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Charles Gordon MacArthur (November 5, 1895 – April 21, 1956) was an American
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
,
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. ...
and 1935 winner of the
Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenp ...
.


Life and career

MacArthur was born in
Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
, the sixth of seven children of stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading. Declining to follow his father into ministry, he moved to the Midwest and soon became a successful reporter in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, working for the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' and '' Chicago Daily News''. MacArthur joined the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
for
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, and served in France as a private assigned to Battery F, 149th Field Artillery, a unit of the 42nd Division. He recounted his wartime experience in 1919's ''A Bug's-Eye View of the War''. After the war, he wrote several short stories, two of which, "Hang It All" (1921) and "Rope" (1923), were published in H. L. Mencken's '' The Smart Set'' magazine. Eventually he settled in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, where he turned to playwriting. MacArthur is best known for his plays in collaboration with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
, '' Ladies and Gentlemen'' (filmed as '' Perfect Strangers''), '' Twentieth Century'' and the frequently filmed '' The Front Page'', which was based in part on MacArthur's experiences at the
City News Bureau of Chicago City News Bureau of Chicago (CNB), or City Press (1890-2005), was a news bureau that served as one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. It was founded in 1890 by the newspapers of Chicago to provide a common source of loc ...
. MacArthur also co-wrote, with Edward Sheldon, the play ''Lulu Belle'', which was staged in 1926 by David Belasco. MacArthur was friends with members of the Algonquin Round Table. He shared an apartment with Robert Benchley and had an affair with
Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...
. His second marriage was to the stage and screen actress
Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...
, from 1928 until his death. They lived in Nyack, New York. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Mary, who died of polio in 1949 at the age of 19. The shock of her death hastened MacArthur's own, according to those who knew him. Their adopted son, James MacArthur, was also an actor, best known for playing Danny Williams on the American
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
series '' Hawaii Five-O''. His brother, John D. MacArthur, was an insurance-company owner and executive, and founded the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
, the benefactor of the
MacArthur Fellowships The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...
.


Awards and nominations

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...
for Best Writing, Original Story - '' The Scoundrel'' (shared with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
) (1936) * Nominations: ** Best Writing, Screenplay - '' Wuthering Heights'' (shared with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
) in 1940 ** Best Writing, Original Story - '' Rasputin and the Empress'' in 1934 In 1983, MacArthur was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.


Film portrayal

MacArthur was portrayed by Matthew Broderick in the 1994 film '' Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle''.


Selected works


Plays

* ''Swan Song'' (1946), (with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
) * '' Ladies and Gentlemen'' (1939), (with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
), made into the 1950 film '' Perfect Strangers'' * ''Spring Tonic'', made into the 1935 movie of the same name * ''Johnny on a Spot'' * ''Jumbo'', (with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
), made into the 1935 musical play ''
Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and ...
'' and the 1962 film musical '' Billy Rose's Jumbo'' * '' Twentieth Century'' (with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
), made into the 1934 film '' Twentieth Century'' * ''The Front Page'' (1928), with
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
, made into the 1931, 1945, and 1974 motion pictures of the same name, the 1940 film '' His Girl Friday'', and the 1988 movie '' Switching Channels'' * '' Lulu Belle'' (1926), (with Edward Sheldon)


Screenplays

* '' Wuthering Heights'' (1939) * '' Gunga Din'' (1939) * '' Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938) (uncredited) * ''King of Gamblers'' (1937), aka ''Czar of the Slot Machines'' (uncredited) * ''Soak the Rich'' (1936) * '' The Scoundrel'' (1935) * '' Barbary Coast'' (1935) * ''Once in a Blue Moon'' (1935) * ''
Crime Without Passion ''Crime Without Passion'' is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures. Sixty ...
'' (1934) (also directed by him and
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
) *'' Topaze'' (1933) * '' Freaks'' (1932) (uncredited) * '' Rasputin and the Empress'' (1932) * '' The Unholy Garden'' (1931) * '' Quick Millions'' (1931) (uncredited) * '' Hell Divers'' (1931) * '' New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford'' (1931) * '' The Sin of Madelon Claudet'' (1931) * '' Paid'' (1930) * '' Way for a Sailor'' (1930) * '' King of Jazz'' (1930) (uncredited) * ''
Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at t ...
'' (1930) * '' The Girl Said No'' (1930)


References


External links


Charles MacArthur at JamesMacArthur.com
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, Charles 1895 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters Writers from Chicago Writers from New York City Writers from Scranton, Pennsylvania Best Story Academy Award winners People from Nyack, New York American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Illinois Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Baptists from New York (state) Baptists from Pennsylvania Chicago Tribune people 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century Baptists Algonquin Round Table United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army soldiers