Albert Hackett
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Albert Hackett
Biography
Manhattan-born Albert Hacketts mother was stage star Florence Hackett, and his brother was matinee idol Raymond Hackett. Albert made his own stage bow at age six, studying his trade at New York's Professional Children's School. Though a moderately successful actor, Hackett longed to break into playwrighting, but would not realize this dream until meeting and marrying another performer with writing ambitions, Frances Goodrich. Hackett and his wife collaborated on the 1929 play Up Pops the Devil. The show was a success, and Hackett was invited to Hollywood to work as dialogue director of the film version. But Hackett refused to leave his wife behind in New York; nor did he want Goodrich to be regarded as merely a "writer's wife." When Hackett finally did come to Hollywood, it was as his wife's writing partner, a collaboration that lasted professionally until the team's 1962 retirement--and personally until Goodrich's death in 1984. The projects on which this exceptional duo worked include their adaptation of Eugene O'Neil's only comedy Ah! Wilderness (1935), Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and Stanley Donen's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Once he'd dedicated himself to writing, Hackett halted his acting career; he returned to the stage just once in the 1940 Broadway play Mr. and Mrs. North -- and then only as a favor to an old friend, playwright Owen Davis Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviRelated Videos:
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Albert Hackett
Filmography:
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Albert Hackett
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Albert Hackett
| Albert Hackett | |
|---|---|
 Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett |
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| Born | Albert Maurice Hackett February 16, 1900 Nutley, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | March 16, 1995 (aged 95) New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Dramatist, screenwriter |
| Spouse | Frances Goodrich (m. 1931-1984†) Gisella Svetlik (m. 1985-1995) |
| Information | |
| Works with | Frances Goodrich |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1956) |
Albert Maurice Hackett (February 16, 1900 – March 16, 1995) was an American dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich.
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Early years
Hackett was born to Maurice Hackett and actress Florence Hackett (née Hart) in New York City, New York where he attended Professional Children's School and started out as a child actor, appearing on stage and in films. His brother was the actor Raymond Hackett. Their stepfather was the early film actor Arthur V. Johnson who married their mother Florence circa 1910. His sister-in-law was Blanche Sweet who was Raymond's wife for a time.
Career
Not long after marrying screenwriter, Frances Goodrich, the couple went to Hollywood in the late 1920s to write the screenplay for their stage success Up Pops the Devil for Paramount Pictures. In 1933 they signed a contract with MGM and remained with them until 1939. Among their earliest assignments was writing the screenplay for The Thin Man (1934). They were encouraged by the director W. S. Van Dyke to use the writing of Dashiell Hammett as a basis only, and to concentrate on providing witty exchanges for the principal characters, Nick and Nora Charles (played by William Powell and Myrna Loy). The resulting film was one of the major hits of the year, and the script, considered to show a modern relationship in a realistic manner for the first time, was considered to be groundbreaking. However this is only because it was written and released before the enactment of the Hollywood Production Code, which strictly censored movies from mid-1934 until the early 1960s (see Pre-Code). The other Nick and Nora films show a steep decline regarding the "groundbreaking maturity" of the Charles' marriage.
They received Academy Award for Screenplay nominations for The Thin Man, After the Thin Man (1936), Father of the Bride (1950) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1955). They won Writers Guild of America awards for Easter Parade (1949), Father's Little Dividend (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), as well as nominations for In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Father of the Bride (1950) and The Long, Long Trailer (1954). They also won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle award for their original play The Diary of Anne Frank.
Some of their other films include: Another Thin Man (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
References
- "Albert Hackett Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/82/Albert-Hackett.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- "Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Gi-Ha/Goodrich-Frances-and-Albert-Hackett.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
External links
- Albert Hackett at the Internet Broadway Database
- Albert Hackett at the Internet Movie Database
- Albert Hackett at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
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Mentioned in
Frances Goodrich
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Hide-Out
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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