About

Known credits:
66
Birthday:
1892-11-26
Place of birth:
Saratoga Springs, New York, USA
Website:
N/A

Charles Brackett

Overview

Charles William Brackett (November 26, 1892 – March 9, 1969) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He collaborated with Billy Wilder on sixteen films.

Brackett was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, the son of Mary Emma Corliss and New York State Senator, lawyer, and banker Edgar Truman Brackett. The family's roots traced back to the arrival of Richard Brackett in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, near present-day Springfield, Massachusetts. His mother's uncle, George Henry Corliss, built the Centennial Engine that powered the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. A 1915 graduate of Williams College, he earned his law degree from Harvard University. He joined the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War I. He was awarded the French Medal of Honor. He was a frequent contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Vanity Fair, and a drama critic for The New Yorker. He wrote five novels: The Counsel of the Ungodly (1920), Week-End (1925), That Last Infirmity (1926), and American Colony (1929). and Entirely Surrounded (1934).

Brackett was a president of the Screen Writers Guild (1938–1939) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1949–1955). He either wrote and/or produced over forty films, including To Each His Own, Ninotchka, The Major and the Minor, The Mating Season (1951), Niagara, The King and I, Ten North Frederick, The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker, and Blue Denim.

Beginning in August 1936, Brackett worked with Billy Wilder, writing the film classics The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard, both of which won Academy Awards for their respective screenplays. Brackett described their collaboration process as follows: "The thing to do was suggest an idea, have it torn apart and despised. In a few days, it would be apt to turn up, slightly changed, as Wilder's idea. Once I got adjusted to that way of working, our lives were simpler."

His partnership with Wilder ended in 1950 and Brackett went to work at 20th Century-Fox as a screenwriter and producer. His script for Titanic (1953) won him another Academy Award.

He received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1958.

Charles Brackett died on March 9, 1969. His diaries covering his screenwriting and social life from 1932 to 1949 were edited by Anthony Slide into Slide's book It's the Pictures That Got Small: Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age.

Known for

Acting
2014 And the Oscar Goes To... Actor Self (archive footage) 59
Average
1950 The Screen Writer Actor Self (uncredited) N/A
N/A

Directing
1944 Skirmish on the Home Front Directing Director N/A
N/A

Writing
1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth Writing Screenplay 64
Fair
1956 Teenage Rebel Writing Writer 58
Average
1955 The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1953 Titanic Writing Screenplay 60
Fair
1953 Niagara Writing Writer 62
Fair
1951 The Model and the Marriage Broker Writing Writer 59
Average
1951 The Mating Season Writing Writer 59
Average
1950 Sunset Boulevard Writing Screenplay 79
Good
1950 Edge of Doom Writing Writer 58
Average
1948 Miss Tatlock's Millions Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1948 A Foreign Affair Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1948 The Emperor Waltz Writing Writer 59
Average
1946 To Each His Own Writing Story 59
Average
1946 To Each His Own Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1945 The Lost Weekend Writing Screenplay 68
Fair
1943 Five Graves to Cairo Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1942 The Major and the Minor Writing Writer 61
Fair
1941 Ball of Fire Writing Screenplay 63
Fair
1941 Hold Back the Dawn Writing Writer 59
Average
1940 Arise, My Love Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1939 Ninotchka Writing Screenplay 65
Fair
1939 What a Life Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1939 Midnight Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1938 That Certain Age Writing Writer 58
Average
1938 Bluebeard's Eighth Wife Writing Screenplay 60
Fair
1937 Live, Love and Learn Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1936 Piccadilly Jim Writing Writer 59
Average
1936 Woman Trap Writing Story N/A
N/A
1936 Rose of the Rancho Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1935 The Last Outpost Writing Adaptation 58
Average
1935 Without Regret Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1935 College Scandal Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1935 Enter Madame Writing Writer 58
Average
1931 Secrets of a Secretary Writing Story 59
Average
1929 Pointed Heels Writing Story 59
Average
1926 Risky Business Writing Story 59
Average
Sunset Boulevard Writing Original Film Writer N/A
N/A

Production
1962 State Fair Production Producer 58
Average
1960 High Time Production Producer 58
Average
1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth Production Producer 64
Fair
1959 Blue Denim Production Producer 58
Average
1959 The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker Production Producer 59
Average
1958 The Gift of Love Production Producer 59
Average
1957 The Wayward Bus Production Producer 59
Average
1956 The King and I Production Producer 63
Fair
1956 D-Day the Sixth of June Production Producer 58
Average
1955 The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing Production Producer 59
Average
1955 The Virgin Queen Production Producer 59
Average
1954 Woman's World Production Producer 59
Average
1954 Garden of Evil Production Producer 59
Average
1953 Titanic Production Producer 60
Fair
1953 Niagara Production Producer 62
Fair
1951 The Model and the Marriage Broker Production Producer 59
Average
1951 The Mating Season Production Producer 59
Average
1950 Sunset Boulevard Production Producer 79
Good
1948 Miss Tatlock's Millions Production Producer 59
Average
1948 A Foreign Affair Production Producer 61
Fair
1948 The Emperor Waltz Production Producer 59
Average
1946 To Each His Own Production Producer 59
Average
1945 The Lost Weekend Production Producer 68
Fair
1944 The Uninvited Production Producer 61
Fair
1943 Five Graves to Cairo Production Associate Producer 61
Fair

Crew
1947 The Bishop's Wife Crew Additional Writing 62
Fair