Joseph McBride (born August 9, 1947) is an American

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He has written numerous books including biographies of notable film directors, a book on screenwriting, an investigative journalism book on the JFK assassination, and a memoir of the dark years in his life. He also serves as professor in the

Cinema Department at San Francisco State University The School of Cinema is housed in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. It is located in San Francisco, California, USA and offers a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts in cinema. The pro ...

Career

Early life and career

Born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

, McBride grew up in the suburb of

Wauwatosa Wauwatosa (; known informally as Tosa; originally Wau-wau-too-sa or Hart's Mill) is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 48,387 at the 2020 census. Wauwatosa is located immediately west of Milwaukee, and is a pa ...

. He attended the

University of Wisconsin, Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, and worked as a reporter for the ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...

'' in Madison, before moving to California in 1973.

Books

McBride has published more than 20 books since 1968, including biographies of film directors

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

(''Steven Spielberg: A Biography'', 1997, and published in translation in mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in 2012),

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...

(''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', 1992),

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

(''Orson Welles'' (1972), ''Orson Welles: Actor and Director'' (1977) and ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career'' (2006)), and

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

(''John Ford'' (with Michael Wilmington, 1974) and ''Searching for John Ford'' (2001)). McBride's interview book with director Howard Hawks, ''Hawks on Hawks'', was published in 1982. In 2012, he published a

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, de ...

manual, ''Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless''. In the book, McBride uses his adaptation of

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

’s short story "

To Build a Fire "To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. There are two versions of this story. The first one was published in 1902, and the other was published in 1908. The story written in 1908 has become an often anthologized classic, ...

" to break down the steps necessary for a screenplay, such as research, treatments, and outlines. The book draws from his extensive teaching experience. In 2013, he published ''Into 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 published ''The Broken Places: A Memoir'', which deals with his troubled childhood, his teenage breakdown, and his subsequent recovery. Columbia University Press published ''How Did Lubitsch Do It?'', McBride's look at the career of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, in June 2018. In March 2019, ''Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra'' was published by McBride. It recounts his legal battle with original publisher Knopf/Random House and Capra allies over publication of the biography ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992.

Film and television

McBride's screenwriting credits include the movies ''

Rock 'n' Roll High School ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, and Dey Young. The film featured the punk rock group Ram ...

'' and ''Blood and Guts'' and five

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

Life Achievement Award specials on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

-TV dealing with

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

, and

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...

. He was also cowriter of the United States Information Agency worldwide live TV special ''Let Poland Be Poland'' (1982). He plays a film critic, Mr. Pister, in the Orson Welles feature ''

The Other Side of the Wind ''The Other Side of the Wind'' is a 2018 satirical drama film, directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Orson Welles, and posthumously released in 2018 after forty-eight years in development. The film stars John Huston, Bob Random, P ...

'' (1970–76) and served as a consultant on its completion in 2018. He is also the coproducer of the documentaries ''Obsessed with "Vertigo": New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece'' (1997) and ''John Ford Goes to War'' (2002).

Awards and honors

McBride received the "Television: Comedy/Variety - Special"

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility ...

in 1984 for cowriting ''The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston'' with producer

George Stevens, Jr. George Cooper Stevens Jr. (born April 3, 1932) is an American writer, playwright, director, and producer. He is the founder of the American Film Institute, creator of the AFI Life Achievement Award, and co-creator of the Kennedy Center Honors. H ...

He has also received four other WGA nominations, two

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations, and a

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

s nomination. The French edition of ''Searching for John Ford'', titled ''A 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

McBride lives in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. His life partner is author and psychology educator Ann Weiser Cornell.McBride, Joseph
''Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless''

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 2012. pp. 352–353.

References

External links

Official site
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Beatrice interview: Joseph McBride
{{DEFAULTSORT:McBride, Joseph 1947 births Living people 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American male writers Screenwriting instructors American conspiracy theorists American film critics American male screenwriters American film historians Film theorists John F. Kennedy conspiracy theorists Journalists from Wisconsin People from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy San Francisco State University faculty Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Writers from Milwaukee American male biographers