Born in Chicago, IL; educated at the University of Chicago (B.A.) and Kent College of Law (Chicago). Beginning in the early 1940s, he wrote three Broadway plays and many gutsy screenplays, alone or in collaboration, for films ranging in quality from excellent to poor, some of which he also produced. Although also a prolific writer himself, he served as a front for friends and other writers who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Living in Paris during the blacklist days, his basement was often filled with blacklisted writers working in cubicles, churning out screenplays. He won an Oscar® for the story for BROKEN LANCE (1954).  Nominated Writing (Original Story) 1945: DILLINGER  Nominated Writing (Screenplay) 1951: DETECTIVE STORY (w. Robert Wyler)  Writing (Motion Picture Story) 1954: BROKEN LANCE 3 nominations, 1 Award