Nelson Roosevelt Gidding (September 15, 1919 – May 2, 2004) was an American screenwriter specializing in

adaptations In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the ...

. A longtime collaboration with director

Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...

began with Gidding's screenplay for ''

I Want to Live! ''I Want to Live!'' is a 1958 American biographical film noir directed by Robert Wise and starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent and Theodore Bikel. It follows the life of Barbara Graham, a prostitute and habitual criminal w ...

'' (1958), which earned him an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

nomination. His long-running course on screenwriting adaptions at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

inspired screenwriters of the present generation, including David S. Goyer. Gidding was born in New York and attended school at Phillips Exeter Academy; as a young man he was friends with Norman Mailer. After graduating from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, he entered the Army Air Forces in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as the navigator on a B-26. His plane was shot down over Italy, but he survived; he spent 18 months as a POW but effected an escape. Returning from the war, in 1946 he published his only novel, ''End Over End'', begun while captive in a German prison camp. In 1949, Gidding married Hildegarde Colligan; together they had a son, Joshua Gidding, who today is a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

writer and college professor. In Hollywood, Gidding entered work in television, writing for such series as '' Suspense'' and '' Sergeant Preston of the Yukon'', and eventually moved into feature films like '' The Helen Morgan Story'' (1957), ''

Odds Against Tomorrow ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise and starring Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel of the same name by William P. McGivern. Blac ...

'' (1959), '' The Haunting'' (1963), ''

Lost Command ''Lost Command'' (aka ''Les Centurions'') is a 1966 American war film directed and produced by Mark Robson and starring Anthony Quinn, Alain Delon, George Segal, Michèle Morgan, Maurice Ronet and Claudia Cardinale. It is based on the best-sell ...

'' (1966), ''

The Andromeda Strain ''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1969 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, his first novel under his own name and his sixth novel overall. It is written as a report documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak o ...

'' (1971), and '' The Hindenburg'' (1975). After the death of his first wife on June 13, 1995, in 1998 Gidding married Chun-Ling Wang, a Chinese immigrant. Gidding taught at USC until his death from congestive heart failure at a

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

hospital in 2004.

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

References

* *

External links

*
Gidding documents from World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidding, Nelson American male screenwriters 1919 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Harvard University alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters American prisoners of war in World War II