John Cherry Monks Jr. (February 24, 1910 – December 10, 2004) was an American writer, actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, and a

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Biography

Monks was born in

Pleasantville, New York Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,513 at the 2020 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary c ...

. He attended the

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

(VMI) and became a stage actor. Together with a fellow former cadet

Fred Finklehoffe Fred Franklin Finklehoffe (February 16, 1910, Springfield, Massachusetts – October 5, 1977, Springtown, Pennsylvania) was an American film writer and producer. He was educated at Virginia Military Institute (V.M.I.) where he met his writing part ...

, he co-wrote a play in 1936 titled ''

Brother Rat ''Brother Rat'' is a 1938 American comedy drama film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley, and starring Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert (in his film debut), Jane Wyman, and W ...

''. The success of the play led to

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

purchasing the play for filming at VMI. Warners engaged them to write the screenplay for the film and a sequel titled ''Brother Rat and a Baby''. Monks also wrote '' Strike Up the Band'' (1940) and '' Dial 1119'' (1950) for

MGM 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 ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Monks was commissioned by the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

on his graduation from VMI. He met producer Louis de Rochemont and co-wrote ''

We Are the Marines ''We Are the Marines'' is a 1942 full-length documentary film produced by ''The March of Time''. It was produced and directed by Louis De Rochemont and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Plot The early portions of the film deal with the history ...

''. Captain Monks served in the

3rd Marine Regiment The 3d Marine Littoral Regiment (3d MLR) is a regiment of the United States Marine Corps that is optimized for littoral maneuver in the Indo-Pacific Theater. Based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, the regiment falls under the command of the 3rd Marin ...

during the Bougainville campaign and wrote an account of the Regiment in ''A Ribbon and a Star: The Third Marines At Bougainville'', published in 1945. Monks returned to civilian life writing the screenplays for several films, such as ''

The House on 92nd Street ''The House on 92nd Street'' is a 1945 black-and-white American spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The movie, shot mostly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. ''The House on 92nd Street'' was made with the full ...

'' (winning an

Edgar Allan Poe 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 honor ...

), ''

Knock on Any Door ''Knock on Any Door'' is a 1949 American courtroom trial film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart. The movie was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Willard Motley. The picture gave actor John Derek his breakthro ...

'', ''

The People Against O'Hara ''The People Against O'Hara'' is a 1951 American crime film noir directed by John Sturges and based on Eleazar Lipsky's novel. The film features Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, John Hodiak and James Arness. Plot James Curtayne was once a highl ...

'' and later (with

Richard Goldstone Richard Joseph Goldstone (born 26 October 1938) is a South African retired judge who served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa from July 1994 to October 2003. He joined the bench as a judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, first i ...

) writing, producing and directing '' No Man Is an Island'' (1962) about American sailor George Ray Tweed, who remained undetected on

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

from the Japanese invasion to the American recapture. After a long absence from the cinema, Monks made several appearances as an actor, beginning with

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

's ''

Paradise Alley ''Paradise Alley'' is a 1978 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone (in his feature directorial debut). The film tells the story of three Italian American brothers in Hell's Kitchen in the 1940s who be ...

'' (1978). He died in

Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside Los Angeles, Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affec ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monks, John Cherry Jr. American male screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) Film directors from New York (state) 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights United States Marine Corps officers 1910 births 2004 deaths People from Pleasantville, New York American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American screenwriters United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II