Charles Schnee

Screenwriter

Schnee came to Hollywood in 1945. He did some writing on From This Day Forward (1946) at RKO and was credited on Cross My Heart (1946) at Paramount. He sold Angel Face to Paramount for $25,000 ^[2] and stayed at Paramount to write I Walk Alone (1947) for Hal Wallis which was a success and really helped establish him.

Schnee went back to RKO, then under Dore Schary, and worked with director Nicholas Ray and producer John Houseman on They Live by Night (1948). Howard Hawks hired him to work on the script for Red River (1948), which quickly became established as a classic.

He did some uncredited writing for Hal Wallis on The Accused (1949), and he wrote Easy Living (1949) at RKO.

MGM

Schary went to MGM and Schnee followed, working on Scene of the Crime (1949).^[3] He wrote Paid in Full (1950) for Wallis, then did Schary's personal production, The Next Voice You Hear... (1950) at MGM.

Schnee wrote The Furies (1950) for Hal Wallis, and Born to Be Bad (1950) for Nick Ray at RKO.^[4]

At MGM he wrote Right Cross (1950) and Bannerline (1951), then did another Schary personal production, Westward the Women (1952).^[5]

Schnee wrote a comedy, When in Rome (1952) which was a flop then did The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) for Houseman and director Vincente Minelli which was a critical and commercial success. Schnee won an Oscar for this script and Schary promoted him to producer.

Producer at MGM

Schnee was the uncredited producer on Rogue's March (1952) with Peter Lawford, which lost money, and Jeopardy (1953), which earned MGM a profit.

He produced a Joan Crawford vehicle, Torch Song (1953), and did a Biblical movie, The Prodigal (1955) which was a fiasco.^[6]

Schnee enjoyed more success with Trial (1955) starring Glenn Ford and especially Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) with Paul Newman and Rocky Graziano, both popular movies that were critically acclaimed.

Schnee produced The Wings of Eagles (1957), a biopic of Spig Wead starring John Wayne directed by John Ford. He produced a crime film, House of Numbers (1957) and Until They Sail (1957), the latter reuniting him with the star and director of Somebody Up There Likes Me.^[7] He produce Party Girl (1958) for Nicholas Ray at MGM.^[8]

Attempt to Be Independent Producer

He left MGM and setup as an independent producer at Columbia. He announced Company of Cowards with Hugh O'Brian,^[9] an adaptation of The Tiger Among Us by Leigh Brackett^[10] and was going to do an original screenplay Atom and Eva.^[11] He was also going to make The Image Makers with Clark Gable.^[12] None of the films were made apart from Tiger which would be produced by others years later as 13 West Street. Schnee returned to screenwriting.

Return to Screenwriting

He wrote The Mark Hellinger Story for George Sidney but the film did not proceed due to casting issues.^[13]

He wrote The Crowded Sky (1960) at Warners. He had a notable success with BUtterfield 8 (1961) at MGM.

In 1961 he was president of the Writers Guild of America, West.

As "John Dennis" he wrote By Love Possessed (1961), then he was reunited with the star, producer and director of The Bad and the Beautiful with Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), a critical and commercial disappointment. He wrote a draft of The List of Adrian Messenger (1963).

Schnee had just signed a contract with Dino de Laurentiis on the Sacco Vanzetti case when he died of a heart attack aged 46.^[1]<

He had one wife, Mary Schnee, who predeceased him by committing suicide in October 1961. He was survived by a 14-year-old daughter, Tina.^[14]