Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for Broken Lance (1954).
During the 1950s and 1960s, Yordan acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era. His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber.
Early life and education Philip Yordan was born to Polish Jewish immigrants on April 1, 1914, in Chicago. From a young age he had taken an interest in writing. As a teenager, he ran a mail-order beauty supply business out of the family basement. Yordan was an avid fan of detective stories; he contemplated a career as a writer. After graduating from high school, he acted at the Goodman Theatre, before earning degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
A common anecdote in Hollywood was that he hired someone else to go through law school for him using his name to get the degree without having to do any of the work, however Yordan himself denied it.
Career Theatre He became dissatisfied with a legal career. He started working at the Goodman Theatre as an actor and began writing stories. He decided to pursue writing, eventually becoming a playwright. He said "I enjoyed reading, and thought that I would write because I hated the idea of a job, of having to go down to an office. The magazine Esquire rejected some short stories with the comment, "Your prose is stilted, but your dialogue is excellent. Why don't you try writing plays?" Obituary: Philip Yordan; Oscar-winning screenwriter: [FOREIGN Edition] Vallance, Tom. The Independent; London (UK) [London (UK)]04 Apr 2003: 18.
Yordan's first play, Any Day Now, a comedy about a family of Polish Americans was staged at a small off-Broadway theatre in 1941.'Any Day Now' By a Staff Correspondent of The Christian Science MonitorJ. D. B. The Christian Science Monitor 10 June 1941: 16. Critic Axel Storm called it "a very bad play very well written and the author will probably get something telling off his chest sooner or later. He's worth watching." Director William Dieterle saw the play and invited Yordan to Hollywood to work on a project Dieterle was making about the history of jazz. By the time Any Day Now was produced Yordan had also written the plays Get off the Earth, Anna Lucasta and Joe Macbeth.
In Los Angeles Yordan did some uncredited writing on The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), directed by Dieterle, and then was credited as co writer on the jazz project, Syncopation (1942), directed by Dieterle at RKO. He was paid $40 a week.
Yordan served for a few months in the army, worked briefly at Columbia Pictures as a staff writer and a play of his The Honest Gambler was given a short run at a theatre in 1943.
In 1937 Yordan had written a play based on Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, adapted to be about a Polish American family and titled Anna Lucasta. Later he found out that Abram Hill had rewritten the same play for the American Negro Theater in New York. The lighter, more comedic production had received critical accolades. Yordan received financial backing and signed an agreement with Hill and producer John Wildberg. Anna Lucasta was revised with a gala opening at the Mansfield Theatre on August 30, 1944. It was a tremendous success, running for a record 957 performances and leading to two film adaptations. Yordan had hired several writers to rewrite Anna Lucasta before the play premiered on Broadway. In 1947, Lee Richardson, Antoinette Perry and Brock Pemberton sued Yordan for not paying them. The American Negro Theater was contracted to receive five percent of all production rights and two percent of the subsidiary rights for Anna Lucasta if the play went on the road with a different cast, however they received considerably less than that for the Broadway show and none at all for the tour or any of the films. When Anna Lucasta went to Broadway, the new production retained only a few of the ANT actors.
Yordan returned to theatre to work on a musical version of The Honest Gambler called Windy City. It toured out of town but shut in Chicago before it reached New York. He wrote a play Road to the Noonday Sun which was not producer. Thereafter Yordan focused his attention on Hollywood.
King Brothers and Nero Films Yordan wrote a script for King Brothers Productions, Dillinger, a biopic of gangster John Dillinger. The King Brothers considered this was too expensive for them to produce, so they suggested he write something less expensive. He came up with a melodrama, The Unknown Guest (1943).
The Kings liked his work and hired Yordan to write Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944) and When Strangers Marry (1944), although Dennis Cooper wrote the first draft which Yordan then rewrote. They all did well enough for Yordan to be able to make Dillinger (1945). Reportedly, he wrote the script with William Castle and Robert Tasker, neither of whom received any credit. The screenplay earned Yordan an Oscar nomination, a first for Monogram Pictures. He was paid $1,500 for the script plus a third of the profits.
Yordan wrote Woman Who Came Back (1945) for Republic Pictures and Whistle Stop (1946) for producer Seymour Nebenzal's Nero Films, starring Ava Gardner. Yordan was an associate producer on the latter; he was paid $50,000 plus fifty percent of the profits. He did uncredited work on Why Girls Leave Home (1945). The King Brothers used him again for Suspense (1946), a big budget vehicle for Monogram. He wrote The Chase (1946) for Nebenzal/Nero. In 1946 it was estimated he earned a million dollars.
In the 1940s Yordan wrote a play Joe MacBeth, which he adapted into a script which came close to being made several times.NASSER ACQUIRES 2 SCREEN STORIES: New York Times 16 June 1948: 37. It did not reach the screen until 1955.
Yordan wrote several subsequent movies for the Kings including Bad Men of Tombstone (1949), Drums in the Deep South (1951), and Mutiny (1952).MOVIELAND BRIEFS Los Angeles Times 23 Oct 1951: B7.
According to Patrick McGilligan, Yordan thrived in Hollywood. It was the perfect jungle for expression of his genius at supplying the demand. In short order, he became known among producers as a bravura "spitballer," that is, one who can talk a good script (and one has only to meet Yordan to appreciate how spellbinding is his vernacular). He became a much-sought-after script doctor and coarse dialogue specialist, often arriving at the 11th hour to contribute the famed lightning-quick "Yordan touch." A lot of his work went uncredited.Philip Yordan: The Ghosts and the Screenwriter: McGILLIGAN, PAT. Los Angeles Times 26 June 1988: 6.
Producer Yordan was producer on Whistle Stop (1946) which he wrote.
In 1947 Yordan and Mike Frankovich announced they had formed their own company, originally called Yordan Enterprises. The first film adaption in 1949 was produced by Yordan with a Polish American family as in his original version. The other, made in 1958 had an all-black cast as the American Negro Theater production, and starred Eartha Kitt, Sammy Davis Jr., and Henry Scott. Only Yordan retained a writing credit for both films.
In 1948 Yordan formed a company with actor Bob Cummings and Eugene Frenke called United California Productions. This was a separate entity to Yordan Enterprises. United California announced various projects but wound up soon after the failure of its first and only movie, Let's Live a Little.LAMARR TO APPEAR AS A NEUROLOGIST: By THOMAS F. BRADY New York Times 7 Jan 1948: 30.
In 1949, Yordan announced he would write and produce The Big Blonde based on a story by Dorothy Parker. Irving Lerner was going to direct. It was not made – the rights to the story went to Mark Robson's company.
Yordan Enterprises was eventually renamed Security Pictures. Security Pictures made The Big Combo (1955), a co-production with the company of star Cornel Wilde; Yordan wrote the script and produced with Sidney Harmon.'Big Combo' Will Star Cornel Wilde; Vanessa Brown Debates Musical Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 23 June 1954: B7.
Yordan was a writer-producer for The Harder They Fall (1956) directed by Mark Robson.' Harder They Fall' Production Team's Counterpunches--Other Matters: FROM MEXICO By THOMAS M. PRYOR. New York Times 4 Dec 1955: X5.
For Security Pictures he produced The Wild Party (1956) and wrote Four Boys and a Gun (1957). He and Harmon bought Man on Spikes but it was not made.NEWS OF THE SCREEN: New York Times 10 Feb 1956: 18. In 1956 he was reportedly working on a script for Mario Lanza and Anthony Mann that was not made.LANZA IS SIGNED FOR WARNER FILM: New York Times 30 Mar 1956: 11. He provided the story for Street of Sinners (1957) for Security as well as Man in War (1957) and God's Little Acre (1958). Yordan adapted Little Man Big World by W. R. Burnett for Robert Ryan to star for Security, but the film was not made. In 1957 Security and Milton Sperling purchased the King Studios. He wrote and produced Day of the Outlaw (1959) at Security
In 1959 Yordan and Harmon announced they would make four films for Columbia. They were going to start with a World War II story, Kingdom of Man. The films were not made. Yordan produced the TV series Assignment: Underwater (1960–61). He also made some uncredited contributions to the script of The Time Machine (1960).
Major studios Yordan's first credit for a major studio was House of Strangers (1949) which he adapted from a Jerome Weidman novel for Fox. Yordan had been fired by producer Sol C. Siegel after an incomplete first draft which Siegel felt wasn't working. Yordan's unfinished script was rewritten by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who replaced Yordan's dialogue with his own. He directed the film using his own revised screenplay. When the Screen Writers Guild decided that it should be listed as a shared credit, Mankiewicz angrily refused to split and Yordan was awarded sole credit.
For Walter Wanger he did The Black Book (1949). He did some uncredited work on Panic in the Streets (1950) and No Way Out (1950), both for Fox. He wrote Edge of Doom (1950) for Sam Goldwyn, based on a story by Goldwyn.YORDAN TO WRITE GOLDWYN PICTURE: Author Engaged to Do Script of Tragedy for Producer -- Wyman Gets New Role By THOMAS F. BRADYS New York Times 27 Dec 1949: 26. He did Detective Story (1951) for William Wyler at Paramount and provided the story (along with Sidney Harmon) for Mara Maru (1952) at Warners. Detective Story earned Yordan an Oscar nomination.
Yordan adapted Houdini (1953) for Paramount and Blowing Wild (1953) for Warner Bros. In 1953 he sold The Men from Earth to Milton Sperling.YORDAN FANTASY BOUGHT FOR FILM: ' Men From Earth' Becomes Property of Milton Sperling -- M-G-M Signs Miss Gray By THOMAS M. PRYOR New York Times 14 Aug 1953: 10.
Yordan wrote The Man from Laramie (1955) for James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, the last film Stewart and Mann made together. Yordan wrote Conquest of Space (1955) for Haskin and did another for Mann, The Last Frontier (1955).
In 1955, he won an Academy Award for Broken Lance. It was a remake of 1949's House of Strangers, and he did not write single word. He won his Oscar for Best Original Story for material in the story files that had formed the basis for House of Strangers, salvaged, provided a Western context, and refurbished by producer-writer Michael Blankfort.
Yordan produced and adapted Budd Schulberg's novel The Harder They Fall (1956), which was directed by Mark Robson.
In February 1955 Jerry Wald of Columbia announced they would make a film based on the Krakatoa explosion written by Yordan, under Yordan's new contract with Columbia.Yordan Doing 'Krakatoa' as Spectacle; Deal Warm for 'Mauler' and Palance