Laurence Stallings

Biography

Educated at Wake Forest University and Georgetown, Laurence Stallings joined the Marines at the outbreak of WWI. During his tour of duty, Stallings fought at the "massacre" of Belleau Wood, and lost a leg in combat. While working at the New York World as a reporter and entertainment editor in the early '20s, he poured his wartime memories into the autobiographical novel Plume. This in turn was adapted to the screen by director King Vidor as The Big Parade (1925), a major moneymaker which ushered in a profitable cycle of war films. Stallings went on to collaborate with Maxwell Anderson on the WWI stage play What Price Glory?, which both shocked and delighted audiences with its irreverence and profanity. What Price Glory? was also made into a successful film in 1926, though Stallings, then under contract to MGM, was unable to contribute to the screenplay. His own screen career extending to 1954, Stallings wrote or co-wrote several of director John Ford's finest films, including Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and The Sun Shines Bright (1954). Continuing to write until his death, Laurence Stallings put together several more volumes on WWI, including one for preteen readers in 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi