John Paxton

John Paxton (May 21, 1911, Kansas City, Missouri – January 5, 1985, Santa Monica, California) was an American screenwriter.

Some of his films include ''Murder, My Sweet'' in 1944, '' Cornered'' in 1945, ''Crossfire'' in 1947 (an adaptation of the controversial novel ''The Brick Foxhole'' that earned him his only Oscar nomination). He helped adapt the screenplay for the controversial film ''The Wild One'' in 1953, starring Marlon Brando.

Paxton's work twice received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, for ''Murder, My Sweet'' and ''Crossfire''.

Biography

Paxton was born in Kansas City in 1911. He attended the University of Missouri where he studied journalism and was involved in college plays.

He went to New York. A cousin of Paxton's father did publicity for Katherine Cornell and got him a job organising a play-writing contest for the Theatre Guild. He went to work at ''Stage'' magazine as an assistant and ended up doing reviews . He became friends with a fellow reviewer, Adrian Scott with whom Paxton would later work in Hollywood.

When ''Stage'' magazine folded in 1943 Paxton moved to Hollywood and did a variety of jobs, including ghost writing. In 1943 Scott became established at RKO as a producer and got Paxton a job there was a writer.

RKO

Paxton's first credit was for ''My Pal Wolf'' (1944), a girl-and-dog film. Paxton gained critical praise for his adaptation of Raymond Chandler's ''Farewell, My Lovely'', ''Murder, My Sweet'' (1944). This was produced by Adrian Scott and directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starred Dick Powell.

Paxton was reunited with Powell, Dmytryk and Scott on a film noir '' Cornered'' (1945). He worked on another noir, '' Crack-Up'' (1946) with Pat O'Brien, then made a third film with Scott and Dmytryk, ''So Well Remembered'' (1947).

The three men combined for a fourth time on ''Crossfire'' (1947), a thriller about anti-Semitism that was a huge critical and commercial success. The team broke up, however, when Dmytryk and Scott were blacklisted and fired from RKO. Paxton took over from Scott as producer of an adaptation of Scott's play ''The Great Man's Whiskers'' but it was not made. ''The Boy with Green Hair'' which Paxton and Scott were going to make was made by others. Paxton quit RKO in July 1948.

Paxton did some work on the script for ''Rope of Sand'' (1948) for Hal Wallis and worked on the documentary '' Of Men and Music'' (1951).

Paxton went to 20th Century Fox where he wrote ''Fourteen Hours'' (1951).

Columbia

Paxton was hired by Stanley Kramer, who released through Columbia, to adapt the story for ''The Wild One'' (1953). He went to MGM to write '' The Cobweb'' (1955) then re-wrote R.C. Sheriff's script for ''A Prize of Gold'' (1955) for Warwick Films who released through Columbia.

Warwick liked Paxton's work and hired him to write ''Interpol'' (1957). He went on to write and produce ''How to Murder a Rich Uncle'' (1957) for Warwick.

Kramer hired Paxton to adapt the Nevil Shute novel '' On the Beach'' (1959) as a film.

Paxton went into television writing "Aftermath" for ''General Electric Theater''.

Later career

Paxton had no feature film credits for the 1960s. However he won a Golden Globe and an award from the Writers Guild of America in 1971 for his screenplay to the Walter Matthau film ''Kotch''.

Paxton adapted a play by Adrian Scott for television, ''The Great Man's Whiskers'' (1972).

He worked on the cartoon series '' I Am the Greatest!: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali'' (1977).

Personal life

Paxton married Sarah Jane Miles Dec. 4, 1948. She worked in public relations for 20th Century Fox.Truitt, Brian (August 19, 2014),
'Fade Out' stars melodramatic noir of '40s Hollywood
, ''USA Today'' (accessed June 7, 2016) They had no children. He died of complications from emphysema.

Paxton was an uncle of comic book writer Ed Brubaker. Paxton's life inspired Brubaker's 2013 series ''The Fade Out''.Sims, Chris (January 6, 2016),
The Real Tragedy Is That He'll Never Leave: Ed Brubaker On 'The Fade Out,' Part One
", Comics Alliance (accessed May 28, 2016)

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, John
1911 births
1985 deaths
American male screenwriters
Deaths from emphysema
Edgar Award winners
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters