Born in Russia, in US from childhood. A graduate of NYU with a law degree, she practised law briefly before becoming a magazine editor and fiction writer. After several of her stories were adapted to the screen, she became an active screenwriter in the early 1920s. She wrote scores of screenplays, alone or in collaboration, for Fox, RKO, Warners and other studios, but most of her work was for MGM. Some of her notable story and screenwriting credits (alone or in collaboration) include LILIOM (1930), DADDY LONG LEGS (1931), REBECCA OF SONNYBROOK FARM (1932), CAVALCADE (continuity) and STATE FAIR and BERKELEY SQUARE (all 1933), CHANGE OF HEART and THE WHITE PARADE (both 1934), IN OLD CHICAGO (1937), KIDNAPPED (1938), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (both 1939), ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941), THE AMAZING MRS. HOLLIDAY (1943), THE VALLEY OF DECISION, STATE FAIR, RHAPSODY IN BLUE and THE GREEN YEARS (all 1945), CASS TIMBERLANE (1947), THREE DARING DAUGHTERS (1948), QUO VADIS? and THE GREAT CARUSO (both 1951), THE MERRY WIDOW (1952), THE STUDENT PRINCE (1954), INTERRUPTED MELODY and OKLAHOMA! (both 1955), BHOWANI JUNCTION (1956), JEANNE EAGELS (1957) and PEPE (1960).  Nominated for Writing (Adaptation) 1932-33: STATE FAIR (w. Paul Green)  Writing (Story & Screenplay) 1955: INTERRUPTED MELODY (w. William Ludwig) 2 nominations, 1 Award