Janet Green (4 July 1908 – 30 May 1993) was a British screenwriter, playwright, and activist best known for the scripts for the BAFTA nominated films Sapphire and Victim, and for the play Murder Mistaken (made into the film Cast a Dark Shadow). She is also known for her use of filmmaking to fight against racism and homophobia, including challenging anti-homosexual British laws.
Biography Green was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on 4 July 1908. Originally an actress, on stage from 1931, she made appearances in the Aldwych Farces (1930–34) and was involved with entertainment for the armed forces in World War II. She gave up acting in 1945 to focus on writing.https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk › download › GB 1456 JGREEN
Her second husband was the scriptwriter John McCormick, with whom she collaborated on several screenplays."Janet Green." Times [London, England] 18 June 1993: 21. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 31 October 2018. They were both under contract to the Rank Organisation from 1956 to 1959. They collaborated on screenplays for three of the "social issue" films of producer Michael Relph and director Basil Dearden: Sapphire (dealing with racial tension in 1950s London), Victim (the first mainstream examination of homosexuality) and Life for Ruth (religious intolerance). They have been described as "three of the finest films in British cinema." Of Sapphire, the New York Post wrote in 1959, "Perhaps the screenplay writer, one Janet Green, deserves her own special notice for a picture that is so special."
Green and McCormick wrote John Ford's final film 7 Women (1966).
Green died in Beaconsfield on 30 May 1993, aged 84.
Filmography Year Title Notes 1950 The Clouded Yelloworiginal story and screenplay 1953 The Good Beginning story and screenplay 1955 Cast a Dark Shadowbased on her play Murder Mistaken 1956 Lost original screenplay 1956 The Long Arm screenplay by Janet Green and Robert Barr 1956 Eyewitness original story and screenplay 1958 The Gypsy and the Gentleman screenplay by Janet Green based on novel by Nina Warner Hooke 1959 Sapphire original screenplay - nominated for a BAFTA award for best British screenplay in 1960 1960 Midnight Lace based on her 1958 play Matilda Shouted Fire 1961 Victim screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick - nominated for a BAFTA award for best British screenplay in 1962 1962 Life for Ruth screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick1966 7 Women screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick
Theatre Year Title Notes 1952 Murder Mistaken produced in the UK and the USA / adapted for television and for film (as Cast a Dark Shadow) 1958 Matilda Shouted Fire adapted for film as Midnight Lace
References
External links
Janet Green Collection at the British Film Institute (link opens PDF).