Lenore Coffee


Screenwriter

About

Also Known As
Lenore Coffee Cowen, Lenore J. Coffee
Birth Place
San Francisco, California, USA
Born
July 13, 1896
Died
July 02, 1984

Biography

This veteran Hollywood scenarist with a career dating back to the 1920s collaborated on a number of Cecil B. DeMille films. Coffee worked for various studios, though most notably MGM and Warners for whom she wrote mostly romantic melodramas and suspense thrillers in the 1940s. Her vast credits include "East Lynne" (1925), "Torch Singer" (1933), "Evelyn Prentice" (1934), "Beyond the Fores...

Family & Companions

William J Cowen
Husband

Biography

This veteran Hollywood scenarist with a career dating back to the 1920s collaborated on a number of Cecil B. DeMille films. Coffee worked for various studios, though most notably MGM and Warners for whom she wrote mostly romantic melodramas and suspense thrillers in the 1940s. Her vast credits include "East Lynne" (1925), "Torch Singer" (1933), "Evelyn Prentice" (1934), "Beyond the Forest" (1949), "Young at Heart" and "Footsteps in the Fog" (both 1955). In 1958, her novel "Another Place" was adapted to the screen, one year before she wrote her final screenplay, "Cash McCall."

Filmography

 

Writer (Feature Film)

Cash McCall (1960)
Screenwriter
The End of the Affair (1955)
Screenwriter
Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
Screenwriter
Young at Heart (1954)
Screenwriter
Sudden Fear (1952)
Screenwriter
Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
Screenwriter
Beyond the Forest (1949)
Screenwriter
The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947)
Story
Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
Screenwriter
Till We Meet Again (1944)
Screenwriter
Marriage Is a Private Affair (1944)
Screenwriter
Old Acquaintance (1943)
Screenwriter
The Gay Sisters (1942)
Screenwriter
They Died with Their Boots On (1942)
Additional Dialogue
We Were Dancing (1942)
Contract Writer
The Great Lie (1941)
Screenwriter
My Son, My Son! (1940)
Screenwriter
The Way of All Flesh (1940)
Screenwriter
Four Wives (1939)
Contr to trmt
Stronger Than Desire (1939)
Contract Writer
Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)
Original Story
White Banners (1938)
Screenwriter
Four Daughters (1938)
Screenwriter
Parnell (1937)
Contr to trmt
Suzy (1936)
Screenwriter
Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
Screenwriter
Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
Adaptation
Age of Indiscretion (1935)
Original Story
Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Screenwriter
Four Frightened People (1934)
Screenwriter
All Men Are Enemies (1934)
Screenplay and dial
Such Women Are Dangerous (1934)
Additional Dialogue
Ready for Love (1934)
Contr to trmt
Torch Singer (1933)
Screenwriter
Downstairs (1932)
Screenwriter
Arséne Lupin (1932)
Dial
Night Court (1932)
Screenwriter
Possessed (1931)
Adapted and dial cont
Honor of the Family (1931)
Cont
The Squaw Man (1931)
Screenwriter
Mother's Cry (1930)
Additional Dialogue
The Bishop Murder Case (1930)
Adapted, scen and dial
Street of Chance (1930)
Dial
Mother's Cry (1930)
Adaptation
Desert Nights (1929)
Scen
Chicago (1928)
Screenwriter
The Angel of Broadway (1927)
Scen
The Night of Love (1927)
Scen
Lonesome Ladies (1927)
Story
The Angel of Broadway (1927)
Story
The Night of Love (1927)
Adaptation
For Alimony Only (1926)
Cont
For Alimony Only (1926)
Story
The Volga Boatman (1926)
Adaptation
Hell's Highroad (1925)
Adaptation
East Lynne (1925)
Adaptation
Bread (1924)
Adaptation
Fools' Highway (1924)
Scen
The Rose of Paris (1924)
Adaptation
Thundering Dawn (1923)
Scen
Temptation (1923)
Story
Daytime Wives (1923)
Story
The Six-Fifty (1923)
Scen
Wandering Daughters (1923)
Titles
The Age of Desire (1923)
Titles
The Right That Failed (1922)
Adaptation
Sherlock Brown (1922)
Scen
The Face Between (1922)
Adaptation
Ladyfingers (1921)
Scen
Alias Ladyfingers (1921)
Adaptation
The Forbidden Woman (1920)
Story
The Better Wife (1919)
Story

Life Events

1919

Feature debut, received story credit on "The Better Wife", based on her novel "The Love Quest"

1921

First screenplay credit, "Alias Ladyfingers"

1926

First collaboration with Cecil B DeMille, "For Alimony Only"

1959

Final feature sceenplay, "Cash McCall"

Videos

Movie Clip

End Of The Affair, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Like Planes On Fire Several months into their London wartime affair, with American Maurice (Van Johnson) spotting the first German buzz-bombs, placing events firmly in June, 1944, he and his married lover Sarah (Deborah Kerr) must decide the safest course, in Edward Dmytryk’s The End Of The Affair, 1955, from the Graham Greene novel.
End Of The Affair, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Are You Miserable? The war ended and a year after Sarah, his married lover, broke up with him, American writer Maurice (Van Johnson) is back in London where he meets her husband, his friend, Henry MIles (Peter Cushing), who has not been well, Edward Dmytryk directing, on location, from Graham Greene’s novel, in The End Of The Affair, 1955.
End Of The Affair, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) The Party In Question John Mills' first scene as London P-I Parkis, meeting and reporting to client Maurice (Van Johnson), who's paying to have his former girlfriend watched, sooner than he expected, in The End Of The Affair, 1955, from Graham Greene's novel.
End Of The Affair, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Angry About God Anxious American writer Maurice (Van Johnson), in London awaiting his married English wartime girlfriend Sarah (Deborah Kerr), hewing close to Graham Greene's original novel, in Edward Dmytryk's The End Of The Affair, 1955.
Arsene Lupin (1932) -- (Movie Clip) Call Me Sir! Barrymore brothers (Lionel as detective "Guechard," John as "Duke Of Chamarace" AND the title character,) playing tricks on each other, early in the MGM hit Arsene Lupin, 1932.
Four Daughters (1938) -- (Movie Clip) Right On The Nose Michael Curtiz directing, father (Claude Rains) conducting, Kay (Lane sister Rosemary) singing, Thea (Lola) fretting, Jane (Priscilla) cooking and Emma (Gale Page) assisting, preparing for eligible dinner guest Ben Crowley (Frank McHugh), in Four Daughters, 1938.
Great Lie, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) He's A Gay Lad, Really Recovering from the week-long party after their impulsive wedding at her Park Avenue spread, flier Pete (George Brent) gets past agent Mason (Grant Mitchell) and friend James (Thurston Hall) to tell pianist Sandra (Mary Astor) that they're not legally married, early in The Great Lie, 1941.
Great Lie, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) News About Your Friends Aviator Pete (George Brent) swoops into the Maryland home of long-time girlfriend Maggie (Bette Davis), intercepted by maid Violet (Hattie McDaniel), he alone knowing that his much-publicized hasty marriage to a famous pianist is not legal after all, early in The Great Lie, 1941.
Great Lie, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Going To Get Him Back Chance encounter at a New York restaurant, Maggie (Bette Davis), now married to flier Pete (George Brent), meets pianist Sandra (Mary Astor), to whom he was almost married, and who has big news, even as he calls with his own update, in The Great Lie, 1941.
Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935) -- (Movie Clip) That Wild Strain Of Blood After a prologue on family history and gypsy blood, Otto Kruger introduces those celebrating the 100th birthday of Lady Paris (May Robson), Violet Kemble Cooper, Henry Stephenson, Lewis Stone, star Helen Hayes, and leading man Robert Montgomery intruding, in MGM’s Vanessa, Her Love Story, 1935.
Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935) -- (Movie Clip) One Wild Night In Persia Days before their wedding, rogue-ish Benji (Robert Montgomery) and cousin Helen Hayes (title character), optimistic, as she explains to her father (Lewis Stone), who hasn’t mentioned his heart condition, when tragic events ensue, in Vanessa, Her Love Story, 1935, adapted from the Hugh Walpole novel.
Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935) -- (Movie Clip) I Thought There'd Been An Accident Helen Hayes (title character) from the north country arriving London for her society debut, Lewis Stone her father, Otto Kruger her stuffy suitor and cousin Ellis, and at the event, his proposal, when her dashing and preferred other cousin Benji (Robert Montgomery) arrives, in Vanessa, Her Love Story, 1935.

Trailer

Four Daughters - (Original Trailer) A small-town family's peaceful life is shattered when one daughter falls for a rebellious musician. Starring Claude Rains and John Garfield, directed by Michael Curtiz.
Footsteps in the Fog - (Original Trailer) An ambitious housemaid (Jean Simmons) learns her employer (Stewart Granger) murdered his wife in Footsteps in the Fog (1955).
Age Of Indiscretion - (Original Trailer) A moralistic publisher (Paul Lukas) discovers his wife (Helen Vinson) is cheating on him in Age of Indiscretion (1935).
Evelyn Prentice - (Original Trailer) MGM playing up The Thin Man angle with Myrna Loy and William Powell, in the original trailer for the melodrama Evelyn Prentice, 1934, co-starring Rosalind Russell.
They Died With Their Boots On -- (Original Trailer) Errol Flynn stars in They Died With Their Boots On (1941), a romanticized biography of General George Armstrong Custer.
White Banners - (Original Trailer graphics) A mysterious woman tries to help her son's foster family without revealing her true identity in White Banners (1938) starring Fay Bainter.
Young At Heart - (Original Trailer) Frank Sinatra and Doris Day are among the very Young At Heart (1955) in this musical version of Four Daughters.
Vanessa: Her Love Story - (Original Trailer) A Victorian wife (Helen Hayes) contemplates leaving her insane husband for a romantic gypsy (Robert Montgomery) in Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935).
Great Lie, The -- (Original Trailer) Bette Davis, believing her husband to be dead, bargains with his former love to adopt the woman's baby in The Great Lie (1941).
Gay Sisters, The - (Original Trailer) Barbara Stanwyck marries a real estate man to save her family's mansion only to discover he's after it as well in The Gay Sisters (1942).
Night Court - (Original Trailer) Walter Huston in one of his most villainous roles as a corrupt judge who goes after a whistleblower with the power of the Night Court (1932).
Cash McCall - (Original Trailer) A corporate spoiler (James Garner) makes a play for a failing company and the owner's daughter in Cash McCall (1960).

Companions

William J Cowen
Husband

Bibliography