Howard Estabrook was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

, and 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:...

.

Biography

Born Howard Bolles in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Estabrook began his career in 1904 as a stage actor in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He made his film debut in 1914 during the silent era

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

, and would go on to appear in several features including Four Feathers

Four Feathers

Four Feathers is a silent film adaptation of A. E. W. Mason's 1902 novel The Four Feathers. Considered a coward by his fiancée and comrades in arms, a British army officer has to redeem himself.-Cast:*Edgar L...

. Estabrook left films in 1916 for a try at the business world, but returned in 1921.

Estabrook took on executive positions with various studios, and eventually began producing films in 1924. He soon found his calling in screenwriting. He was responsible for several of what have come to be regarded as classics of Hollywood including Hell's Angels

Hell's Angels (film)

Hell's Angels is a 1930 American war film, directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jean Harlow, Ben Lyon, and James Hall. The film, which was produced by Hughes and written by Harry Behn and Howard Estabrook, centers on the combat pilots of World War I...

(1930) and Street of Chance

Street of Chance (1930 film)

Street of Chance is a 1930 film directed by John Cromwell and starring William Powell, Jean Arthur, Kay Francis and Regis Toomey.- Plot :...

(1930), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. The following year, he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Cimarron

Cimarron (1931 film)

Cimarron is a 1931 Pre-Code film directed by Wesley Ruggles and based on the Edna Ferber novel Cimarron. It won three Academy Awards.-Background:...

, starring Richard Dix

Richard Dix

Richard Dix was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and stalwart hero.-Early life:...

 and Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...

. In 1935, he (along with Hugh Walpole

Hugh Walpole

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE was an English novelist. A prolific writer, he published thirty-six novels, five volumes of short stories, two plays and three volumes of memoirs. His skill at scene-setting, his vivid plots, his high profile as a lecturer and his driving ambition brought him a large...

 and Lenore J. Coffee

Lenore J. Coffee

Lenore Jackson Coffee was an American screenwriter, playwright and novelist.-Biography:...

) adapted the Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

 novel David Copperfield

David Copperfield (novel)

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...

for the 1935 film version starring W. C. Fields

W. C. Fields

William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...

 and Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...

.

Estabrook continued in his screenwriting career for three decades, as well as directing and producing films before his death on July 16, 1978 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...

.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1914	Officer 666	Travers Gladwin
1915	M'Liss	John Gray
1916	The Mysteries of Myra	Dr. Payson Alden
1917	Giving Becky a Chance	-	Director
1924	The Price of a Party	-	Producer
1925	North Star	-	Producer
1928	The Shopworn Angel	-	Writer
1929	The Four Feathers The Four Feathers (1929 film) The Four Feathers is a 1929 war film directed by Merian C. Cooper and starring Fay Wray. It has the distinction of being one of the last major Hollywood pictures of the silent era, although it was also released by Paramount Pictures in a version with a Movietone soundtrack with music and sound...	-	Writer
1930	The Bad Man The Bad Man (1930 film) The Bad Man is an all-talking western film starring Walter Huston which was produced and released by Warner Bros. in 1930. The movie is based on Porter Emerson Browne's 1920 play of the same name.-Preservation:...	-	Writer
1930	Slightly Scarlet Slightly Scarlet (1930 film) Slightly Scarlet is a 1930 American comedy film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Edwin H. Knopf and starring Evelyn Brent.- Cast :* Evelyn Brent as Lucy Stavrin* Clive Brook as Hon...		Writer
1931	Are These Our Children	-	Adaptation and dialogue Director (Uncredited)
1932	A Bill of Divorcement A Bill of Divorcement A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...	-	Screenplay
1933	The Bowery The Bowery (1933 film) The Bowery is a 1933 historical film about the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the century. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh and features Wallace Beery as saloon owner Chuck Connors, George Raft as Steve Brodie, the first man to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and live, Jackie Cooper...	-	Writer
1935	Way Down East	-	Writer
1937	Wells Fargo	-	Producer
1938	The Cowboy and the Lady The Cowboy and the Lady (1938 film) The Cowboy and the Lady is a 1938 American western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, and starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon. The film was written by S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Frank R. Adams and veteran film director Leo McCarey...	-	Contributing writer, uncredited
1943	The Human Comedy The Human Comedy (film) The Human Comedy is a 1943 drama film directed by Clarence Brown and adapted by Howard Estabrook. It is often thought to be based on the William Saroyan novel of the same name, but actually Saroyan wrote the screenplay first, was fired from the movie project, and quickly wrote the novel and...	-	Writer
1944	The Bridge of San Luis Rey The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944 film) The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a 1944 drama film made by Benedict Bogeaus Productions and released by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee with Benedict Bogeaus as co-producer. The screenplay by Howard Estabrook and Herman Weissman was adapted from the novel The Bridge of...	-	Adaptation, screenplay
1945	Dakota Dakota (film) Dakota is a 1945 Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring John Wayne.-Cast:* John Wayne - John Devlin* Vera Ralston - Sandy Poli * Walter Brennan - Capt. Bounce of the Riverbird* Ward Bond - Jim Bender* Mike Mazurki - Bigtree Collins...	-	Adaptation
1946	The Virginian The Virginian (1946 film) The Virginian is a 1946 film based upon the Owen Wister novel, with Joel McCrea as the Virginian and Brian Donlevy as Trampas. The film was directed by Stuart Gilmore and remains widely regarded as an inferior remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several...	-	Adaptation
1948	The Girl from Manhattan	-	Screenplay, story
1952	Lone Star Lone Star (1952 film) Lone Star is a 1952 Western film starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford, Ed Begley, and Lionel Barrymore as President Andrew Jackson...	-	Story
1954	Cattle Queen of Montana Cattle Queen of Montana Cattle Queen of Montana is a 1954 American Western film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Jack Elam, Chubby Johnson, and Morris Ankrum, and the movie was directed by Allan Dwan.-Plot:...	-	Screenplay
1959	The Big Fisherman The Big Fisherman The Big Fisherman is a 1959 American film directed by Frank Borzage about the later life of Peter, one of the closest disciples of Jesus.The film is adapted from a novel written by Lloyd C. Douglas...	-	Writer
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	The Millionaire	-	Writer, 1 episode
1959	DuPont Show of the Month DuPont Show of the Month DuPont Show of the Month, an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series, aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson .During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont...	-	Writer, 1 episode

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Film or series
1930	Academy Award	Nominated	Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	Street of Chance
1931		Won		Cimarron

External links