Clements Ripley (August 26, 1892 – July 22, 1954) was an American fiction writer and screenwriter.

Early life

Ripley was born on August 26, 1892, in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. He was the son of Thomas E. Ripley, and the grandson of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

officer William Y. W. Ripley, who received the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

for heroism at the

Battle of Malvern Hill The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. ...

. Clements Ripley attended the

Taft School The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates. About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...

and graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1916. At Yale, he was an editor of the campus humor magazine ''

The Yale Record ''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...

'' with

James Ashmore Creelman James Ashmore Creelman (September 21, 1894 – September 9, 1941) was a film writer in Hollywood. Biography He was born on September 21, 1894, in Marietta, Ohio. He was the second son of James Creelman, the journalist and Alice Leffingwell Buel ...

, writer of ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' and ''

The Most Dangerous Game "The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...

''.

Military service

Ripley 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 ...

during

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, ...

. He was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the

14th Field Artillery Regiment The 14th Field Artillery Regiment is a parent field artillery regiment of the United States Army, currently represented in the Regular Army by its 1st Battalion, a HIMARS unit with the 75th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The re ...

. He served until 1920, rising to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Writing career

While stationed in

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

in 1919, Ripley met and married Katherine (Kattie) Ball, the daughter of noted journalist W. W. Ball. They lived in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

and grew peaches until 1927, when they moved to Charleston, South Carolina to become writers. (Katherine Ball later wrote about this experience in 1931's ''Sand in My Shoes''.)University of South Carolina
Clements and Katharine Ball Ripley Papers, 1909-1996
retrieved February 14, 2014 Clements Ripley wrote seven novels, three of which were made into movies, as well as several screenplays. He also wrote numerous short stories and serials, some of which were published in popular magazines, including ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' and the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''.

Death and burial

He died in Charleston July 22, 1954. He was memorialized in his family's plot at Evergreen Cemetery in

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont *Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...

, and was buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

Family

Clements Ripley and Katherine Ball were the parents of William Y. W. Ripley (1921-2013), a notable

journalist and historian.Charleston Post and Courier
Retired Newspaper Editor Ripley Dies at 92
September 7, 2013

Works

Novels

* ''Dust and Sun'' (1929), which was made into the 1930 film ''

A Devil with Women ''A Devil with Women'' is a 1930 American pre-Code film starring Victor McLaglen, Mona Maris, and Humphrey Bogart, and directed by Irving Cummings. Set in a Central American country, adventurer McLaglen and sidekick Bogart find themselves in a ...

'', starring Humphrey Bogart * ''Devil Drums'' (1930) * ''Black Moon'' (1933), which was made into a 1934 film of the same name, starring

Fay Wray Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...

* ''Murder Walks Alone'' (1935) * ''Gold Is Where You Find It'' (1936), which was made into a 1938 film of the same name, starring

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...

and

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man'' (1933), he appeared in such highly regarded films as '' ...

* ''Clear for Action'' (1940) * ''Mississippi Belle'' (1942)

Screenplays

* ''

Love, Honor and Behave ''Love, Honor and Behave'' is a 1938 American drama film directed by Stanley Logan and starring Wayne Morris and Priscilla Lane. The supporting cast includes John Litel, Thomas Mitchell, Dick Foran and Dickie Moore. "Bei Mir Bist Du Sc ...

'' (1938), co-writer * ''

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

'' (1938), co-writer, for which

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

received the Academy Award for Best Actress and

Fay Bainter Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''Jezebel (1938 film), Jezebel'' (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ea ...

for Best Supporting Actress. It was also made into an episode of the same name of the TV series ''

Lux Video Theatre ''Lux Video Theatre'' is an American television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1957. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays. Overview The ''Lux Vi ...

'' in 1956, for which he wrote the screenplay. * ''Pioneer Woman'' (1940) * ''

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...

'' (1944) with

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Western film, Westerns, for ...

Maureen O'Hara Maureen O'Hara (; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was a native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, who became successful in Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural redhead who was known for pl ...

and

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental ...

* ''

Old Los Angeles ''Old Los Angeles'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and written by Gerald Drayson Adams and Clements Ripley. The film stars Wild Bill Elliott, John Carroll, Catherine McLeod, Joseph Schildkraut, Andy Devine and E ...

'' (1948) (screenplay and story)

Short stories

* "For Ways That Are Dark", ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Apr 2 1921 * "Mr. Hartman Finesses a Queen", ''Breezy Stories'', Jan 1923 * "Ain't That Our Luck", ''Adventure'', Dec 20 1923 * "The Unkeyed Letter", ''Top-Notch'', Jul 1 1925 * "Gun Cargo", ''The Frontier'', Sep 1926 * "Bucko", ''Frontier Stories'', Nov 1927 * "Cities of Fear", ''Everybody's Magazine'', Jan 1928 * "The Man for the Job", ''Everybody's Magazine'', Dec 1928 * "Hard Old Man", ''The American Magazine'', Jun 1931 * "Good-Will Tour", ''Cosmopolitan'', Oct 1932 * "The Socking of Cicero", ''Cosmopolitan'', Oct 1933 * "Bank Holdup", ''Cosmopolitan'', Jan 1934 * "A Lady Comes to Town", ''Cosmopolitan'', Jun 1934 * "Patriot", ''Cosmopolitan'', Jul 1935 * "Tenth Commandment", ''Cosmopolitan'', Nov 1935 * "The Cute Little Trick", ''Redbook'', Dec 1937 * "The Knife Look", ''Cosmopolitan'', May 1939 * "Once an Artilleryman—", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Aug 24 1940 * "Each in His Turn", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Jun 7 1941 * "Roaring Guns", which was made into the 1944 short film of the same name * "Soldier's Honor", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Nov 22 1947 * "Hidden Valley", ''The American Magazine'', Feb 1950 * "The Day the Circus Came", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Oct 6 1951 * "The Magic Afternoon", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Dec 27 1952 * "A Christmas Tale", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', Dec 19 1953 * "Nor'wester", which was made into the 1959 film ''

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

'' starring

Robert Stack Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC tele ...

References

External links

* (South Carolina) * (Vermont) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ripley, Clements 1892 births 1954 deaths Writers from Tacoma, Washington Writers from Charleston, South Carolina American fiction writers American male screenwriters United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army officers Yale University alumni Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Rutland, Vermont) Screenwriters from South Carolina Screenwriters from Washington (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters