Donald Ogden Stewart
Encyclopedia
Donald Ogden Stewart was an American author and screenwriter.
. He graduated from Yale University
, where he became a brother to the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity (Phi chapter), in 1916 and was in the Naval Reserves in World War I
.
After the war he started to write and found success with A Parody Outline of History, a satire
of The Outline of History
(1920) by H. G. Wells
. This led him to becoming a member of the Algonquin Round Table
. Around that time a friend of his got him interested in theater and he became a noted playwright on Broadway
in the 1920s. He was friends with Dorothy Parker
, Robert Benchley
, George S. Kaufman
, and Ernest Hemingway
(he was the model for Bill Gorton in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises
). In 1924, he wrote Mr. and Mrs. Haddock Abroad for the publishing house George H. Doran. It was a snarky send up of the ugly American
tourist.
He became interested in adapting some of his plays to film, but on first entering Hollywood he had to adapt the plays of others as his own were initially shelved. Once there he mostly wrote, but he also had a small part in the film Not So Dumb
. By the 1930s he had become known primarily as a screenwriter and won an Academy Award
for The Philadelphia Story (1940). As World War II
approached, he became a member of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. During the Second Red Scare Stewart was blacklist
ed in 1950 and the following year he and his wife, activist and writer Ella Winter
(they had married in 1939), emigrated to England. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. His 1975 memoir is entitled By a Stroke of Luck.
He died in London
in 1980. His widow died the same year. Stewart had two sons from a previous marriage.
.
Life
His hometown was Columbus, OhioColumbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. He graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he became a brother to the Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity (Phi chapter), in 1916 and was in the Naval Reserves in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
After the war he started to write and found success with A Parody Outline of History, a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of The Outline of History
The Outline of History
The Outline of History, subtitled either "The Whole Story of Man" or "Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind", is a book by H. G. Wells published in 1919...
(1920) by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
. This led him to becoming a member of the Algonquin Round Table
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...
. Around that time a friend of his got him interested in theater and he became a noted playwright on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in the 1920s. He was friends with Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, Robert Benchley
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor...
, George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...
, and Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
(he was the model for Bill Gorton in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received...
). In 1924, he wrote Mr. and Mrs. Haddock Abroad for the publishing house George H. Doran. It was a snarky send up of the ugly American
Ugly American
Ugly American is an epithet used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home...
tourist.
He became interested in adapting some of his plays to film, but on first entering Hollywood he had to adapt the plays of others as his own were initially shelved. Once there he mostly wrote, but he also had a small part in the film Not So Dumb
Not So Dumb
Not So Dumb is a comedy motion picture starring Marion Davies, directed by King Vidor, and produced for Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.It is based on the stage play Dulcy by George S...
. By the 1930s he had become known primarily as a screenwriter and won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for The Philadelphia Story (1940). As World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
approached, he became a member of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. During the Second Red Scare Stewart was blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed in 1950 and the following year he and his wife, activist and writer Ella Winter
Ella Winter
Leonore Sophie Winter Steffens Stewart was an Australian-British journalist and activist.Her parents were Freda Lust and Adolph Wertheimer from Nuremberg in Germany, who lived in London, Melbourne, Australia and again in London, when they changed their name to Winter . Their children Rudolph,...
(they had married in 1939), emigrated to England. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. His 1975 memoir is entitled By a Stroke of Luck.
He died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1980. His widow died the same year. Stewart had two sons from a previous marriage.
Film portrayal
Stewart was portrayed by the actor and playwright David Gow in the 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 film scripted by writer/director Alan Rudolph and former Washington Star reporter Randy Sue Coburn...
.
As a writer
- Love and DeathLove and DeathLove and Death is a 1975 comedy film by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, Love and Death is a satirical take on Russian epic novels. Coming in between Sleeper and Annie Hall, Love and Death is in many respects an artistic transition between the two...
' (1975) (uncredited) - Summertime (1955) (uncredited)
- The Prisoner of ZendaThe Prisoner of Zenda (1952 film)The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1952 film version of the classic novel of the same name by Anthony Hope and a remake of the famous 1937 film version. This version was made by Loew's and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S...
(1952) (additional dialogue) (originally uncredited) - Edward, My SonEdward, My SonEdward, My Son is a 1949 American/British drama film directed by George Cukor that stars Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on the play by Noel Langley and Robert Morley.-Plot:...
(1949) - Cass Timberlane (1947) (adaptation)
- Life with FatherLife with Father (film)Life with Father is a 1947 American comedy film. It tells the true story of Clarence Day, a stockbroker who wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife and his children ignoring him, until they start making demands for him to change his own life. In keeping with the autobiography, all the...
(1947) - Without Love (1945)
- Forever and a Day (1943)
- Keeper of the Flame (1942) (screenplay)
- Tales of Manhattan (1942)
- Smilin' ThroughSmilin' Through (1941 film)Smilin' Through is a 1941 MGM musical film based on the 1919 play of the same name by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin.The film was a remake of a previous 1932 version by MGM and was the third and final film version of the play. It starred Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne and Ian Hunter...
(1941) (screenplay) - A Woman's Face (1941)
- That Uncertain Feeling (1941) (screenplay), aka Ernst Lubitsch's That Uncertain Feeling (USA: complete title)
- Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940) (additional dialogue), aka Kitty FoyleKitty Foyle (film)Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Ernest Cossart and Gladys Cooper.-Plot:...
(USA: short title) - The Philadelphia Story (1940) (screenplay)
- The Night of Nights (1939) (also story)
- Love Affair (1939)
- Marie Antoinette (1938) (screenplay)
- HolidayHoliday (1938 film)Holiday is a 1938 is a film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name. The film is a romantic comedy which tells the story of a man who has risen from humble beginnings only to be torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family...
(1938) (screenplay) - The Prisoner of ZendaThe Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version....
(1937) (additional dialogue) - Dinner at Eight (1933) (additional dialogue)
- Another Language (1933)
- The White Sister (1933)
- Smilin' ThroughSmilin' Through (1932 film)Smilin' Through is a 1932 MGM film based on the play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin, also named Smilin' Through.The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1932. It was adapted from Cowl and Murfin's play by James Bernard Fagan, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Vajda and Claudine...
(1932) (dialogue) - Rebound (1931) (based on his play of the same name)
- Tarnished LadyTarnished LadyTarnished Lady is a 1931 American drama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on his short story "A Story of a New York Lady."-Plot:...
(1931) - Finn and Hattie (1931) (novel Mr and Mrs Haddock Abroad)
- LaughterLaughter (film)Laughter is a 1930 film directed by Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast and starring Fredric March, Nancy Carroll and Frank Morgan.The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.-Plot:...
(1930) - Humorous Flights (1929)
- Father William (1929)
- Traffic Regulations (1929)
- Brown of Harvard (1926) (adaptation)
As an actor
- Not So DumbNot So DumbNot So Dumb is a comedy motion picture starring Marion Davies, directed by King Vidor, and produced for Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.It is based on the stage play Dulcy by George S...
(1930) .... Skylar Van Dyke/Horace Patterson - Night Club (1929/I)
- Humorous Flights (1929) .... Donald Ogden Stewart
- HolidayHoliday (play)Holiday is a 1928 play by Philip Barry. It was adapted for film twice. First in 1930, directed by Edward H. Griffith with Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Ames and Hedda Hopper...
(1928) .... Nick Potter