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Daniel Taradash
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel Taradash, (29 January 1913 - 22 February 2003) was an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter.
Taradash was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the only child son of a clothing manufacturer. He finished high school at age 16 in Miami and attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He moved to New York, won a playwriting contest, and earned the chance to take a course with Theresa Helburn, the head of the Theatre Guild. His course work caught the eye of director Rouben Mamoulian, who hired Taradash to collaborate with him on the screenplay for Golden Boy released in 1939 by Columbia.
In 1952, he convinced Columbia Studios head Harry Cohn that he was the writer to bring James Jones' best-selling novel, From Here to Eternity to the screen. The film adaptation, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starred Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra eventually received 13 Academy Award nominations and eight wins, including Best Screenplay for Taradash.
His other film credits include Rancho Notorious (1952) with Marlene Dietrich, Don't Bother to Knock (1952) with Marilyn Monroe, Désirée (1954) with Marlon Brando, Picnic (1955) with William Holden, Storm Center (1956) with Bette Davis, which he also directed, Bell, Book and Candle (1958) with James Stewart and Kim Novak, Morituri (1965) with Brando, Hawaii (1966), Castle Keep (1969), Doctors' Wives (1971) and Bogie (1980), a film biography of Humphrey Bogart.
Taradash was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1970 to 1973 and served on its board and as vice-president for several terms. He also held numerous leadership and committee posts with the Writers Guild of America, including a three-year stint as president of Writers Guild of America, west from 1977 to 1979.
He was married to Madeleine Forbes from c.1945 until his death. They had three children.
He died in Los Angeles, of pancreatic cancer.