Budd Schulberg | |
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Schulberg in 1967
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Born | Seymour Wilson Schulberg March 27, 1914 New York City, New York, United States |
Died | August 5, 2009 Quiogue, New York, United States |
(aged 95)
Occupation | Film writer, sports writer, novelist |
Period | 1937–1982 |
Spouse |
Virginia Lee Ray (m.1936-1943; divorced; 1 child) Agnes Victoria Anderson (m.1943-1964; divorced; 2 children) Geraldine Brooks (m.1964-1977; her death) Betsy Ann Langman (m.1978-2009; his death; 2 children) |
Budd Schulberg (March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy Award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd.
Born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, he was raised in a Jewish family the son of Hollywood film-producer B. P. Schulberg and Adeline (Jaffe) Schulberg, who founded a talent agency taken over by her brother, agent/film producer Sam Jaffe. In 1931, when Schulberg was 17, his father left the family to live with actress Sylvia Sidney. His parents divorced in 1933.
Schulberg attended Deerfield Academy and then went on to Dartmouth College, where he was actively involved in the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine and was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. In 1939, he collaborated on the screenplay for Winter Carnival, a light comedy set at Dartmouth. One of his collaborators was F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was fired because of his alcoholic binge during a visit with Schulberg to Dartmouth.Dartmouth College awarded Schulberg an honorary degree in 1960.
While serving in the Navy during World War II, Schulberg was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), working with John Ford's documentary unit. Following VE Day, he was reportedly among the first American servicemen to liberate the Nazi concentration camps. He was involved in gathering evidence against war criminals for the Nuremberg Trials, an assignment that included arresting documentary film maker Leni Riefenstahl at her chalet in Kitzbühel, Austria, ostensibly to have her identify the faces of Nazi war criminals in German film footage captured by the Allied troops.