Valentine Davies

Valentine " Val " Davies ( born August 25, 1905 in New York City, New York, USA, † July 23, 1961 in Malibu, California ) was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director.

Life

Valentine Davies grew up as the son of a native Dutchman, which invests in real estate, and thus came to prosperity, in New York. Val - his nickname was time life - graduated from the Universities of Michigan and Yale, to be a writer with the goal already set early. In Michigan Davies met the future filmmaker George Seaton know, who would become one of his best friends.

Davies ' career began in the 1930s as a writer on Broadway, but his three pieces he wrote, proved to be a flop, as they were each deposed after only a month.

Although Davies sold stories to film production companies and also an author at 20th Century Fox was, was only Syncopation, Davies first screenplay, adapted into a movie. During his military service in the United States Coast Guard, he wrote in 1947 for his third and probably most famous writer, The Miracle of Manhattan; the film was directed by his friend George Seaton. In 1948 he was awarded the Oscar in the existing at that time for Best Original Story.

1949 Valentine Davies was appointed President of the Writers Guild of America, a post he held until 1950. In the same year, he and the author Shirley W. Smith for the novel adaptation It Happens Every Spring again for "Best Original Story " nominated for an Oscar. In the years 1955 and 1957, followed by two more Oscar nominations. Also practiced Davies 1960-1961 the presidency of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) from.

1955 Davies was the only time as a director behind the camera as he the biopic The Benny Goodman Story staged with actors like Donna Reed and Steve Allen.

Valentine Davies died in 1961, aged 55 years, of a heart attack.

Filmography

Awards

Oscar

Award

Nomination