ...

in August 1935, a few months before starting work on ''The Story of Louis Pasteur''. Then, while working on the screenplay, his mother died unexpectedly, and upon its completion he suffered a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

. He was not in attendance at the Academy Awards ceremony to receive his two awards. Unable to secure much work after ''Louis Pasteur'', Collings started drinking heavily and eventually fell into poverty. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

at the age of 37 in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The Nor ...

. At the time he was working on a screenplay with songwriter Carrie Jacobs Bond. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' attributed his death to "heartache and despair" due to lack of work. Both of Collings's Academy Awards have been lost. One was found after his death in a hotel closet full of items kept by the hotel as collateral when guests did not pay in advance. Actor Charles McKay, who found it, and screenwriter

Arthur Caesar Arthur Caesar (9 March 1892 – 20 June 1953) was a Romanian-American screenwriter and brother of the songwriter Irving Caesar. Caesar first started writing Hollywood films in 1924. Most of his films were in the B-movie category. He won an Academ ...

returned the award to the Academy, but today the Academy does not have a record of what happened to it. Collings is rumored to have pawned the other.

Selected filmography

* ''

Untamed Youth ''Untamed Youth'' is a 1957 American teen film directed by Howard W. Koch, written by John C. Higgins and Stephen Longstreet, and starring Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson as two starstruck sisters who are sentenced to farm labor. Plot Sisters ...

'' (1924) *''

A Woman of the World ''A Woman of the World'' is a 1925 American silent comedy-drama film starring Pola Negri, directed by Mal St. Clair, produced by Famous Players-Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Plot As described in a review in a film magazine, ...

'' (1925) *''

The Grand Duchess and the Waiter ''The Grand Duchess and the Waiter'' is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Mal St. Clair and starring Florence Vidor and Adolphe Menjou. The film is based on a 1925 Broadway play of the same name starring stage actress Els ...

'' (1926) *''

A Social Celebrity ''A Social Celebrity'' is a 1926 American silent comedy drama film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starred Louise Brooks as a small town manicurist who goes to New York City with her boyfriend (Adolphe Menjou), a barber who poses as a French ...

'' (1926) *''

Good and Naughty ''Good and Naughty'' is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring Pola Negri and Tom Moore. It was based on the play ''Naughty Cinderella'' by Henri Falk and René Peter. Released in 1926, it is a ...

'' (1926) *'' The Show Off'' (1926) *''

Knockout Reilly ''Knockout Reilly'' is a lost 1927 American silent drama film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and written by Pierre Collings, John W. Conway, and Kenneth Raisbeck based upon a story by Albert Payson Terhune. The film stars Richard Dix, Mary Bri ...

'' (1927) *'' Time to Love'' (1927) *''

The Red Dance ''The Red Dance'' (also known as ''The Red Dancer of Moscow'') is a 1928 American film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Dolores del Río and Charles Farrell that was inspired in the novel by Henry Leyford Gates. Although silent, it was relea ...

'' (1928) *'' The Hole in the Wall'' (1929) *'' Dangerous Nan McGrew'' (1930) *''

Animal Crackers An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, bu ...

'' (1930) *''

'' (1936)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collings, Pierre 1900 births 1937 deaths American cinematographers American male screenwriters Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners Best Story Academy Award winners Canadian cinematographers Deaths from pneumonia in California Writers from Nova Scotia 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters