Nunnally Johnson
Nunnally Johnson was a prominent American screenwriter, producer, and director known for his extensive contributions to Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1960s. Born in 1897 in Columbus, Georgia, he began his career in journalism before transitioning to film during the industry's shift from silent movies to "talkies." By 1932, he was working with producer Darryl F. Zanuck at Twentieth Century-Fox, quickly becoming one of the highest-paid writers in Hollywood. Over his 35-year career, Johnson wrote or collaborated on more than fifty credited screenplays, including notable adaptations of literary works such as John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," which received critical acclaim and several Academy Awards.
Johnson's work encompassed a wide range of genres, from historical dramas like "Jesse James" and "The House of Rothschild" to social critiques such as "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." He was known for his ability to connect with audiences, transforming narratives to resonate with viewers while still honoring the original material. In addition to his screenwriting, he authored three Broadway plays. As the Hollywood studio system began to change in the late 1960s, Johnson chose to retire, passing away in 1977 in Los Angeles. His legacy remains significant in the realm of American cinema.
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Nunnally Johnson
Film Producer
- Born: December 5, 1897
- Birthplace: Columbus, Georgia
- Died: March 25, 1977
- Place of death: Los Angeles, California
Biography
Nunnally Johnson, who had a promising career in journalism, joined the hordes of writers and actors flooding into Hollywood in the early 1930’s, when the studios were frantically making the transition from silent films to talkies. Johnson arrived in Hollywood in 1932 shortly before his thirty-fifth birthday. The preceding year, having worked as a journalist since 1915, Johnson published a book of short stories that resulted in his being hired to work with producer Darryl F. Zanuck at Twentieth Century-Fox studios. He soon became the highest paid writer in Hollywood, commanding two thousand dollars a week by the studio that valued him for his versatility.
Born in 1897 in Columbus, Georgia, to James Nunnally and Pearl Patrick Johnson, the young man, just out of high school, became a reporter for the Columbus Enquirer-Sun. He served in the army from 1916 to 1918. Following his military service, he took a newspaper job in Savannah, Georgia, but soon moved to New York to work first on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and then on the Herald Tribune.
In the thirty-five years before his retirement in 1967, Johnson wrote or collaborated on more than fifty screenplays for which he was credited and worked anonymously on many more. He also was a producer, forming his own production company and writing the screenplays for most of the films his company produced. He frequently directed his screenplays.
Several of Johnson’s historical films were well received, including The House of Rothschild, Jesse James, and The Prisoner of Shark Island, the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd’s imprisonment for setting John Wilkes Booth’s leg following President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Johnson’s most critically praised and popular work was his adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, released as a film in 1940. Johnson, ever sensitive to what the public wanted, transformed Steinbeck’s story from one of despair to one of hope, but he did so without significantly tampering with the author’s text. The film won several Academy Awards and was nominated as Best Motion Picture. Johnson followed this film with another adaptation he hoped would prove equally fruitful, his film version of Erskine Caldwell’s novel Tobacco Road, but his sanguine expectations were not met.
Landing in Hollywood when the film industry was exploding, Johnson was enormously prolific and his temperament made him easy to work with. He formed a close association with Zanuck, and when he was assigned a project, he fulfilled the assignment quickly and well, for which he was greatly appreciated and generously rewarded. His writing included historical films, adaptations, comedies, musicals, social critiques such as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and psychological dramas like The Three Faces of Eve. In addition to his screenplays, Johnson wrote three plays for Broadway.
As the studio system to which Johnson had adapted so willingly began to disintegrate, it was clear that times were changing and the industry was moving in new directions. Johnson bowed out and lived his last ten years in retirement. He died in Los Angeles in 1977.