Ernest Lehman


Ernest Paul Lehman was an American screenwriter. He was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win. At the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his achievements and his influential works for the screen. He was the first screenwriter to receive that honor. The award was presented to him by Julie Andrews, a friend and star of The Sound of Music.
He received two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America for screenplays for suspense films he wrote for director Alfred Hitchcock: North by Northwest, his only original screenplay, and Family Plot, one of numerous adaptations.

Early years

Lehman was born in 1915 to Gertrude and Paul E. Lehman. Their wealthy Jewish family was based on Long Island; they had suffered major financial losses during the Great Depression. Lehman attended the College of the City of New York.
After graduation, he started working as a freelance writer. Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living", so he began writing copy for a publicity firm that focused on plays and celebrities. He drew from this experience for the screenplay of the film Sweet Smell of Success, which he co-wrote with playwright Clifford Odets.
Lehman also published many short stories and novellas in magazines such as Colliers, Redbook and Cosmopolitan. These attracted the attention of Hollywood managers, and in the mid-1950s Paramount Pictures signed him to a writing contract. His first film, Executive Suite, was a success.
Lehman was asked to collaborate on the romantic comedy Sabrina, which was released the same year and also became a hit. Some of his most notable works are the screenplay adaptations of the musical West Side Story and the mega-hit film version of The Sound of Music, another musical.

Amateur radio

Lehman held amateur radio callsign K6DXK. He was an active member of the Bel Air Repeater Association.

Collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock

In 1958, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had hired Hitchcock to make a film called The Wreck of the Mary Deare, based on Hammond Innes' novel of the same name. Collaborating with Lehman, Hitchcock produced North by Northwest instead. This was one of Lehman's few original screenplays. The film starred Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill, a Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of menacing spies. Lehman later said he intended North by Northwest to be "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures." The writing process took Lehman a year, including several periods of writer's block, as well as a trip to Mount Rushmore to do research for the film's climax.
North by Northwest was one of Lehman's greatest triumphs in Hollywood and a huge hit for Hitchcock. For his efforts, Lehman received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, as well as a 1960 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Other projects

In addition to screenwriting, Lehman tried his hand at producing. He was among the few people who initially favored a film adaptation of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He persuaded studio executive Jack L. Warner to allow him to take on the project, and the film was a critical sensation, garnering many Academy Award nominations. Lehman was also nominated for an Academy Award for producing Hello, Dolly!, starring Barbra Streisand.
In 1972, Lehman directed Portnoy's Complaint, based on the novel by Philip Roth; this was his only directorial work. Later, he earned another Edgar Award for his screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot.
By 1979, Lehman had stopped writing screenplays, aside from some television projects. He turned down offers to write for Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma's . Lehman completed adaptations for two films that were never made: a screenplay for the Noël Coward classic Hay Fever, and one for a musical version of Zorba the Greek. The latter was intended for direction by Robert Wise and starring actors Anthony Quinn and John Travolta.
In 1977, Lehman published the bestselling novel The French Atlantic Affair, about a group of unemployed, middle-class Americans who hijack a French cruise ship for a $35 million ransom. It was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1979.

Death

Lehman died on July 2, 2005 at UCLA Medical Center after an apparent heart attack. He was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Writing credits

Filmography

Lehman received six Academy Award nominations during his career, but never won. At the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2001, he became the first screenwriter to receive an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Lehman did, however, receive more honorable recognition from the Writers Guild of America than any other screenwriter in film history.
AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryFilmResult
Academy Award1955Best Writing, Story and ScreenplaySabrina
Lost to George Seaton for The Country Girl		rowspan="6"
Academy Award1960Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the ScreenNorth by Northwest
Lost to Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene, Stanley Shapiro, and Maurice Richlin for Pillow Talk		-
Academy Award1962Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another MediumWest Side Story
Lost to Abby Mann for Judgment at Nuremberg		-
Academy Award1967Best Motion Picture of the YearWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons		-
Academy Award1967Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another MediumWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons		-
Academy Award1970Best Motion Picture of the YearHello, Dolly!
Lost to Jerome Hellman for Midnight Cowboy		-
Academy Award2001Academy Honorary Award"in appreciation of a body of varied and enduring work."
Golden Globe Award1955Best Screenplay – Motion PictureSabrina
Golden Globe Award1967Best Motion Picture – DramaWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons		rowspan="3"
Golden Globe Award1967Best Screenplay – Motion PictureWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons		-
Golden Globe Award1970Best Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyHello, Dolly!
Lost to Stanley Kramer and George Glass for The Secret of Santa Vittoria		-
Edgar Allan Poe Award1960Best Motion Picture ScreenplayNorth by Northwestrowspan="2"
Edgar Allan Poe Award1977Best Motion Picture ScreenplayFamily Plot-
Edgar Allan Poe Award1978Best Motion Picture ScreenplayBlack Sunday
Lost to Robert Benton for The Late Show
Writers Guild of America Award1955Best Written American ComedySabrina
Writers Guild of America Award1955Best Written American DramaExecutive Suite
Lost to Budd Schulberg for On the Waterfront		rowspan="2"
Writers Guild of America Award1957Best Written American DramaSomebody Up There Likes Me
Lost to Michael Wilson for Friendly Persuasion		-
Writers Guild of America Award1957Best Written American MusicalThe King and I
Writers Guild of America Award1960Best Written American ComedyNorth by Northwest
Lost to Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond for Some Like It Hot
Writers Guild of America Award1962Best Written American MusicalWest Side Storyrowspan="3"
Writers Guild of America Award1966Best Written American MusicalThe Sound of Music-
Writers Guild of America Award1967Best Written American DramaWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-
Writers Guild of America Award1972Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
Writers Guild of America Award1977Best Comedy Adapted from Another MediumFamily Plot
Lost to Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman for The Pink Panther Strikes Again