Irving Dover Ravetch (November 14, 1920 – September 19, 2010) was an American screenwriter and film producer who frequently collaborated with his wife Harriet Frank Jr.

Early life

Ravetch was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

familyUniversity of California Press: "Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr.: Tapestry of Life" Interview by Pat McGilligan
/ref> in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, the son of Sylvia (Shapiro) and I. Shalom Ravetch, a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

. His mother was born in Palestine and his father in Ukraine. Ravetch was an aspiring playwright when he enrolled at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Career

Following graduation, he joined the young writer's training program at

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, where he met Harriet Frank Jr., whom he married in 1946.Baer, William, ''Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters''. Greenwood Publishing Group 2008. , pp. 95–109 He gained his first screen credit with ''

Living in a Big Way ''Living in a Big Way'' is a 1947 American musical comedy film starring Gene Kelly, Marie McDonald as a couple who marry during World War II after only knowing each other a short time. This was director Gregory La Cava's final film. Plot Leo Go ...

'' which was released the following year. For the next decade, Ravetch worked mostly on

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

such as ''

Vengeance Valley ''Vengeance Valley'' is a 1951 American Technicolor Western film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Burt Lancaster, with a supporting cast featuring Robert Walker, Joanne Dru, Sally Forrest, John Ireland and Ray Collins. It is based o ...

'' (1951). With Frank, he approached producer

Jerry Wald Jerome Irving Wald (September 16, 1911 – July 13, 1962) was an American screenwriter and a producer of films and radio programs. Life and career Early life Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, he had a brother and sons who were act ...

and proposed they adapt 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 ''

The Hamlet ''The Hamlet'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1940, about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi. Originally a standalone novel, it was later followed by '' The Town'' (1957) and '' The Mansion'' (1959), ...

'' (1940) for the screen. The result was ''

The Long, Hot Summer ''The Long, Hot Summer'' is a 1958 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa and Orson Welles. It was directed by Martin Ritt, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three ...

'' (1958), which primarily was an original story with one of Faulkner's characters at its center. When Wald

greenlight In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...

ed the film and asked Ravetch to choose a director, he suggested

Martin Ritt Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director, producer, and actor, active in film, theatre and television. He was known mainly as an auteur of socially-conscious dramas and literary adaptations, described by Stanley K ...

, whom he knew from the Group Theatre and the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

in New York City. ''The Long, Hot Summer'' proved to be the first of eight projects – including ''

The Sound and the Fury ''The Sound and the Fury'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, ''The Sound and the Fury'' was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immedi ...

'' (1959), '' Hud'' (1963), ''

Norma Rae ''Norma Rae'' is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton – which was told in the 1975 book ''Crystal ...

'' (1979), '' Murphy's Romance'' (1985), and '' Stanley & Iris'' (1990) – written by Ravetch and Frank and directed by Ritt. Additional screenwriting credits include '' Home from the Hill'' (1960), ''

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs ''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' is a 1957 play by William Inge about family conflicts during the early 1920s in a small Oklahoma town. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1958 and was made into a film of the same name in 1 ...

'' (also 1960), ''

The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. It was published a month before his death. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previou ...

'' (1969), ''

The Cowboys ''The Cowboys'' is a 1972 American Western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, and featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens. It was the feature film debut of Robert Carradine. Based on the 1971 novel of the sam ...

'' (1972), and ''

The Spikes Gang ''The Spikes Gang'' is a 1974 American Western film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Lee Marvin. Produced by the Mirisch Company and based on the novel ''The Bank Robber'' by Giles Tippette, the supporting cast features Gary Grimes, ...

'' (1974). Ravetch and Frank were nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, mus ...

and won both the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay and the

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is one of the three screenwriting Writers Guild of America Awards, focused specifically for film. The Writers Guild of America began making the distinction between an original screenp ...

for ''Hud''. He was a recipient of the Bronze Wrangler for ''The Cowboys'', the Screen Laurel Award, and additional Oscar, WGA, and Golden Globe nominations.

Personal life

Ravetch met Harriet Frank Jr. at

s young writer's training program, whom he married in 1946. Ravetch died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on September 19, 2010.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravetch, Irving 1920 births 2010 deaths American male screenwriters Film producers from New Jersey Jewish American screenwriters Writers Guild of America Award winners University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers from Newark, New Jersey Deaths from pneumonia in California Screenwriters from New Jersey American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews