Stewart, Donald Ogden

▪ American actor and writer

born Nov. 30, 1894, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

died Aug. 2, 1980, London

      American humorist, actor, playwright, and screenwriter who won a 1940 Academy Award for his screenplay adaptation of The Philadelphia Story.

      After graduation from Yale University (1916) Stewart served as chief quartermaster in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force during World War I and worked briefly in private business before taking up humorous writing in 1921. His A Parody Outline of History (1921) achieved instant success, and he quickly won entrée into the literary circle known as the Algonquin Round Table, famous for the witty repartee of its members, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and others. In 1928 he made his New York City acting debut as Nick Potter in Holiday and subsequently wrote his first play, Rebound, in which he also appeared (1930).

      It was, however, as a screenwriter, usually of adaptations of plays or novels, that Stewart achieved his most enduring success; his screenplays were notable for witty dialogue and for their fidelity to the original work. In addition to The Philadelphia Story, he either wrote or collaborated on The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Holiday (1938), That Uncertain Feeling (1941), Life with Father (1947), and Cass Timberlaine (1947), among others. Politically an outspoken socialist, he served as president of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League and the left-wing League of American Writers. He fell victim to the anticommunist mania of the 1950s and was one of many Hollywood figures to be blacklisted. Thereafter, he retired to England. His autobiography, By a Stroke of Luck, appeared in 1975.

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