Valentine Davies

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Valentine "Val" Davies (born August 25, 1905 in New York City , New York , USA , † July 23, 1961 in Malibu , California , USA ) was an American screenwriter , film producer and film director .

Life

Valentine Davies grew up in New York as the son of a native Dutchman who invested in real estate and thus became wealthy. Val - as his nickname was all his life - graduated from the Universities of Michigan and Yale , with the goal of becoming a writer early on. In Michigan , Davies met the future filmmaker George Seaton , who would become one of his best friends.

Davies' career began as a writer on Broadway in the 1930s , but the three plays he wrote turned out to be flops as they were canceled after just a month.

Although Davies also sold stories to film production companies and became a writer at 20th Century Fox , it was only Syncopation , Davies' first screenplay, that was adapted into a film. While serving in the United States Coast Guard , he wrote his third and perhaps best-known screenplay, The Miracle of Manhattan , in 1947 ; it was directed by his friend George Seaton. In 1948 he received the Oscar for this in the category Best Original Story , which existed at the time .

In 1949 Valentine Davies was named president of the Writers Guild of America , an office he held until 1950. In the same year he and the author Shirley W. Smith were nominated again for the "Best Original Story" for the Oscar for the novel It Happens Every Spring . Two more Oscar nominations followed in 1955 and 1957. Davies also held the presidency of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) from 1960 to 1961 .

In 1955, Davies was behind the camera for the only time as a director when he directed the biopic The Benny Goodman Story with actors like Donna Reed and Steve Allen .

Valentine Davies died of a heart attack in 1961 at the age of 55 .

Filmography

script
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Awards

Oscar

Award

nomination

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Davies, Valentine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davies, Val
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter, film producer, film director
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , USA
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1961
Place of death Malibu , California , USA