Charles Brackett

Screenwriter

About

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Birth Place

Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

Born

November 26, 1892

Died

March 09, 1969

Biography

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A drama critic for THE NEW YORKER with several published novels to his name, Brackett signed on as staff writer with Paramount Pictures in 1935. His screenplays were generally unexceptional until, in 1938, he teamed up with Billy Wilder. The effective combination of Brackett producing, Wilder directing and the two sharing the screenplay credit generated a string of acclaimed films includ...

Filmography

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The Big Show (1957)

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Teenage Rebel (1956)

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)

Photos & Videos

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Ball Of Fire (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Shove In Your Clutch

Ball Of Fire (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Just Another Apple

Family & Companions

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Elizabeth Brackett

Wife

First wife; died in 1948.

Buff Brackett

Wife

Sister of his first wife; married c. 1949.

Bibliography

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"Entirely Surrounded"

Charles Brackett (1934)

"American Colony"

Charles Brackett (1929)

"The Last Infirmity"

Charles Brackett (1926)

"Weekend"

Charles Brackett (1925)

Biography

A drama critic for THE NEW YORKER with several published novels to his name, Brackett signed on as staff writer with Paramount Pictures in 1935. His screenplays were generally unexceptional until, in 1938, he teamed up with Billy Wilder. The effective combination of Brackett producing, Wilder directing and the two sharing the screenplay credit generated a string of acclaimed films including multiple Oscar-winners "The Lost Weekend" (1945) and "Sunset Boulevard" (1950).

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

The Big Show (1957)

Writer (Feature Film)

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Teenage Rebel (1956)

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)

The Model and the Marriage Broker (1952)

The Mating Season (1951)

Written for Screen by

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)

A Foreign Affair (1948)

The Emperor Waltz (1948)

To Each His Own (1946)

To Each His Own (1946)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Five Graves to Cairo (1943)

Mr. Lucky (1943)

Contract Writer

Ball of Fire (1942)

The Major and the Minor (1942)

Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

Arise, My Love (1940)

Midnight (1939)

Ninotchka (1939)

What a Life (1939)

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)

That Certain Age (1938)

Contract Writer

Live, Love and Learn (1937)

Wild Money (1937)

Contr to Screenplay const and dial

Piccadilly Jim (1936)

Rose of the Rancho (1936)

Florida Special (1936)

Contr to Screenplay const

The Jungle Princess (1936)

Contr to Screenplay const

Woman Trap (1936)

College Scandal (1935)

Without Regret (1935)

All the King's Horses (1935)

Contr to Screenplay const

Love in Bloom (1935)

Contr to Adapted

Paris in Spring (1935)

The Last Outpost (1935)

The Crusades (1935)

Ready for Love (1934)

Enter Madame! (1934)

Behold My Wife! (1934)

Little Women (1933)

Contract Writer

Secrets of a Secretary (1931)

Producer (Feature Film)

State Fair (1962)

High Time (1960)

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)

Blue Denim (1959)

Ten North Frederick (1958)

The Gift of Love (1958)

The Wayward Bus (1957)

The King and I (1956)

Teenage Rebel (1956)

D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)

The Virgin Queen (1955)

Woman's World (1954)

Garden of Evil (1954)

The Model and the Marriage Broker (1952)

The Mating Season (1951)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

A Foreign Affair (1948)

The Emperor Waltz (1948)

Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)

To Each His Own (1946)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Uninvited (1944)

Associate Producer

Five Graves to Cairo (1943)

Associate Producer

Cast (Short)

The Screen Writer (1950)

Life Events

1920

Began practicing law

1925

First film credit (from story), "Tomorrow's Love"

1932

Went to Hollywood for six-week contract with Paramount; remained with company until 1950

1935

First film as co-writer, "Enter Madame!"

1938

President of the screenwriters guild

1943

First film as producer (also co-writer, with director Billy Wilder), "Five Graves to Cairo"

Videos

Ball Of Fire (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Shove In Your Clutch Sugarpuss (Barbara Stanwyck) briefed backstage by thugs Pastrami (Dan Duryea) and Asthma (Ralph Peters), all of them mistaking Professor Potts (Gary Cooper) for a lawman, in Howard Hawks' Ball Of Fire, 1942, from an original screenplay by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.

Ball Of Fire (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Just Another Apple Stripper Sugarpuss (Barbara Stanwyck) surprises grammar Professor Potts (Gary Cooper), ready to begin her interview right away, his colleagues, modeled on the Seven Dwarves, supporting the idea, in Howard Hawks' Ball Of Fire, 1942.

Ball Of Fire (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Two And Two Are Five Allen Jenkins is the garbage man, seeking trivia help from encyclopedia-writing professors (Oscar Homolka, Aubrey Mather, Richard Haydn, S.Z. Sakall et al), Potts (Gary Cooper) committing to new research, in Howard Hawks' Ball Of Fire, 1942.

Blue Denim (1959) -- (Movie Clip) What's Wrong With The Boy? From the credits, we meet second-billed Brandon De Wilde as teen Arthur, coming home to bad news from his dad (MacDonald Carey), while his mother (Marsha Hunt) and sister (Nina Shipman) fuss over her date, in Blue Denim, 1958, also starring Carol Lynley, based on a play by James Leo Herlihy and William Noble.

Blue Denim (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Break The Bottle Over Your Head Frustrated teen Arthur (Brandon De Wilde) has adjourned to his family’s basement with his more-wayward pal Ernie (Warren Berlinger) for decadent pursuits when they’re surprised by tomboy-ish Janet (Carol Lynley, her first scene), in the Twentieth Century-Fox melodrama Blue Denim, 1958.

Blue Denim (1959) -- (Movie Clip) They're Engaged, For Pete's Sake! Arthur (Brandon De Wilde) is practicing his missed shot that would have won the game when swooning Janet (Carol Lynley) proposes a walk home together, just days since their first kiss, interrupted by his sister and boyfriend (Nina Shipman, Buck Class), in Blue Denim, 1958.

Niagara (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Won't You Kiss Me Honeymooners Polly (Jean Peters) and Ray (Casey Adams) and the whole gang at the cookout are wowed when Rose (Marilyn Monroe) appears in the famous pink dress, also singing, her husband skipping, early in Niagara, 1953.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- (Movie Clip) I'll Buy The Trousers Continuing the opening scene, the emphatic meet-cute, from the first screenplay collaboration by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, Ernst Lubitsch directing, as Claudette Colbert appears, in a French Riviera department store, rescuing Gary Cooper as a rich American who’s refusing to buy pajama-pants he doesn’t need, with Rolfe Sedan and Lionel Pape, in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, 1938.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- (Movie Clip) American Understood The opening shot established the French Riviera, now we meet Gary Cooper, the implied American, shopping, met by Rolfe Sedan, then Lionel Pape, which leads to Charles Halton on the phone, in Ernst Lubitsch’s Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, 1938, also starring Claudette Colbert, from a screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- (Movie Clip) How Does One Get A Job? Claudette Colbert as financially-challenged French Riviera denizen Nicole arrives on the beach, meeting David Niven as pal Albert, when they’re confronted by Gary Cooper as American millionaire Brandon who, we discover, has bought a bathtub from her equally impoverished dad, aiming to woo her, in Ernst Lubitsch’s Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, 1938.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- (Movie Clip) It's The Same Ocean! With French Riviera hotel staff (Franklin Pangborn accompanied by Armand Cortes) offering new rooms, Gary Cooper as the still not-named American millionaire who’s having trouble sleeping, the surprise appearance of Edward Everett Horton as the Marquis, in Ernst Lubitsch’s Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, 1938, also starring Claudette Colbert.

Niagara (1953) -- (Movie Clip) As Long As He's A Man Troubled George (Joseph Cotten) from manic to depressive phase, vampy wife Rose (Marilyn Monroe) seeming to like it that way, in Niagara, 1953, original screenplay by Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard Breen.

Lost Weekend, The - (Original Trailer) Academy Awards® for Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay went to this groundbreaking study of alcoholism.

Live, Love and Learn - (Original Trailer) A bohemian artist (Robert Montgomery) and a society girl (Rosalind Russell) try to adjust to marriage. Co-starring Robert Benchley and Mickey Rooney.

Foreign Affair, A - (Original Trailer) A prim Congresswoman (Jean Arthur) gets caught up in the romantic decadence of post-war Germany. Directed by Billy Wilder.

Model and the Marriage Broker, The - (Original Trailer) A marriage broker can't resist meddling in the life of a model (Jeanne Crain), with disastrous results in The Model and the Marriage Broker (1952).

Ball Of Fire - (Original Trailer) A stuffy professor (Gary Cooper) takes in a sexy showgirl (Barbara Stanwyck) to study her syntax in Howard Hawks' Ball Of Fire (1942).

Mr. Lucky - (Original Trailer) A gambling-ship owner is out to fleece a beautiful society woman, but falls in love in Mr. Lucky (1943) starring Cary Grant.

Gift of Love, The - (Original Trailer) A dying woman (Lauren Bacall) arranges an adoption to leave her husband with some consolation in The Gift of Love (1958).

Journey to the Center of the Earth - (Original Trailer) A professor (James Mason) and his colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.

Virgin Queen, The - (Black-and-white, pan-and-scan trailer) Sir Walter Raleigh wins favor with the Queen (Bette Davis) in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World in The Virgin Queen (1955).

Major And The Minor, The - (Original Trailer) The Major And The Minor (1942), a farce about finding cut-price transportation, is director Billy Wilder's first Hollywood movie.

Ninotchka - (Original Trailer) A cold-hearted Soviet agent (Greta Garbo) succumbs to the charms of an admirer (Melvyn Douglas) while visiting Paris on business in Ninotchka (1939),directed by Ernest Lubitsch.

Family

Alexandra Brackett Larmore

Daughter

Survived him.

James Larmore

Son-In-Law

Worked as Brackett's assistant.

Companions

Elizabeth Brackett

Wife

First wife; died in 1948.

Buff Brackett

Wife

Sister of his first wife; married c. 1949.

Bibliography

"Entirely Surrounded"

Charles Brackett (1934)

"American Colony"

Charles Brackett (1929)

"The Last Infirmity"

Charles Brackett (1926)

"Weekend"

Charles Brackett (1925)

"The Counsel of the Ungodly"

Charles Brackett (1923)

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