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Photo of Charles Lederer

Charles Lederer

Writer, Director, Additional Credits
Died March 5, 1976 (69 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Lederer (December 31, 1906 – March 5, 1976) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was born into a prominent theatrical family in New York, and after his parents divorced, was raised in California by his aunt, Marion Davies, mistress to newspaper publisher William Randolf Hearst. A child prodigy, he entered college at age 13, but dropped out after a few years to work as a journalist with Hearst's newspapers.

Lederer is recognized for his comic and acerbic adaptations and collaborative screenplays of the 1940s and early 1950s. His screenplays frequently delved into the corrosive influences of wealth and power. His comedy writing was considered among the best of the period, and he, along with writer friends Ben Hecht and Herman Mankiewicz, became major contributors to the film genre known as "screwball comedy".

Among his notable screenplays which he wrote or co-wrote, were The Front Page (1931), the critically acclaimed His Girl Friday (1940), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Ocean's 11 (1960), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).

With Ben Hecht, he co-wrote the original Kiss of Death which was to feature the actor Richard Widmark's chilling debut as the psychopathic killer with a giggle. In addition, he wrote and directed the 1959 film Never Steal Anything Small, an adaptation of a play by Maxwell Anderson and Rouben Mamoulian, starring James Cagney. The Spirit of St. Louis was Lederer's last significant film work. The films that followed that were primarily vehicles for established stars.

In 1954, he won three Tony Awards for the Broadway Musical Kismet, as Best Producer (Musical), as Best Author (Musical) with Luther Davis, and as co-author of the book which, with several collaborators, contributed to the Best Musical win.
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • His Girl Friday
  • Kiss of Death
  • The Front Page
Known For
  • Ocean's Eleven
  • The Thing from Another World
  • His Girl Friday
  • Monkey Business
  • Ocean's Eleven
  • I Was a Male War Bride
  • The Lady from Shanghai
  • Kiss of Death
  • Kiss of Death
  • The Spirit of St. Louis
  • Comrade X
  • Follow That Dream
  • Can-Can
  • Love Crazy
  • Ride the Pink Horse
  • Fingers at the Window
  • It Started with a Kiss
  • The Front Page
  • Kismet
  • I Love You Again
  • Her Husband's Affairs
  • Tip on a Dead Jockey
  • The Youngest Profession

Filmography

2001
Ocean's Eleven · as Original Film Writer
1995
Kiss of Death · as Original Film Writer
1964
A Global Affair · as Screenplay
1962
Mutiny on the Bounty · as Screenplay
1962
Follow That Dream · as Screenplay
1960
Ocean's Eleven · as Screenplay
1960
Can-Can · as Screenplay
1959
It Started with a Kiss · as Screenplay
1959
1957
Tip on a Dead Jockey · as Screenplay
1956
Gaby · as Screenplay
1955
Kismet · as Screenplay
1953
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes · as Screenplay
1952
Monkey Business · as Screenplay
1952
Fearless Fagan · as Screenplay
1951
1950
Wabash Avenue · as Screenplay
1949
I Was a Male War Bride · as Screenplay
1947
1947
Ride the Pink Horse · as Screenplay
1947
Kiss of Death · as Screenplay
1943
The Youngest Profession · as Screenplay
1943
Slightly Dangerous · as Screenplay
1941
Love Crazy · as Screenplay
1940
Comrade X · as Screenplay
1940
I Love You Again · as Screenplay
1940
His Girl Friday · as Screenplay
1939
1939
Broadway Serenade · as Screenplay
1939
Within the Law · as Screenplay
1937
Double or Nothing · as Screenplay
1932

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