Harry Essex
Harry Essex | |
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Born | New York City,New York, US | November 29, 1910
Died | February 6, 1997 Los Angeles, California, US | (aged 86)
Occupation | American TV/Film screenwriter/director |
Years active | 1936–1996 |
Harry Essex(November 29, 1910 – February 6, 1997) was an American screenwriter and director in feature films and television. Born and raised in New York City, his career spanned more than fifty years.
Career[edit]
After graduating from St John's University in 1936, he did welfare work by day, while writing for the theatre by night.[1] Among Essex's first jobs were stints on the New York City newspapersNew York Daily Mirrorand theBrooklyn Eagle,short stories forCollier'sandThe Saturday Evening Postas well as work in aBroadwayplay titledSomething for Nothing(which Essex later called "a resounding failure" ).[2]
Writing for the movies was uppermost in Essex's mind throughout the period (and he did co-write the original story for Universal'sMan Made Monster(1941)), but "the big break" never came, and World War II intervened as he was called into the draft, serving in theU.S. Army Signal Corps.Five or six days after Essex's discharge in 1947,[1]he ran into an old acquaintance whose new job was finding playwrights to turn into screenwriters forColumbia Pictures.Essex wrote or co-wrote dozens of movies and numerous TV shows during his lengthy Hollywood career.[2]
Essex co-wrote Universal'sThe Fat Man(1951), which starredJ. Scott Smartas the obese detective Brad Runyon, a role he had played on radio since 1946. (The series was developed especially for radio byDashiell Hammett,creator ofThe Thin Man,but as he had just been jailed for refusing to co-operate with the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities, Hammett's name was absent on the screen credits ofThe Fat Man.) Essex and Earl Felton received screenplay credit onThe Las Vegas Story(1952), but not their co-writer Paul Jarrico, who had been blacklisted.[1]
Partial filmography[edit]
Year | Title | Job | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1941 | Man Made Monster | Writer – story | Feature film |
1947 | Dragnet | Writer | Feature film |
Desperate | Writer | Feature film | |
1950 | The Killer That Stalked New York | Writer | Sci-fi/Horror film |
1951 | The Fat Man | Co-writer, withDashiell Hammett &Leonard Lee |
Feature film |
1952 | Kansas City Confidential | Writer | Feature film |
The Las Vegas Story | Writer | Feature film | |
1953 | I, the Jury | Writer, director | Feature film |
It Came from Outer Space | Writer – screenplay | Horror film | |
1954 | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Writer | Sci-fi/Horror film |
Dragnet | Writer – screenplay | Feature film | |
1955 | Mad at the World | Director | Feature film |
1959–1960 | Bat Masterson(TV series) | Writer | 4 episodes |
1960–1961 | The Untouchables | Writer (2 teleplays, 3 stories) | 6 episodes total |
1963 | 77 Sunset Strip | Writer – teleplay | 5 episodes |
1965 | The Sons of Katie Elder | Writer – screenplay | Western/Feature film |
I Dream of Jeannie | Writer | 1 episode ( "The Moving Finger" ) | |
1971 | Octaman | Writer | Sci-fi film |
1972 | The Cremators | Writer, director | Sci-fi film |
1985 | Hostage Flight | Writer – story | Feature film |
1996 | It Came From Outer Space II | Writer (earlier screenplay) | Sci-fi/Horror |
Death and legacy[edit]
Essex died on February 5, 1997, in Los Angeles.[citation needed]In 2004, he was retrospectively awarded the 1954 RetroHugo Awardfor Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form forIt Came from Outer Space.[citation needed]He was interred atWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^abc"Obituary: Harry Essex".The Independent.UK. February 25, 1997.Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2022.RetrievedSeptember 10,2015.
- ^ab"Harry Essex Biography (1910–1997)".Internet Movie Database(IMDb).RetrievedSeptember 10,2015.
External links[edit]