Budd Schulberg


Author

About

Also Known As
Seymour Wilson Schulberg, Budd Wilson Schulberg
Birth Place
New York City, New York, USA
Born
March 27, 1914
Died
August 05, 2009

Biography

The son of producer and head of Paramount Pictures B.P. Schulberg, Budd Schulberg was born Seymour Wilson Schulberg and began his career with his father's studio, working as a publicist from the age of 17 and as a screenwriter two years later. He was dismissed from the studio in 1939 after the failure of "Winter Carnival," on which he collaborated with an ailing F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1...

Family & Companions

Virginia Ray
Wife
Actor. Married in 1936, divorced in 1942.
Victoria Anderson
Wife
Actor. Married in 1943, divorced in 1964.
Geraldine Brooks
Wife
Actor, author. Married in 1964 until her death in 1977.
Betsy Ann Langman
Wife
Married June 9, 1979; born c. 1940.

Bibliography

"Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince"
Budd Schulberg, Stein and Day (1981)
"Everything That Moves"
Budd Schulberg, Doubleday (1980)
"Swan Watch"
Budd Schulberg, Delacorte (1975)
"Loser and Still Champion: Muhammed Ali"
Budd Schulberg, Doubleday (1972)

Biography

The son of producer and head of Paramount Pictures B.P. Schulberg, Budd Schulberg was born Seymour Wilson Schulberg and began his career with his father's studio, working as a publicist from the age of 17 and as a screenwriter two years later. He was dismissed from the studio in 1939 after the failure of "Winter Carnival," on which he collaborated with an ailing F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, Schulberg penned the controversial roman a clef, What Makes Sammy Run?, a classic satire of Hollywood power, corruption and pretension. He joined John Ford's documentary unit during WWII and "named names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951 - an experience that he obliquely examined in his Oscar-winning screenplay for Elia Kazan's gripping 1954 social drama, "On the Waterfront." Schulberg also wrote the cynical boxing novel The Harder They Fall (1947), which provided the basis for the 1956 film of the same name which proved to be Humphrey Bogart's final film. He again collaborated with Kazan on his blistering expose of media demagoguery, "A Face in the Crowd" (1957). In 1950, he wrote a thinly veiled account of F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Disenchanted" (1950) which he co-adapted for the stage in 1958. In 1995, a stage adaptation of "On the Waterfront" briefly played on Broadway. He was married three times: to actresses Virginia Ray (1936-42), Virginia Anderson (1943-64) and Geraldine Brooks (1964-77). After outliving virtually everyone from the Golden Age of Hollywood, the notorious tough guy passed away of natural causes on Aug. 5, 2009 at age 95.

Life Events

1937

First screen work, additional dialogue for "A Star Is Born"

1938

First screenplay, "Little Orphan Annie"

1941

Published the best-selling novel, <i>What Makes Sammy Run?</i>

1947

Wrote the prize-fighting novel, <i>The Harder They Fall</i>

1950

Published the novel, <i>The Disenchanted</i>

1951

Testified as a friendly witness and "named names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee

1954

First solo screen credit "On the Waterfront"

1956

Adapted "The Harder They Fall" into a feature film, starring Humphrey Bogart in his final role

1957

Wrote the screenplay for Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd"

1958

Adapted "The Disenchanted" into a Broadway play, starring Jason Robards, Jr.

1958

Wrote and co-produced (with his younger brother, Stuart) the film, "Wind Across the Everglades"

1972

Published the non-fiction book, <i>Loser and Still Champion: Muhammad Ali</i>

1995

Wrote a collection of his essays, <i>Sparring With Hemingway: And Other Legends of the Fight Game</i>

2006

Published final novel, <i>Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage</i>

Videos

Movie Clip

Face In The Crowd, A (1957) -- (Movie Clip) Vitajex! His new self-appointed manager Tony Franciosa helping with the pitch, crazed TV personality Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith) performs and outlandish commercial, as imagined by screenwriter Budd Schulberg and director Elia Kazan, a famous scene from A Face In The Crowd, 1957.
On The Waterfront (1954) -- (Movie Clip) You Grew Up Very Nice After a meeting broken up by thugs, ex-fighter and union enforcer Terry (Marlon Brando) with Edie (Eva Marie Saint), who doesn't know the role he played in the murder of her brother, the bit with the glove a famous ad-lib, shot on location in Hoboken, NJ, in Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront, 1954.
Harder They Fall, The (1957) -- (Movie Clip) I Think He's Ready Opening from The Harder They Fall, 1956, features Toro (Mike Lane) arriving in Manhattan, Rod Steiger and goons in transit and Humphrey Bogart, in his last film, popping out of an apartment in Peter Cooper Village, written and produced by Philip Yordan, from the Budd Schulberg novel.
Harder They Fall, The (1957) -- (Movie Clip) If There's A God In Heaven Crooked promoter Benko (Rod Steiger) puts on a show of concern at the hospital, after his stooge fighter Toro (Mike Lane) has possibly killed an opponent who wasn’t fit to fight, getting advice from Eddie (Humphrey Bogart), the press agent he’s corrupted, in The Harder They Fall, 1956.
Wind Across The Everglades (1958) -- (Movie Clip) The Vanishing Birds Often-erratic director Nicholas Ray’s opening to his uneven tale of bird poaching in turn-of-the-century Florida, naturalist Christopher Plummer meeting locals, Gypsy Rose Lee as Mrs. Bradford, Howard I. Smith as bully Leggett, in Wind Across The Everglades, 1958.
Face in the Crowd, A (1957) -- (Movie Clip) Lonesome Rhodes Small-time Arkansas radio hostess Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) is doing her man-on-the-street show from the jail, where she meets prickly inmate Rhodes (Andy Griffith), and invents his name, early in Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, 1957.
Face In The Crowd, A (1957) -- (Movie Clip) You're My Idol! Lust in the heart of Andy Griffith, as now nationally famous media freak Lonesome Rhodes, back in Arkansas to judge a baton-twirling contest, won hands-down by Betty Lou (Lee Remick, in her first movie), in Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, 1957.
Face in the Crowd, A (1957) -- (Movie Clip) Cold Fish Respectable Girls Marcia (Patricia Neal), discoverer of radio phenom Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith), introduces a Memphis agent (Henry Sharp), then follows him through a broadcast, a gag on her station-manager father, and an on-air negotiation, in Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, 1957.
Face in the Crowd, A (1957) -- (Movie Clip) Big City Pickle Hearts First show at the big Memphis TV station, Marcia (Patricia Neal) introduces writer Mel (Walter Matthau) to the new star she discovered the unscrupulous "Lonesome" Rhodes (Andy Griffith), who doesn't want a script, in Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, 1957.
On The Waterfront (1954) -- (Movie Clip) I Coulda Been Somebody! From the defining scene in Elia Kazan's landmark picture, crooked union lawyer Charley (Rod Steiger) with an offer and a threat to his ex-fighter longshoreman brother Terry (Marlon Brando), in On The Waterfront, 1954.
On The Waterfront (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Your Uncle Johnny Something of a manifesto from union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), holding forth for ex-fighter Terry (Marlon Brando), his brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) and assorted thugs, early in Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, 1954.
On The Waterfront (1954) -- (Movie Clip) It's A Crucifixion Father Barry (Karl Malden) with a fiery sermon in the hold of a ship where a longshoreman has been killed by union thugs, Terry (Marlon Brando), Edie (Eva Marie Saint), the sister of an earlier victim, and boss Johnny (Lee J. Cobb) in the audience, from Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, 1954.

Trailer

Family

Benjamin P Schulberg
Father
Studio executive. Died 1957.
Adeline Schulberg
Mother
Literary agent.
Sonya Schulberg
Sister
Born c. 1918.
Stuart Schulberg
Brother
Born c. 1922, died 1979.
Victoria Schulberg
Daughter
Born c. 1940; mother Virginia Ray.
David Schulberg
Son
Mother Victoria Anderson.
Steven Schulberg
Son
Mother Victoria Anderson.
Benn Schulberg
Son
Born c. 1980.
Jessica A Schulberg
Daughter
Born c. 1982.

Companions

Virginia Ray
Wife
Actor. Married in 1936, divorced in 1942.
Victoria Anderson
Wife
Actor. Married in 1943, divorced in 1964.
Geraldine Brooks
Wife
Actor, author. Married in 1964 until her death in 1977.
Betsy Ann Langman
Wife
Married June 9, 1979; born c. 1940.

Bibliography

"Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince"
Budd Schulberg, Stein and Day (1981)
"Everything That Moves"
Budd Schulberg, Doubleday (1980)
"Swan Watch"
Budd Schulberg, Delacorte (1975)
"Loser and Still Champion: Muhammed Ali"
Budd Schulberg, Doubleday (1972)
"The Four Seasons of Success"
Budd Schulberg, Doubleday (1972)
"Sanctuary V"
Budd Schulberg, New American Library (1969)
"From the Ashes: Voices of Watts"
New American Library (1967)
"Waterfront"
Budd Schulberg, Random House (1955)
"Some Faces in the Crowd"
Budd Schulberg, Random House (1953)
"The Disenchanted"
Budd Schulberg, Random House (1950)
"The Harder They Fall"
Budd Schulberg, Random House (1947)
"What Makes Sammy Run?"
Budd Schulberg, Random House (1940)