Mortimer Offner (November 3, 1900 – September 1965) was an American photographer, political activist, and screenwriter. He created portraits of leading film stars before successfully moving to screenwriting. His career ended when he was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...

because he was a communist.

Life

Offner was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on November 3, 1900.Mortimer Offner
Social Security Death Index. Retrieved October 23, 2015. His parents were of Austrian Jewish descent and they ran a dressmaking business and lived with Mortimer's aunt on East 54th street. The household also included his brother,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

, and his cousin, dancer, and artist

Stella Bloch Stella Bloch (December 18, 1897 – January 20, 1999) was an American artist, dancer and journalist. She headlined as a dancer in Rochester, New York. She also worked as an artist and her work is in several collections. Life Bloch was born ...

.Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish, 1877-1947
Princeton University Library. Retrieved October 23, 2015. Offner had a university education before he attended the Clarence White School of Photography. After trying acting, he became a photographer taking portraits on Broadway. Offner and his brother are credited with helping their cousin in launching her career. Offner's career was transformed when he was encouraged to move to Hollywood by actress

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

in 1932. While there, he discovered that he had a talent for screenwriting, and his photography ended in 1934.Mortimer Offner
broadway.cas.sc.edu. Retrieved October 23, 2015 Offner notably worked on '' Alice Adams''. Dorothy Yost and Jane Murfin had created a script, but the director George Stevens was annoyed that the writers had changed the ending. Stevens' friend, Offner, was called in, and they and Hepburn rewrote it, writing and performing the lines as they wrote. The script was only completed twelve days before the end of the shooting schedule. His films were frequently adaptations of novels. He wrote ten screenplays for films. Offner was an activist for the Communist Party and this resulted in him losing work. Like many, including his cousin's husband

Edward Eliscu Edward Eliscu (April 2, 1902 – June 18, 1998) was an American lyricist, playwright, producer and actor, and a successful writer of songs for films. Life Eliscu was born in Manhattan, New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School i ...

, Mortimer moved away from Hollywood and returned to New York. At the end of his career he had to work under a pseudonym.

Death

Offner died in

in September 1965. He was survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Offner (1948-1985) and

Deborah Offner Deborah Offner (born August 7, 1959) is an American actress, songwriter, playwright, and theatre director. Life Offner was born in New York City in 1959. Her father was Mortimer Offner, a photographer, screenwriter, and TV and theatre director. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Offner, Mortimer 1900 births 1965 deaths Artists from New York (state) 20th-century American photographers