Charles Bennett (screenwriter)

Charles Bennett (2 August 1899 – 15 June 1995) was an English playwright, screenwriter and director probably best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock.

Born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England, Bennett served in World War I and worked as an actor on stage, notably for Ben Greet's Shakesperean Company. He worked for them for two years in Paris, from 1925 to 1926, where he write his first play The Return. He enjoyed a major success with his play Blackmail (1929), which was performed on stage by Tallulah Bankhead in 1928 and filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1929; the latter is generally credited as the first British sound film. The Last Hour was another popular Bennett play turned into a movie.

He was under contract to British International from 1930 to 1931 and worked for a number of other producers such as George King. His association with Hitchcock continued into the 1930s, with Bennett writing some of the latter's most famous British films—The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1936), and Young and Innocent (1937).

His work with Hitchcock attracted the attention of Hollywood; and, in 1938, Bennett accepted a contract with Universal Studios at $1,000 a week. He stayed with the Universal for six months.

Bennett later worked with Hitchcock on his second American film, Foreign Correspondent (1940). He worked for a number of other high-profile filmmakers including David O. Selznick and Cecil B. de Mille. During the war he wrote propaganda films for the British Ministry of Information.

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