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Joseph McBride (writer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people with the same name, seeJoseph McBride (disambiguation).
Joseph Pierce McBride
Born(1947-08-09)August 9, 1947(age 76)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin,U.S.
EducationMarquette University High School,University of Wisconsin
Occupations
actor
EmployerSan Francisco State University
PartnerAnn Weiser Cornell
AwardsWriters Guild of America Award
Websitejosephmcbridefilm

Joseph McBride(born August 9, 1947) is an Americanfilmhistorian,biographer,screenwriter,authorandeducator.He has written books on a variety of subjects including notable film directors, screenwriting, theJFK assassination,and a memoir of his youth.

He also serves as professor in theCinema Department at San Francisco State University.[1]

Career

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Early life and career

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Born inMilwaukee, Wisconsin,McBride grew up in the suburb ofWauwatosa.He attended theUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison,and worked as a reporter for theWisconsin State Journalin Madison, before moving to California in 1973.

Books

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McBride has published more than 20 books, including biographies of directorsSteven Spielberg(Steven Spielberg: A Biography,1997, and published in translation in mainlandChinain 2012),Frank Capra(Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success,1992), two ofJohn Ford:John Ford(with Michael Wilmington, 1974) andSearching for John Ford)(2001) and three of Orson Welles:Orson Welles(1972),Orson Welles: Actor and Director(1977) andWhat Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career(2006). McBride's interview book withHoward Hawks,Hawks on Hawks,was published in 1982.

In 2012, he published ascreenwritingmanual,Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless.[2]In the book, McBride uses his adaptation ofJack London’s short story "To Build a Fire"to break down the steps necessary for a screenplay, such as research, treatments, and outlines. The book draws from his extensive teaching experience.[3]

In 2013, he publishedInto the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit,which was the result of McBride's 31-year investigation of the case. Later, in 2015, he publishedThe Broken Places: A Memoir,which deals with his troubled childhood, his teenage breakdown, and his subsequent recovery.

Columbia University Press publishedHow Did Lubitsch Do It?,McBride's look at the career of filmmakerErnst Lubitsch,in June 2018.[4]

In March 2019, McBride'sFrankly: Unmasking Frank Caprawas published. It recounts his legal battle with original publisher Knopf/Random House and Capra allies over publication of his biographyFrank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success,which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992.[5]His biography ofBilly Wilder,Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edgewas published in 2021.

Film and television

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McBride's screenwriting credits include the moviesRock 'n' Roll High SchoolandBlood and Gutsand fiveAmerican Film InstituteLife Achievement Awardspecials onCBS-TV aboutFred Astaire,Frank Capra,Lillian Gish,John Huston,andJames Stewart.He was also cowriter of the United States Information Agency worldwide live TV specialLet Poland Be Poland(1982).

He plays a film critic, Mr. Pister, in the Orson Welles featureThe Other Side of the Wind(1970–76) and served as a consultant on its completion in 2018.[6]He is also the coproducer of the documentariesObsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece(1997) andJohn Ford Goes to War(2002).

Awards and honors

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McBride received the "Television: Comedy/Variety - Special"Writers Guild of America Awardin 1984 for cowritingThe American Film Institute Salute to John Hustonwith producerGeorge Stevens, Jr.[7]He has also received four other WGA nominations,[7]twoEmmynominations,[8]and aCanadian Film Awardsnomination. The French edition ofSearching for John Ford,titledA la recherche de John Ford,published in 2007, was chosen the Best Foreign Film Book of the Year by the French film critics' association, le Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma.

A documentary feature on his life and work,Behind the Curtain: Joseph McBride on Writing Film History,written and directed by Hart Perez, had its world debut in 2011 at the Tiburon International Film Festival in Tiburon, Marin County, CA, and was released on DVD in 2012.

Personal life

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McBride lives inBerkeley, California.His life partner is author and psychology educatorAnn Weiser Cornell.[9]

Bibliography

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As author

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  • Orson Welles(1972, revised and expanded 1996)
  • John Ford(1975, with Michael Wilmington, revised and expanded 2023)
  • Kirk Douglas(1976)
  • Orson Welles: Actor and Director(1977)
  • High and Inside: An A-to-Z Guide to the Language of Baseball(1980)
  • Hawks on Hawks(1982)
  • Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success(1992)
  • Steven Spielberg: A Biography(1997, revised and expanded 2012)
  • The Book of Movie Lists: An Offbeat, Provocative Collection of the Best and Worst of Everything in Movies(1998)
  • Searching for John Ford(2001)
  • What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career(2006, revised and expanded 2022)
  • Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless(2012)
  • Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit(2013)
  • The Broken Places: A Memoir(2015)
  • Two Cheers for Hollywood: Joseph McBride on Movies(2017)
  • How Did Lubitsch Do It?(2018)
  • Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra(2019)
  • Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge(2021)
  • Political Truth: The Media and the Assassination of President Kennedy(2022)
  • The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers(2022)

As editor

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  • Persistence of Vision: A Collection of Film Criticism(1968)
  • Focus on Howard Hawks(1972)
  • Filmmakers on Filmmaking: The American Film Institute Seminars on Motion Pictures and Television, Volume 1(1983)
  • Filmmakers on Filmmaking: The American Film Institute Seminars on Motion Pictures and Television, Volume 2(1983)

References

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  1. ^"Joseph McBride".Cinema Department at San Francisco State University.Archived fromthe originalon June 5, 2019.RetrievedDecember 10,2017.
  2. ^Honeycutt, Kirk (September 28, 2012)."McBride's guide to 'Painless'screenwriting".Honeycutt's Hollywood.RetrievedNovember 12,2015.
  3. ^"Joseph McBride's Necessary Screenwriting Book".Script Magazine.Sep 14, 2012.RetrievedMar 2,2019.
  4. ^Yogerst, Chris (July 5, 2018)."Forgotten filmmaker who influenced Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder gets his due".The Washington Post.
  5. ^McBride, Joseph (2019).Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra.Berkeley, California: Hightower Press.ISBN978-1949950472.
  6. ^"Sight & Sound: the November 2018 issue | Sight & Sound".British Film Institute.Retrieved2019-01-18.
  7. ^ab"Joseph McBride: Awards".Writers Guild Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon May 11, 2015.RetrievedNovember 6,2015.
  8. ^"Joseph McBride: Awards & Nominations".Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.RetrievedNovember 6,2015.
  9. ^McBride, Joseph.Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless.Random House,2012. pp. 352–353.
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