Ben Maddow (aka David Wolff; August 7, 1909 – October 9, 1992) was an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

documentarian A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill N ...

from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 1930s. In 1936 he co-founded the short-lived left-wing newsreel '' The World Today''. Under the pseudonym of David Wolff, Maddow co-wrote the screenplay to the Paul Strand–Leo Hurwitz documentary landmark, '' Native Land'' (1942). He earned his first feature screenplay credit with '' Framed'' (1947). Other screenplays include

Clarence Brown Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Early life Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when h ...

's '' Intruder in the Dust'' (1949, an

adaptation 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 p ...

of the

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

novel),

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

's ''

The Asphalt Jungle ''The Asphalt Jungle'' is a 1950 American heist film noir directed and cowritten by John Huston and starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest role ...

'' (1950, for which he received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nomination), ''

Johnny Guitar ''Johnny Guitar'' is a 1954 American independent Western film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine, and Scott Brady. It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures. ...

'' (1954, credited to

Philip Yordan Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for ''Broken Lance'' (1954). During the 1950s and 1960s, Yorda ...

who wrote it on location), ''

God's Little Acre ''God's Little Acre'' is a 1933 Southern Gothic novel by Erskine Caldwell about a dysfunctional farming family in Georgia which is obsessed with sex and wealth. The novel's sexual themes were so controversial that the New York Society for the ...

'' (1958, an adaptation of the

Erskine Caldwell Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (19 ...

novel, originally credited to

as a

HUAC The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...

-era "front" for Maddow, and with title card restored to Maddow, only, during the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

restoration), and, again with Huston, an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

for Best Mystery Screenplay) and '' The Unforgiven'' (1960). As a documentarian he directed and wrote such films as ''Storm of Strangers'', '' The Stairs'', and '' The Savage Eye'' (1959), which won the BAFTA Flaherty Documentary Award. Maddow made his solo feature directorial debut with the striking, offbeat feature '' An Affair of the Skin'' (1963), a well-acted story of several loves and friendships gone sour and marked by the rich characterisations which had distinguished his best screenplays. In 1961, Maddow and Huston co-wrote the episode "The Professor" of the 1961 television series ''

''. In 1968 he wrote a screenplay based on Edmund Naughton's novel ''McCabe''; while a film adaptation of the novel was ultimately produced as '' McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (1971), Maddow wasn't credited on the film. His final screenplay was for the horror melodrama '' The Mephisto Waltz'' (1970).

References

Notes Bibliography * Further reading * Recent essay on Maddow, including a discussion of the effects of his blacklisting and of the possibility that he "named names" in 1958. *Hagan, John (2000).
Ben Maddow
, in Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (editors), ''International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, Edition 4'' (St. James Press), . Online version of article retrieved January 9, 2008. *Haut, Woody (2008)
"Ben Maddow: Affairs of the Skin,"
blog posted by a film critic who has published several books. Archived by WebCite from th
original
2008-02-26.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maddow, Ben 1909 births 1992 deaths American male screenwriters Edgar Award winners Columbia University alumni 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters