Born in New York City. A collaborator with George S. Kaufman on a number of successful Broadway musical comedies, he also contributed entertaining screenplays for more than a dozen Hollywood films, alone or in collaboration, notably a number of zany Marx Brothers vehicles. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for the stage musical Of Thee I Sing (1931-2), which he wrote with Kaufman and Ira Gershwin. It was the first "best play" Pulitzer ever awarded to a musical. Some of his notable writing credits (alone or in collaboration) include THE COCOANUTS (1929), ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930), A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1931), MY MAN GODFREY (1936), STAGE DOOR (1937), ROOM SERVICE (1938), PENNY SERENADE and LOUISIANA PURCHASE (from his play) (both 1941), CLAUDIA (1943), IT'S IN THE BAG! and WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? (both 1945) and HEARTBEAT (1946). Ryskind was blacklisted in 1947 for leftist associations but over the years gravitated toward the conservative wing of the Republican party. He served as one of the original editors of The National Review, and was said to be a member of the John Birch Society.    Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1936: MY MAN GODFREY (w. Eric Hatch)    Nominated for Writing (Screenplay) 1937: STAGE DOOR (w. Anthony Veiller) 2 nominations