Born in Oakland, California. A Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist, he wrote Hollywood screenplays alone and in collaboration from 1929. Several film versions (1928, 1930, 1940) were made from his play They Knew What They Wanted, which won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (It was also made into a successful Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella in 1956.) His Academy Award for GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) distinguished him in two ways: He became the first person to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an Oscar, and he was the first person to win an Academy Award posthumously. (He had been killed in a tractor accident on his farm in Massachusetts on August 23, 1939.) Notable screenwriting and adaptation credits include THE SECRET HOUR and NED McCOBB'S DAUGHTER (both 1928, both from his plays), BULLDOG DRUMMOND and CONDEMNED (both 1929), RAFFLES and FREE LOVE (from his play Half Gods) (both 1930), ONE HEAVENLY NIGHT and ARROWSMITH (both 1931), THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM, THE SILVER CORD (from his play) and CHRISTOPHER BEAN (from his play The Late Christopher Bean) (all 1933), DODSWORTH (1936, from his play), THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1937, uncredited), YELLOW JACK (1938), GONE WITH THE WIND (1939). He'd done uncredited work on NORTHWEST PASSAGE and had adapted HE STAYED FOR BREAKFAST (both 1940).  Nominated for Writing (Adaptation) 1931-32: ARROWSMITH  Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1936: DODSWORTH  Writing (Screenplay) 1939: GONE WITH THE WIND 3 nominations, 1 Award