Daniel Taradash
Encyclopedia
Daniel Taradash was an American
screenwriter
.
Taradash's credits include Golden Boy (1939), From Here to Eternity
(1952), Rancho Notorious
(1952), Don't Bother to Knock
(1952), Désirée (1954), Picnic (1955), Storm Center
(1956), which he also directed, Bell, Book and Candle
(1958), Morituri (1965), Hawaii
(1966), Castle Keep
(1969), Doctors' Wives (1971), and Bogie (1980), a film biography of Humphrey Bogart
.
Daniel Taradash was born in Kentucky and raised in Chicago and Miami Beach. He attended Harvard University
where he met his future producing partner Jules Blaustein. He graduated with a law degree and passed the New York State bar. But when his play "The Mercy" won the 1938 Bureau of New Plays contest (the two previous winners were Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams), a career in theater was launched. He moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a scripter. His first assignment was as one of four credited writers on the screen version of Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" (1939).
His theater career was interrupted when during WWII Taradash served in the US Army and eventually underwent training in the Signal Corps Officer Candidate program. He was assigned to the Signal Corps Photo Center and worked as a writer and producer of training films.
After the war, Taradash attempted to find success on Broadway with an American version of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Red Gloves", but the show folded quickly and he returned to Hollywood. He had more success as the co-writer (with John Monks Jr) of the Humphrey Bogart vehicle "Knock on Any Door" (1949). The Fritz Lang Western "Rancho Notorious" and the psychodrama "Don't Bother to Knock" (both 1952). Performers included Marlene Dietrich and Arthur Kennedy in the former, Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe in the latter. Taradash's adaptation of James Jones' massive novel "From Here to Eternity" (1953), was a big success and earned him an Oscar. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann. His subsequent film work was generally in adaptations, including "Desiree" (1954), about Napoleon and Josephine, "Picnic" (1955), from the William Inge play, and "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958), from John Van Druten's stage comedy.
In the mid-50s, Taradash and Jules Blaustein formed Phoenix Corporation. He also tried his hand at directing with "Storm Center" (1956), about a librarian fighting censorship. Taradash and Zinnemann had planned to make two films from James Michener's massive novel "Hawaii" but were unable to raise the financing. (When George Roy Hill did make the film in 1965, he utilized Taradash's script with emendations by Dalton Trumbo.) By the 70s, Taradash's efforts produced his final two scripts for the soap operas "Doctors' Wives" (1971) and "The Other Side of Midnight" (1977).
Taradash won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America
Award for Best Written American Drama for From Here to Eternity, and received a WGA nomination for Picnic.
Taradash died of pancreatic cancer
in Los Angeles
.
Daniel Taradash Achievements
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
.
Taradash's credits include Golden Boy (1939), From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity (novel)
From Here to Eternity is the debut novel by James Jones, winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1952. It was ranked 62 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels. It is loosely based on Jones' experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry and the unit in which...
(1952), Rancho Notorious
Rancho Notorious
Rancho Notorious is a 1952 Western shot in Technicolor, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Marlene Dietrich as the matron of a criminal hideout called Chuck-a-Luck...
(1952), Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Daniel Taradash. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying...
(1952), Désirée (1954), Picnic (1955), Storm Center
Storm Center
Storm Center is an American drama film directed by Daniel Taradash. The screenplay by Taradash and Elick Moll focuses on what were at the time two very controversial subjects, Communism and book banning, and took a strong stance against censorship....
(1956), which he also directed, Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Quine based on the hit Broadway play by John Van Druten. It starred James Stewart and Kim Novak in their second on-screen pairing . The film, adapted by Daniel Taradash, was Stewart's last film as a romantic lead...
(1958), Morituri (1965), Hawaii
Hawaii (film)
Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands...
(1966), Castle Keep
Castle Keep
Castle Keep is a 'firmly pro- and anti-war' 1969 American war film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Bruce Dern, and Peter Falk...
(1969), Doctors' Wives (1971), and Bogie (1980), a film biography of Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
.
Daniel Taradash was born in Kentucky and raised in Chicago and Miami Beach. He attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
where he met his future producing partner Jules Blaustein. He graduated with a law degree and passed the New York State bar. But when his play "The Mercy" won the 1938 Bureau of New Plays contest (the two previous winners were Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams), a career in theater was launched. He moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a scripter. His first assignment was as one of four credited writers on the screen version of Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" (1939).
His theater career was interrupted when during WWII Taradash served in the US Army and eventually underwent training in the Signal Corps Officer Candidate program. He was assigned to the Signal Corps Photo Center and worked as a writer and producer of training films.
After the war, Taradash attempted to find success on Broadway with an American version of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Red Gloves", but the show folded quickly and he returned to Hollywood. He had more success as the co-writer (with John Monks Jr) of the Humphrey Bogart vehicle "Knock on Any Door" (1949). The Fritz Lang Western "Rancho Notorious" and the psychodrama "Don't Bother to Knock" (both 1952). Performers included Marlene Dietrich and Arthur Kennedy in the former, Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe in the latter. Taradash's adaptation of James Jones' massive novel "From Here to Eternity" (1953), was a big success and earned him an Oscar. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann. His subsequent film work was generally in adaptations, including "Desiree" (1954), about Napoleon and Josephine, "Picnic" (1955), from the William Inge play, and "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958), from John Van Druten's stage comedy.
In the mid-50s, Taradash and Jules Blaustein formed Phoenix Corporation. He also tried his hand at directing with "Storm Center" (1956), about a librarian fighting censorship. Taradash and Zinnemann had planned to make two films from James Michener's massive novel "Hawaii" but were unable to raise the financing. (When George Roy Hill did make the film in 1965, he utilized Taradash's script with emendations by Dalton Trumbo.) By the 70s, Taradash's efforts produced his final two scripts for the soap operas "Doctors' Wives" (1971) and "The Other Side of Midnight" (1977).
Taradash won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Award for Best Written American Drama for From Here to Eternity, and received a WGA nomination for Picnic.
Taradash died of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Daniel Taradash Achievements
- 1938 = Passed New York bar exam
- 1938 = Won the Bureau of New Plays nationwide playwrighting contest previously won by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams
- 1939 = First feature credit as one of four credited screenwriters on the film adaptation of "Golden Boy"
- 1941 = Served in the US Army
- 1948 = Debut as a Broadway playwright, "Red Gloves", adapted from the work by Jean-Paul Sartre
- 1949 = Breakthrough screen credit as co-writer of "Knock on Any Door"
- 1953 = Earned Academy Award for his screenplay for "From Here to Eternity", adapted from the James Jones novel
- 1956 = Adapted William Inge's "Picnic"
- 1956 = Directorial debut, "Storm Center" (also wrote)
- 1958 = Wrote the screenplay adaptation of "Bell, Book and Candle"
- 1959 = Made one-shot return to Broadway as playwright of "There Was a Little Girl", starring Jane Fonda
- 1966 = Received co-writer credit on "Hawaii"; originally he and director Fred Zinnemann had hoped to make two films based on the James Michener novel but financing could not be raised
- 1971 = Scripted "Doctors Wives"
- 1977 = Final screenplay credit, "The Other Side of Midnight"