Daniel Taradash

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Daniel Taradash (born January 29, 1913 in Louisville , Kentucky , † February 22, 2003 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American screenwriter , film director and former lawyer .

Life

origin

Daniel Taradash was born, the only child of a family of cloth merchants in Louisville, but later grew in Chicago ( Illinois ) and Miami ( Florida on). As a young man he graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge ( Massachusetts ), where he his in 1933 Bachelor attained. He then enrolled at Harvard Law School one where it three years later, in 1936, with a degree in jurisprudence gained. In 1937 he was inducted into the New York State Bar .

Career

Encouraged by his father to try it as a screenwriter, Taradash took part in New York City in a writing contest that Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams had previously won. It is surprising that Taradash also decided the contest in his favor with his piece The Mercy . The victory was a course to become a screenwriter with the then famous playwright Theresa Helburn , who founded the first theater union in New York in 1919. Here again the American director Rouben Mamoulian became aware of Taradash, who in 1939 offered the young writer together with another course graduate, Lewis Meltzer , to write the screenplay for his film Golden Boy , which was produced in the same year .

In 1941 Taradash was drafted as a soldier like other men in the Second World War, but was not used in theaters of war, but in the office in Queens (New York). Here he met a friend from his time at Harvard - Julian Blaustein , who, like Taradash, later earned his living as a film producer in Hollywood . With him he founded the production company Phoenix Corporation during the war , which mainly specialized in the production of educational films and films to strengthen the morale of the US troops.

In 1944 he met his future wife Madeleine Forbes on a blind date, whom he married on November 29, 1944 in Los Angeles. Before the two lay a marriage of almost 60 years; the two had three children, daughters Jan and Meg and son Bill.

Filmmaking

After the war, Taradash resumed his work as a screenwriter. With The Noose Hangs High by director Charles Barton he wrote one of the famous Abbott and Costello films. In the same year, his play Red Gloves premiered on Broadway and was performed 113 times from December 1948 to March 1949.

In 1953 Taradash wrote his most famous screenplay. With the war film Damn for Eternity , which was crowned with eight Oscars , he set a monument for himself, especially since he himself received the Academy Award in the category Best Adapted Screenplay at the 1954 Academy Awards . He was also honored with a WGA Award from the Writers Guild of America .

In 1956 Taradash went on his only excursion as a director behind the camera, and directed Storm Center, a film against the anti-communism prevailing in the USA and the McCarthy era . He also wrote the screenplay for the film, for which Taradash stars such as Bette Davis and Kim Hunter, who belonged to the Democratic Party throughout his life, played the leading roles.

In the 1960s, Taradash became a member of film committees. Between 1968 and 1970 he was Vice-Presidency of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , or AMPAS for short. From 1970 to 1973 he was appointed President of AMPAS. After a four-year hiatus, Taradash was elected President of the Writers Guild of America (WGA-West) in 1977, an office he held until 1979.

1980 Taradash wrote for the last time for a film; Bogie , the biography of Humphrey Bogart .

Late life and death

After 1980 Taradash increasingly withdrew into private life. In 1990 he was elected to the AMPAS Board of Governors and held this position until 1993.

Daniel Taradash died of a pancreatic tumor at the age of 90 ; he was survived by his three children and two grandchildren.

Filmography (selection)

Awards (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Taradash, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter and film director
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Louisville , Kentucky , United States
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 2003
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States