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Ben Hecht (1894–1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write thirty-five books and created some of the most entertaining screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films. At the age of 16, Hecht ran away to Chicago, where in his own words he "haunted streets, whorehouses, police stations, courtrooms, theater stages, jails, saloons, slums, madhouses, fires, murders, riots, banquet halls, and bookshops".〔 In the 1910s and early 1920s, Hecht became a noted journalist, foreign correspondent, and literary figure. In the 1920's, his co-authored, reporter-themed play, ''The Front Page'', became a Broadway hit. The ''Dictionary of Literary Biography - American Screenwriters'' calls him "one of the most successful screenwriters in the history of motion pictures." Hecht received the first Academy Award for Original Screenplay, for ''Underworld'' (1927). Many of the screenplays he worked on are now considered classics. He also provided story ideas for such films as ''Stagecoach'' (1939). Film historian Richard Corliss called him "''the'' Hollywood screenwriter", someone who "personified Hollywood itself." In 1940, he wrote, produced, and directed, ''Angels Over Broadway'', which was nominated for Best Screenplay. In total, six of his movie screenplays were nominated for Academy Awards, with two winning. He became an active Zionist shortly before the Holocaust began in Germany, and wrote articles and plays about the plight of European Jews, such as, ''We Will Never Die'' in 1943 and ''A Flag is Born'' in 1946.〔Medoff, Rafael. ("Ben Hecht's "A Flag is Born" ), David S. Wyman Institute, April 2004〕 Of his seventy to ninety screenplays, he wrote many anonymously to avoid the British boycott of his work in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The boycott was a response to Hecht's active support of paramilitary action against British forces in Palestine and sabotaging British property there (see below), during which time a supply ship to Palestine was named the ''S. S. Ben Hecht.'' According to his autobiography, he never spent more than eight weeks on a script. In 1983, 19 years after his death, Ben Hecht was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Theater Hall of Fame Gets 10 New Members )〕 ==Early years== Hecht was born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.〔(Tablet Magazine: "BDS AND THE OSCARS: HOW SCREENWRITER BEN HECHT DEFIED AN ANTI-ISRAEL BOYCOTT" By Rafael Medoff ) February 26, 2014〕 His father, Joseph Hecht, worked in the garment industry. His father and mother, Sarah Swernofsky Hecht, had immigrated to New York from Minsk, Belarus. The Hechts married in 1892.〔Sternlicht, Sanford V.. ''The Tenement Saga: The Lower East Side and Early Jewish American writers'', Terrace Books (2004)〕 The family moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where Ben attended high school. When Hecht was in his early teens he would spend the summers with an uncle in Chicago. On the road much of the time, his father did not have much effect on Hecht’s childhood, and his mother was busy managing the store outlet in downtown Racine. Film author Scott Siegal wrote, "He was considered a child prodigy at age ten, seemingly on his way to a career as a concert violinist, but two years later was performing as a circus acrobat."〔Siegel, Scott, and Siegel, Barbara. ''The Encyclopedia of Hollywood'', 2nd ed. (2004) Checkmark Books〕 After graduating from high school in 1910, at age sixteen Hecht moved to Chicago, running away to live there permanently. He lived with relatives, and started a career in journalism. He found work as a reporter, first for the ''Chicago Journal'', and later with the ''Chicago Daily News''.〔Clark, Randall. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography - American Screenwriters'' (1984) Gale Research〕 He was an excellent reporter who worked on several Chicago papers. After World War I, Hecht was sent to cover Berlin for the ''Chicago Daily News''. There he wrote his first and most successful novel, ''Erik Dorn'' (1921). It was a sensational debut for Hecht as a serious writer.〔 The 1969 movie, ''Gaily, Gaily'', directed by Norman Jewison and starring Beau Bridges as "Ben Harvey", was based on his life during his early years working as a reporter in Chicago. The film was nominated for three Oscars. The story was taken from a portion of his autobiography, ''A Child of the Century''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ben Hecht」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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