Anthony Veiller
Anthony Veiller was a significant figure in American cinema, recognized for his contributions as a screenwriter and producer over a nearly forty-year career. He co-authored around thirty-six films, including notable works such as "Stage Door" and "The Killers," both of which garnered Academy Award nominations. Following in the footsteps of his father, Bayard Veiller—one of the early writers and directors in the film industry—Anthony began his career with a unique blend of crime and comedy in "The Notorious Sophie Lang." His collaborations with industry giants like Frank Capra and John Huston further shaped his career, leading to successful projects during and after World War II, including wartime documentaries and acclaimed feature films.
"Stage Door," co-written with Morrie Ryskind, marked a high point in Veiller's career, showcasing a talented cast that included Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball. After a period of producing films in the late 1940s, he returned to screenwriting in the 1950s, although his later works did not achieve the same acclaim as his earlier successes. Veiller's career saw a renaissance in the early 1960s when he resumed collaboration with John Huston, signaling a return to the creative vitality that defined his earlier work. He passed away in 1965 while working on an adaptation of Budd Schulberg's "The Disenchanted," reflecting his enduring commitment to the art of filmmaking.
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Anthony Veiller
Screenwriter
- Born: June 23, 1903
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 27, 1965
- Place of death: Hollywood, California
Biography
In a career that spanned almost forty years, Anthony Veiller was author or coauthor of some three dozen films, two of which, Stage Door and The Killers received Academy Award nominations. In choosing a profession, Veiller followed in the footsteps of his father, Bayard Veiller, among the earliest writers, producers, and directors in the film industry. Anthony learned quite early many of the intricacies of filmmaking and, in 1934, he worked closely with his father on The Notorious Sophie Lang, a crime story with comic elements in which two criminals dupe the authorities by committing their crimes in such obvious ways within sight of the bungling police that their not being detected was remarkable. This film, mixing crime and comedy, became a prototype for such films as Star of Midnight (1935) and The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936), both vehicles for William Powell.
Veiller was at times closely associated with two giants in the industry, Frank Capra and John Huston. He was collaborating with Huston on a screen adaptation of Budd Schulberg’s The Disenchanted, retitled The Man Who Would Be King, when he died in 1965. Shortly before he collaborated with Huston on the screenplay for Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana.
Veiller’s first real triumph as a writer of screenplays came with Stage Door, a collaboration with Morrie Ryskind. This was an adaptation of the Broadway play written by Edna Ferber and George F. Kaufman. The film had a star-studded cast that included Katharine Hepburn, at that time a novice in Hollywood, and a remarkable additional cast that included Adolphe Menjou, Ginger Rogers, Eve Arden, and Lucille Ball. The director, Gregory La Cava, used these outstanding actors to the film’s best advantage, with the result that Stage Door was a stunning success.
During World War II, Veiller worked with Frank Capra, who was making documentary films for the armed forces. For The Battle of Russia he was in charge of writing the commentary and working on continuity, and for Tunisian Victory he was part of a collaboration with several other writers, including John Huston. It is through this film that Veiller grew close to Huston and was eventually involved with him after the war in peacetime projects.
When the war was over, Veiller entered into a particularly productive period during which he wrote the screen plays for The Stranger, directed by Orson Welles, The Killers, and, in collaboration with Myles Connolly, State of the Union, directed by Capra. He now took a four-year breather from writing and concentrated on being a film producer until 1952, when he resumed writing but turned out films that lacked the vitality of his earlier work. It was not until the early 1960’s, when he worked with Huston, that his career approached its earlier excellence.