Born in Shoshone, Idaho. He wrote several plays and entered American film with the screenplay for Frank Lloyd's MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) at MGM. Among his many screenplays, alone or in collaboration, are ROMEO AND JULIET (1936), THE GOOD EARTH (1937), SPAWN OF THE NORTH (1938), RULERS OF THE SEA (1939), NORTWEST PASSAGE and EDISON, THE MAN (both 1940), SO ENDS OUR NIGHT (1941), FRENCHMAN'S CREEK (1944), ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM (1946), LANDFALL (1949), THE BLACK ROSE (1951), ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI (1951, story), KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE (1953), UNTAMED (1955, also story), ESCAPE TO BURMA and PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC (both 1955), GUNSIGHT RIDGE (1957), THE NAKED MAJA (1959, story) and THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (1965, story).

Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1935: MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (w. Jules Furthman & Carey Wilson)  Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1946: ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM (w. Sally Benson) 2 nominations