Robert Riskin

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Robert Riskin (born March 30, 1897 in New York ; † September 20, 1955 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American screenwriter and playwright , as well as film producer and film director .

Life

Robert Riskin began his career at the age of 17 when he was able to perform two self-written plays, Bless You, Sister and Many a Slip on Broadway in 1914 . Riskin stayed on Broadway through the 1920s until he moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s . Here he was signed to Columbia Pictures in 1931 , and director Frank Capra under his wing. With Capra's help, Riskin succeeded in adapting many of his plays into scripts and filmed them, including his early work Many a Slip in 1931 .

Riskin was first nominated for an Oscar in 1934 . His work Lady for a Day was nominated in four categories. In 1935 Riskin received his only Oscar for the screenplay adaptation of It Happened in One Night . In total, Riskin was nominated four times for an Oscar by 1939. In 1937 he was behind the camera for the first and only time as director of the music film When You're in Love , and "directed" actors such as Cary Grant and Grace Moore .

In 1941 Riskin terminated his contract with Columbia and together with Capra founded Frank Capra Production. Her first film was the drama Here is John Doe . Shortly afterwards, Riskin had to go into World War II as a soldier . He was employed in the United States Office of War Information , which was assigned the task of producing propaganda films depicting the American way of life . These films would then be shown in the Allied liberated areas.

While he was still in the US Army , Robert Riskin married the actress Fay Wray, made famous by King Kong and the white woman , on August 23, 1942 . With Wray, he had two biological children, son Robert and daughter Victoria , who was the director of the Writers Guild of America between 2001 and 2002 . He also adopted in 1942, the four-year-old Susan after her father suicide had committed.

In the last years of his life, Riskin was only able to build on his early success to a limited extent. In 1951 he wrote the script for Wedding Parade in collaboration with Liam O'Brien and was nominated for the fifth Oscar in 1952. His older brother, Everett Riskin (1895-1982) was nominated for two Academy Awards as a film producer.

Robert Riskin suffered a stroke in 1950 from which he never recovered. His wife Fay Wray then took care of her husband as a nurse, who died in September 1955 at the age of 58 from complications of a stroke.

Filmography

script

Literary template

production

  • 1939: Treason in the Jungle ( The Real Glory )
  • 1939: Music for Life ( They Shall Have Music )

Awards

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Riskin, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter and playwright, as well as film producer and film director
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH 20th September 1955
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States