Noel Langley
Noel Langley ( born December 25, 1911 in Durban, † November 4, 1980 in Desert Hot Springs, California ) was a born in South Africa, American author, screenwriter, director and producer. He was known primarily for his work in films such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Ivanhoe - The Black Knight, Mr. Pickwick or The Knights of the Round Table.
Life and work
Born in 1911 in Durban, South Africa, Noel Langley began after a training at the University of Natal his career as a playwright on Broadway in New York. Mid-1930s, he went to Hollywood as a writer and worked primarily as a scriptwriter. His first major success was the adaptation of L. Frank Baum's original novel to the classic film The Wizard of Oz in 1939. After the Second World War Langley wrote the screenplay for Alberto Cavalcanti's crime drama convict 3312, where he also served as associate producer. In 1949 he moved then his field of work mainly to England, where he among other things for films such as Adam and Evelyne, That's life, Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol worked or Tom Brown's schooldays. For Hollywood, he wrote at the beginning of the 1950s the screenplays for director Richard Thorpe, whose successful adventure films Ivanhoe - The Black Knight, In the Shadow of the Crown and the Knights of the Round Table. In 1952 in England, under his direction, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, the critically acclaimed drama Mr. Pickwick, with James Hayter in the lead role. Langley had also taken over the production of the film alongside the director and the screenplay adaptation. In 1954, he then turned with Hildegard Knef, Donald Wolfit and Terence Morgan, the British romantic drama Svengali. In 1956 he wrote the screenplay for Michael Curtiz to the Musical King of the Vagabonds.
In the years 1955 to 1974 Noel Langley also wrote numerous screenplays for episodes of well-known American television series such as The United States Steel Hour ( 1955), Ford Star Jubilee ( 1956), Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958 ), The Best of the Post (1961 ), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963 ), Theatre 625 ( 1967) or Jackanory ( 1968-1969 ). His last work as screenwriter dated from 1974 for the French TV series Au théâtre ce soir.
In 1961, Langley officially to the U.S. citizenship.
Noel Langley was the grandfather of actress Wendy Kilbourne. He was married from 1937 to 1954 with Naomi Mary Legate. In 1959 he married Pamela Deeming. Langley died on 4 November 1980 in Desert Hot Springs in California at the age of 68 years.