Charles Brackett
Charles William Brackett | |
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Born | (1892-11-26)November 26, 1892 Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S. |
Died | March 9, 1969(1969-03-09) (aged 76) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
Alma mater | Williams College |
Occupation | Writer, screenwriter |
Years active | 1925–1962 |
Awards | Best Original Screenplay 1950 Sunset Boulevard 1953 Titanic Best Adapted Screenplay 1945 The Lost Weekend Academy Honorary Award 1959 Lifetime Achievement WGA Award – Best Written Drama 1950 Sunset Boulevard |
Charles William Brackett (November 26, 1892 – March 9, 1969) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer, best known for his long collaboration with Billy Wilder.
Contents
1 Life and career
2 Marriages
3 Death
4 Partial filmography
5 Award and Nominations
5.1 Academy Awards
6 External links
7 References
Life and career
Brackett was born November 26, 1892 in Saratoga Springs, New York, the son of Mary Emma Corliss and New York State Senator, lawyer, and banker Edgar Truman Brackett. The family's roots traced back to the arrival of Richard Brackett in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, near present-day Springfield, Massachusetts. His mother's uncle, George Henry Corliss, built the Centennial Engine that powered the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. A 1915 graduate of Williams College, he earned his degree from Harvard University. He joined the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War I. He was awarded the French Medal of Honor. He was a frequent contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Vanity Fair, and a drama critic for The New Yorker from 1925-29. He wrote five novels: The Counsel of the Ungodly (1920), Week-End (1925), That Last Infirmity (1926), American Colony (1929),[1] and Entirely Surrounded (1934).
Brackett was president of the Screen Writers Guild (1938–1939). He was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1949 through 1955. Brackett either wrote or produced over 40 films during his career, including To Each His Own, Ninotchka, The Major and the Minor, The Mating Season (1951), Niagara, The King and I, Ten North Frederick, The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker, and Blue Denim.
From 1936-50, Brackett worked with Billy Wilder as his collaborator on thirteen movies, including The Lost Weekend (1945) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), which won Academy Awards for their screenplays. The duo's professional partnership ended in 1950, after the completion of Sunset Boulevard. Brackett then went to work at 20th Century-Fox as a screenwriter and producer. His script for Titanic (1953) won him another Academy Award. He received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1958.
Marriages
Brackett married Elizabeth Barrows Fletcher, a descendant of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower, on June 2, 1919, in Indianapolis, Indiana. They had two daughters, Alexandra Corliss Brackett, Mrs. Larmore (1920–1965) and Elizabeth Fletcher Brackett (1922–1997). Elizabeth Fletcher Brackett died on June 7, 1948. In 1953, Brackett married his sister-in-law (Elizabeth's sister, Lillian Fletcher); that union was childless.[2]
Death
Charles Brackett died on March 9, 1969, aged 76, in Beverly Hills, California.[3] His diaries covering the years 1932 until the breakup with Wilder were edited by Anthony Slide under the title It's the Pictures That Got Small: Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age (Columbia University Press, 2014).
Partial filmography
Tomorrow's Love (1925) – writer; based on his own story Interlocutory
Risky Business (1926) – based on his own story Pearls Before Cecily
Pointed Heels (1929) – based on his story[citation needed]
Secrets of a Secretary (1931) – based on his story[citation needed]
College Scandal (1935) – writer
Without Regret (1935) – writer
The Last Outpost (1935) – writer
Rose of the Rancho (1936) – writer
Woman Trap (1936) – writer
Piccadilly Jim (1936) – writer
Live, Love and Learn (1937) – writer
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)* – writer
What a Life (1939)* – writer
Ninotchka (1939)* – writer
Arise, My Love (1940)* – writer
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)* – writer
Ball of Fire (1941)* – writer
The Major and the Minor (1942)* – writer
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)* – writer, producer
The Uninvited (1944) – producer
The Lost Weekend (1945)* – producer, writer
To Each His Own (1946) – writer, producer
A Foreign Affair (1948)* – writer, producer
The Emperor Waltz (1948)* – writer, producer
Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948) – writer, producer
Sunset Boulevard (1950)* – writer, producer
Edge of Doom (1950) – writer (uncredited)
The Mating Season (1951) – writer, producer
The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) – writer, producer
Niagara (1953) – writer, producer
Titanic (1953) – writer, producer
Woman's World (1954) – producer
Garden of Evil (1954) – producer
The Virgin Queen (1955) – producer
The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955) – writer, producer
Teenage Rebel (1956) – writer, producer
The King and I (1956) – producer
D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) – producer
The Wayward Bus (1957) – producer
The Gift of Love (1958) – producer
Ten North Frederick (1958) – producer
The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) – producer
Blue Denim (1959) – producer
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) – writer, producer
High Time (1960) – producer
State Fair (1962) – producer
("*" indicates collaboration with Billy Wilder)
Award and Nominations
Academy Awards
Year | Category | Film | Result | Shared with |
---|---|---|---|---|
1939 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Ninotchka | Nominated | Billy Wilder & Walter Reisch |
1941 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Hold Back the Dawn | Nominated | Billy Wilder |
1945 | Best Picture | The Lost Weekend | Won | N/A |
1945 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Lost Weekend | Won | Billy Wilder |
1946 | Best Story | To Each His Own | Nominated | |
1948 | Best Adapted Screenplay | A Foreign Affair | Nominated | Billy Wilder & Richard L. Breen |
1950 | Best Picture | Sunset Boulevard | Nominated | N/A |
1950 | Best Original Screenplay | Sunset Boulevard | Won | Billy Wilder & D. M. Marshman Jr. |
1953 | Best Original Screenplay | Titanic | Won | Richard L. Breen & Walter Reisch |
1956 | Best Picture | The King and I | Nominated | N/A |
1957 | Honorary Award | N/A | Won | N/A |
External links
Charles Brackett on IMDb
Charles Brackett papers at the Margaret Herrick Library
References
^ See Drewey Wayne Gunn, Gay American Novels, 1870-1970: A Reader's Guide (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016), 21-22.
^ Hopper, H. (December 27, 1953). Charlie Brackett marries sister of his first wife. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File); accessed January 18, 2016.
^ "Charles Brackett Dies at 77; Made Oscar-Winning Movies. 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'The Lost Weekend' and 'Titanic' among his successes". The New York Times. March 10, 1969. Retrieved January 2, 2011.Charles Brackett was born in Saratoga Springs, NY, and graduated in 1915 from Williams College, where he was editor of the literary monthly and a member of…
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Non-profit organization positions | ||
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Preceded by Jean Hersholt | President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences 1949–1955 | Succeeded by George Seaton |