Ernest Lehman

During a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock in the late '50s, the director asked Lehman to adapt the popular novel -The Wreck of the Mary Deare for MGM, but the writer refused and the two worked behind the studio's back to craft the enduring thriller North by Northwest from only a threadbare plot outline. The film was a massive success, and the duo later again teamed for Hitchcock's final effort in 1976, Family Plot. In the years between North by Northwest and Family Plot, Lehman found his dream job. After penning West Side Story, the writer was asked to script The Sound of Music for an ailing 20th Century Fox. Advised by his agent to stay as far away as possible from the project, Lehman once again took his own path and crafted what is considered by many to be Hollywood's finest musical. The next year, he adapted Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the 1966 film not only earned him his fourth Academy Award nomination, but his first credit as producer, as well. After he produced and wrote Hello, Dolly! in 1969, anyone who had voiced concern about him prostituting his talents was noticeably silent.

Lehman's last screenplay was for the 1977 John Frankenheimer thriller Black Sunday, though the writer's novel -The French Atlantic Affair was adapted into a television miniseries in 1979 and his original screenplay for Sabrina was resurrected for a 1995 remake starring Harrison Ford. Although Lehman never won an Oscar for any specific film, he did receive an honorary award at the 2001 ceremony. Lehman served as president of the Writer's Guild of America from 1983-1985. In 2002, his second wife Laurie gave birth to the couple's first son. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide