Arthur Hornblow Jr.

Hornblow was the son of Arthur Hornblow Sr. (1865–1942), a writer who edited Theatre Magazine in New York City. (He allowed a version of his last name be used by C. S. Forester for the fictional sea captain Horatio Hornblower after meeting writer Forester at a New York cocktail party.)

Hornblow graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, New York City, in 1911, before studying at Dartmouth College and New York Law School,[1] and was a member of the fraternity Theta Delta Chi. He served in counter-intelligence during World War I,[1] and then tried his hand at playwriting. He was then hired as a production supervisor by Sam Goldwyn at Paramount in 1927.[1]

Initially, he specialized in the popular screwball comedies, eventually giving Billy Wilder his first directing job, and producing several films starring Bob Hope.[1] These included The Cat and the Canary (1939), The Ghost Breakers (1940) and Nothing But the Truth (1941).[2] In 1942 he moved to MGM where he produced Gaslight and several film noir. In the 1950s, now an independent producer rather that a studio employee, he worked on the musical Oklahoma and the courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution, directed by his former Paramount colleague, Billy Wilder.

He gave aspiring actress Marie Windsor her first screen test, and Constance Ockelman her new name, Veronica Lake.

As a producer he was nominated for an Academy Award 'Best Picture' Oscar four times, but failed to win.

• Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), comedy-western with Charles Laughton.
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941), romantic-comedy with Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland.
• Gaslight (1944), thriller with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten.
• Witness for the Prosecution (1957), courtroom drama with Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, and Elsa Lanchester.

Hornblow and Paulette Goddard on the set of The Cat and the Canary (1939)

• Four Hours to Kill! (1935)
• The Princess Comes Across (1936)
• Easy Living (1937)
• High, Wide, and Handsome (1937)
• Midnight (1939)
• The Cat and the Canary (1939)
• The Ghost Breakers (1940)
• Arise, My Love (1940)
• The Major and the Minor (1942)
• Gaslight (1944)[2]
• The Hucksters (1947)[2]
• "Cass Timberlane" (1947 film)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)[2]
• Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
• Oklahoma! (1955)[2]
• The War Lover (1962)

• Animals Do the Strangest Things, illus. Michael K. Frith (Random House, 1964), 62 pp., LCCN 64-19132

The Hornblows, Frith, and Random House collaborated to produce numerous sequels, Birds Do the Strangest Things (1965), and so on.

• A History of the Theatre in America From its Beginnings to the Present Time Vol. 1 (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1919), ISBN 9781628452334
• A History of the Theatre in America From its Beginnings to the Present Time Vol. 2 (J.B. LIppincott Company, 1919), ISBN 9781628452594

• Arthur Hornblow Jr. on IMDb
• Allmovie biography
• Arthur Hornblow Jr profile at TCMDB
• Arthur Hornblow Jr. at Library of Congress Authorities, with 13 catalog records (previous page of browse report, under 'Hornblow, Arthur, 1893–1976')
• Hornblow, Arthur, 1865–1942 at LC Authorities, with 28 records; Arthur senior at WorldCat
• Leonora Hornblow at LC Authorities, with 15 records; Leonora at WorldCat