Ernest Paul Lehman (December 8, 1915 – July 2, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win. Their Jewish family was based on Long Island. Lehman attended the College of the City of New York (The City College of New York), from which he earned a bachelor's degree.
Career
After graduation, Lehman started working as a freelance writer. Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living", so he began writing copy for a publicity firm that focused on plays and celebrities. He drew from this experience for his novelette, Sweet Smell of Success (1957), on which Clifford Odets based the filmscript for the production team of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster.
Lehman also published many short stories and novellas in magazines such as Colliers, Redbook and Cosmopolitan. These attracted the attention of Hollywood managers, and in the mid-1950s Paramount Pictures signed him to a writing contract. His first film, Executive Suite (1954), was a success.
Lehman was asked to collaborate on the romantic comedy Sabrina (1954), which was released the same year and also became a hit. Some of his most notable works are the screenplay adaptations of the musical West Side Story (1961) He was an active member of the Bel Air Repeater Association.
Death
Lehman died on July 2, 2005, at UCLA Medical Center after an apparent heart attack. He was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Writing credits
Filmography
- The Inside Story (story) (1948)
- Executive Suite (1954)
- Sabrina (with Billy Wilder & Samuel Taylor) (1954)
- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
- The King and I (1956)
- Sweet Smell of Success (with Clifford Odets) (1957) also story
- North by Northwest (1959)
- From the Terrace (1960)
- West Side Story (1961)
- The Prize (1963)
- The Sound of Music (1965)
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
- Hello, Dolly! (1969)
- Portnoy's Complaint (1972) also director
- Family Plot (1976)
- Black Sunday (with Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat) (1977)
Television
- The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949) writer, one episode
- The Ford Television Theatre (1954) writer, one episode
- Lux Video Theatre (1955) writer, one episode
- Playhouse 90 (1957) writer, one episode
- ' (1957) based on Sweet Smell of Success
- The French Atlantic Affair (1979) based on his novel
Bibliography
- Sweet Smell of Success and Other Stories (1957) short stories
- The Comedian and Other Stories (1957) short stories
- The French Atlantic Affair (1977) novel
- Screening Sickness and Other Tales of Tinsel Town (1982) essays
- Farewell Performance (1982) novel
Biography
- Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success (2022) by Jon Krampner
Accolades
Lehman received six Academy Award nominations during his career, but never won. At the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2001, he became the first screenwriter to receive an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Lehman did, however, receive more honorable recognition from the Writers Guild of America than any other screenwriter in film history.
{| class="wikitable" width="90%"
! Award
! Date of ceremony
! Category
! Film
! Result
|-
| rowspan="7"| Academy Award
| 1955
| Best Adapted Screenplay
| Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor)<br />Lost to George Seaton for The Country Girl
| rowspan="6"
|-
| 1960
| Best Original Screenplay
| North by Northwest<br />Lost to Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene, Stanley Shapiro, and Maurice Richlin for Pillow Talk
|-
| 1962
| Best Adapted Screenplay
| West Side Story<br />Lost to Abby Mann for Judgment at Nuremberg
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1967
| Best Picture
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<br />Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons
|-
| Best Adapted Screenplay
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<br />Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons
|-
| 1970
| Best Picture
| Hello, Dolly!<br />Lost to Jerome Hellman for Midnight Cowboy
|-
| 2001
| Academy Honorary Award
| "in appreciation of a body of varied and enduring work."
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| Golden Globe Award
| 1955
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
| Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1967
| Best Motion Picture – Drama
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<br />Lost to Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons
| rowspan="3"
|-
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<br />Lost to Robert Bolt for A Man for All Seasons
|-
| 1970
| Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Hello, Dolly!<br />Lost to Stanley Kramer and George Glass for The Secret of Santa Vittoria
|-
| rowspan="3"| Edgar Allan Poe Award
| 1960
| rowspan="3"| Best Motion Picture Screenplay
| North by Northwest
| rowspan="2"
|-
| 1977
| Family Plot
|-
| 1978
| Black Sunday (shared with Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat)<br />Lost to Robert Benton for The Late Show
|
|-
| rowspan="10"| Writers Guild of America Award
| rowspan="2"| 1955
| Best Written American Comedy
| Sabrina (shared with Billy Wilder and Samuel A. Taylor)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Best Written American Drama
| Executive Suite<br />Lost to Budd Schulberg for On the Waterfront
| rowspan="2"
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1957
| Somebody Up There Likes Me<br />Lost to Michael Wilson for Friendly Persuasion
|-
| Best Written American Musical
| The King and I
|
|-
| 1960
| Best Written American Comedy
| North by Northwest<br />Lost to Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond for Some Like It Hot
|
|-
| 1962
| rowspan="2"| Best Written American Musical
| West Side Story
| rowspan="3"
|-
| 1966
| The Sound of Music
|-
| 1967
| Best Written American Drama
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
|-
| 1972
| Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
|
|
|-
| 1977
| Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium
| Family Plot<br />Lost to Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman for The Pink Panther Strikes Again
|
|-
|}
References
External links
- Ernest Lehman papers at the Harry Ransom Center