Sidney Harmon (April 30, 1907 – February 29, 1988) was a movie producer and

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 ...

. Harmon was nominated for the 1942

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 Screenpl ...

for the movie '' The Talk of the Town''. He began his career working as a writer for radio and the theater during the 1930s. Harmon produced Sidney Kingsley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play '' Men In White''.

Biography

Born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, Harmon produced Broadway plays throughout the 1930s (1931-1937). Harmon was one of many members of the Group Theatre to become involved with movie production. He married artist Lily Harmon (née Perlmutter) in 1934; they divorced in 1940."Lily Harmon, 85, Portraitist and Book Illustrator,"
''New York Times'' (14 Feb. 1998). Retrieved 29 March 2017. He worked with movies from the 1940s to the 1960s. In 1959, he co-founded the Theatre Group at the

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

with

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanians, Romanian-born British Americans, British-American theatre and film producer, actor, director, and teacher. He became known for his highly publ ...

and Robert Ryan. Harmon, with Ryan and others, initiated the Oakwood School in California in 1951. During retirement, Harmon was active in the cultural life of

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, California; he was the first director emeritus of the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert. The Desert Theatre League's Sidney Harmon Award honored members "in recognition of the advancement of theatrical excellence both on and off the stage". Harmon died in

Rancho Mirage Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is a low-density desert community with resorts, golf courses, and country clubs within the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled along the foothills ...

, California on February 29, 1988.

Career

Writer (1940s–1960s)

* ''The Talk of the Town'' (1942) (story) ... aka ''George Stevens' The Talk of the Town'' * '' Drums in the Deep South'' (1951) (screenplay) * ''Mara Maru'' (1952) (story) * ''Mutiny'' (1952) (writer) * '' Man Crazy'' (1953) (writer) * '' Hand in Hand'' (1960) (story)

Producer (1950s–1960s)

* ''Man Crazy'' (1953) (producer) * ''

The Big Combo ''The Big Combo'' is a 1955 American crime film, crime film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis, written by Philip Yordan and photographed by cinematographer John Alton, with music by David Raksin. The film stars Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte and Bria ...

'' (1955) (producer) * '' The Wild Party'' (1956) (producer) * ''

Men in War ''Men in War'' is a 1957 black-and-white American war film about the Korean War directed by Anthony Mann and starring Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray as the leaders of a small detachment of American soldiers cut off and desperately trying to rejoin th ...

'' (1957) (producer) * '' God's Little Acre'' (1958) (producer) * '' Anna Lucasta'' (1958) (producer) * '' Day of the Outlaw'' (1959) (producer) * '' The Thin Red Line'' (1964) (producer) * ''

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

'' (1965) (executive producer)

Miscellaneous Crew

* ''Men in War'' (1957) (presenter)

References

External links

* 1907 births 1988 deaths Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-film-bio-stub