Born in New York City. Brother of Everett Riskin, producer at Columbia. In recent years this prolific screen scribe has gotten the belated recognition he so manifestly deserves for his contributions to the much beloved social comedy/dramas directed by Frank Capra. A highly skilled dramatist whose first play was produced when he was still a teenager, Riskin came to Hollywood in 1931 when Harry Cohn's Columbia Pictures bought screen rights to several of his plays, two of which -- ILLICIT and THE MIRACLE WOMAN -- made it to the screen that year as starring vehicles for Barbara Stanwyck. Riskin cowrote a snappy comedy that Capra directed, PLATINUM BLONDE (1931), then penned MEN ARE LIKE THAT, MEN IN HER LIFE (both 1931), and THE BIG TIMER (1932) -- routine programmers -- all before beginning his collaboration with Capra, Columbia's directorial ace, in earnest by writing the original story for AMERICAN MADNESS (1932). Although he continued to script other Columbia films, Riskin is best known for his string of top screenplays for Capra: Three of them, LADY FOR A DAY (1933), MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936), and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938), earned him Academy Award nominations. He won the Oscar for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (which, as Capra's greatest success to that point, swept the 1934 awards). He also wrote the director's BROADWAY BILL (1934, which was remade in 1950 as RIDING HIGH), LOST HORIZON (1937), and MEET JOHN DOE (1941), and produced or helped produce several Capra movies as well. Riskin, whose innate sense of commercial dramatic structure, plot, and characterization enabled him to write directorproof scripts, eventually chafed under Capra's repeated assertions that he was the principal creative talent behind his pictures. (A possibly apocryphal story has an outraged Riskin storming into Capra's office, hurling a sheaf of blank paper on the director's desk, and shouting, "There! Let's see you give that 'the Capra Touch'!") He also contributed screen stories and scripts for NIGHT CLUB LADY (1932), ANN CARVER'S PROFESSION (1933), CARNIVAL, THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (both 1935), THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1944, produced by his brother, Everett), and MISTER 880 (1950). He wrote and produced MAGIC TOWN (1947), which almost seemed like a Capra film -- with Jimmy Stewart, no less, in the lead -- but it was not well received, leading to the obvious conclusion that he and Capra needed each other. He also tried his hand at directing, but only once: on the 1937 Grace Moore musical WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE (which he also wrote). In 1950 he suffered a stroke that made it impossible for him to work again; ironically, he received an Oscar® nomination for the following year's Bing Crosby vehicle HERE COMES THE GROOM, a story he'd sold to Paramount that wound up being directed by Capra. In 1955, Riskin received the Writers Guild of America, USA Laurel Award for Screen Writing Achievement. Riskin married actress Fay Wray in 1942, and they remained married until his death in 1955.  Nominated for Writing (Adaptation) 1932: LADY FOR A DAY  Writing (Adaptation) 1934: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT  Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1936: MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN  Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1938: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU  Nominated for Writing (Motion Picture Story) 1951: HERE COMES THE GROOM (w. Liam O'Brien) 5 nominations, 1 Award