Frank Nugent
Frank Nugent was a prominent American journalist and screenwriter, born on May 27, 1908, in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism in 1929 and began his career as a reporter for The New York Times, eventually becoming the film critic for the publication in 1934. Known for his candid and often harsh reviews, Nugent caught the attention of Hollywood, leading to a script doctoring position at Twentieth Century-Fox in 1940. He later transitioned to freelance writing, contributing articles to various magazines while collaborating with notable filmmakers. His most significant partnership was with acclaimed director John Ford, producing classic films such as "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," and "The Quiet Man," the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination. Nugent's writing style was marked by a focus on character backstories, which enhanced the depth of his screenplays. Over his career, he received multiple accolades, including two Screen Writers Guild Awards. Nugent's contributions to cinema continued until his death from heart disease in 1965.
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Frank Nugent
Playwright
- Born: May 27, 1908
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: December 29, 1965
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Frank Nugent was born in New York City on May 27, 1908, and grew up in that city, eventually attending Columbia University, where he earned a degree in journalism in 1929. Upon graduation from college, he was immediately hired as a reporter by The New York Times, and for the next several years he reported on various beats and rewrote the stories of other journalists. In 1934, his long association with the film business began when he became film critic for The New York Times, where he rapidly became known for his outspoken reviews, some of which heaped a great deal of venom on Hollywood studios and stars. In 1940, Nugent’s reviews caught the attention of Daryl F. Zanuck at Twentieth Century-Fox studios, and the studio hired him as a script doctor.
Nugent moved to California to pursue motion picture work, although he continued to write occasional articles for popular magazines as well. After several years working on other people’s scripts and with no higher profile work forthcoming, Nugent decided to leave Hollywood and turn his talents to freelance writing. His articles on the film industry appeared in magazines, including The New York Times Magazine and the Saturday Evening Post, and brought him in close contact with many filmmakers. These included the legendary director of Westerns, John Ford, with whom Nugent struck up an acquaintance during the filming of The Fugitive in Mexico. Ford gave Nugent a list of books to read and eventually hired him to write the script for his next film project, Fort Apache (1948). This was the beginning of a collaboration that was to last for many years and produce both popular and critically acclaimed films, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952), for which Nugent was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Screen Writers Guild Award and a Look magazine film achievement award.
Though Nugent wrote more than twenty screenplays and worked with other directors as well, it was on his early projects for Ford that he honed his spare verbal style and developed his habit of writing full biographies for all of his characters in order to provide a back story and motivation for their actions. A second Screen Writers Guild Award, for Mister Roberts, came in 1955. Nugent continued writing films until the end of his life; he died of heart disease in New York in 1965.