Hagar Wilde (July 7, 1905 – September 25, 1971) was an American playwright and screenwriter in the late 1930s till the late 1950s. She is perhaps best known for the screenplays for ''

Bringing Up Baby ''Bringing Up Baby'' is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predic ...

'' (1938) and ''

I Was a Male War Bride ''I Was a Male War Bride'' is a 1949 comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The film was based on "Male War Bride Trial to Army", a biography of Henri Rochard (pen name of Roger Charlier), a Belgian who ...

'' (1949), two Howard Hawks films, both starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

Early life

Hagar Wilde was born Beverly Violet Bidwell in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

Career

Wilde was a prolific young short story writer and debut novelist when she was hired by billionaire

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

in 1931, to write dialogue for '' The Age for Love'', starring

Billie Dove Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny; May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress. Early life and career Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Ber ...

. Her association with director Howard Hawks included co-writing (with

Dudley Nichols Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept ...

) the screenplay for ''Bringing Up Baby'' (for which she had also written the original story, published in the magazine ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

''), and the screenplay for ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949). She also co-wrote the screenplay for The Unseen (1945), with Raymond Chandler, based on the novel ''Midnight House'' by

Ethel Lina White Ethel Lina White (2 April 1876 – 13 August 1944) was a British crime writer from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. She was best known for her novel '' The Wheel Spins'' (1936), on which the Alfred Hitchcock 1938 film '' The Lady Vanishes' ...

. Wilde wrote two shows produced on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. Her first stage success was a "taut little horror drama" titled ''

Guest in the House ''Guest in the House'' (re-release title ''Satan in Skirts'') is a 1944 American film noir directed by John Brahm starring Anne Baxter and Ralph Bellamy. Lewis Milestone began directing the film in April 1944, but was stricken with appendici ...

'' (1942); she co-wrote the play with Dale Eunson, and it was adapted into a film in 1944. She also wrote ''Made in Heaven'' (1946–1947). In the 1950s she worked extensively in adapting scripts for television.

Personal life

Wilde was married at least four times. Her first husband was Harlod Chandler Murner; they were married from 1923 to 1928. Her second husband was Ernest Victor Heyn. She divorced Heyn and married her third husband, actor Stephen Bekassy, in 1941. She had a daughter, Stephanie, with Bekassy, before they divorced in 1953. Her fourth husband was an Englishman; that marriage also ended. She died in 1971 at the

Motion Picture Country Home The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as temp ...

in California, aged 66 years.Farr, Louise
"Born to be Wilde"
''Written By'' (January 2016): 22-27.

Selected filmography

* '' The Age for Love'' (1931) * ''

'' (1938) * '' Carefree'' (1938) * '' Fired Wife'' (1943) * ''

'' (1944) * '' The Unseen'' (1945) * ''

'' (1949) *

Red, Hot and Blue ''Red, Hot and Blue'' is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It premiered on Broadway in 1936 and introduced the popular song " It's De-Lovely," sung by Ethel Merman and Bob Hope. ...

(1949) * '' Shadow of the Eagle'' (1950) * ''

The Rival of the Empress ''The Rival of the Empress'' (Italian: ''La rivale dell'imperatrice'') is a 1951 Italian historical adventure film directed by Jacopo Comin and Sidney Salkow and starring Richard Greene, Valentina Cortese and Isa Pola. A separate English-langu ...

'' (1951) * ''

This is My Love ''This Is My Love'' () is a 2015 South Korean television series starring Joo Jin-mo and Kim Sa-rang. It aired on JTBC from May 29 to July 18, 2015 on Fridays and Saturdays at 20:40 ( KST) time slot for 16 episodes. Synopsis Top actor Ji Eun-ho ...

'' (1954)

References

External links

* *
Excerpt
from Stephanie Harrison, ''Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen. 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films''. 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Hagar 1905 births 1971 deaths American women screenwriters American television writers American women television writers Writers from Toledo, Ohio American women short story writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American screenwriters Screenwriters from Ohio