Biography
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Benjamin D. Maddow (August 7, 1909 in Passaic, New Jersey – October 9, 1992 in Los Angeles, California) was a prolific screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 1930s.
In 1936 he co-founded the short-lived left-wing newsreel The World Today. Under the pseudonym of David Wolff, Maddow co-wrote the screenplay to the Paul Strand–Leo Hurwitz documentary landmark, Native Land (1942).
He earned his first feature screenplay credit with Framed (1947). Other screenplays include Clarence Brown's Intruder in the Dust (1949, an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel), John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950, for which he received an Academy Award nomination), Johnny Guitar (1954, credited to Philip Yordan, God's Little Acre (1958, an adaptation of the Erskine Caldwell novel officially credited to Philip Yordan as a HUAC-era "front" for Maddow), and, again with Huston, an Edgar Award for Best Mystery Screenplay) and The Unforgiven (1960).
As a documentarian he directed and wrote such films as Storm of Strangers, The Stairs, and The Savage Eye (1959), which won the BAFTA Flaherty Documentary Award. Maddow made his solo feature directorial debut with the striking, offbeat feature An Affair of the Skin (1963), a well-acted story of several loves and friendships gone sour and marked by the rich characterisations which had distinguished his best screenplays.
In 1961, Maddow and Huston co-wrote the episode "The Professor" of the 1961 television series The Asphalt Jungle. In 1968 he wrote a screenplay based on Edmund Naughton's novel McCabe; while a film adaptation of the novel was ultimately produced as McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Maddow wasn't credited on the film. His final screenplay was for the horror melodrama The Mephisto Waltz (1970).
Filmography
all 34
Movies 34
Writer 28
Director 3
Screenplay 2
self 1
W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult (1989)
Slow Fires: On the Preservation of the Human Record (1987)
Man On A String (1972)
The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1970)
The Chairman (1969)
The Way West (1967)
An Affair of the Skin (1963)
The Balcony (1963)
Two Loves (1961)
The Savage Eye (1960)
The Unforgiven (1960)
Murder by Contract (1958)
God's Little Acre (1958)
No Down Payment (1957)
Gun Glory (1957)
Men in War (1957)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Naked Jungle (1954)
The Wild One (1953)
Shadow in the Sky (1952)
The Steps of Age (1950)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Intruder in the Dust (1949)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
The Man from Colorado (1948)
Framed (1947)
Native Land (1942)
Valley Town (1940)
United Action Means Victory (1939)
People of the Cumberland (1937)
Heart of Spain (1937)
China Strikes Back (1937)
The World Today: The Black Legion - Shadow of Fascism Over America (1937)
Ratings
Information
Known ForWriting
GenderMale
Birthday1909-08-07
Deathday1992-10-09 (83 years old)
Birth PlacePassaic, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsDavid Wolff
AwardsEdgar Awards
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