Whitfield Cook
Whitfield Cook | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Whitfield Cook III April 9, 1909 Montclair, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | November 12, 2003 (aged 94) Lyme, Connecticut, United States |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Heiskell Cook |
| Children | George W. Cook IV |
| Relatives | John N. Heiskell (father-in-law) |
George Whitfield Cook III (April 9, 1909 – November 12, 2003) was an
Life and career
George Whitfield Cook III was born on April 9, 1909, in
Cook began his career as a writer in the late thirties with stories in The American Mercury, Story and Cosmopolitan.[3] One of these stories, "The Unfaithful," won an O. Henry Award in the "Best First-Published" category in 1943.[4]
In the early forties, Cook wrote a series of stories for
In 1945, Cook headed to Hollywood, where he was partnered with Ann Morrison Chapin on a trio of film scripts that starred June Allyson. He made his debut with the romantic comedy The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945) and followed with the psychological drama The Secret Heart (1946) and the wartime romance High Barbaree (1947).[2]
Cook then worked with Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, on Stage Fright (1950) and Strangers on a Train (1951). Cook's treatment for Strangers on a Train is usually given credit for heightening the film's homoerotic subtext (only hinted at in the novel) and the softening of the villain, Bruno, from the coarse alcoholic of the book into a dapper, charming mama's boy.[7]
For his work on Stage Fright, Cook was nominated for a 1951
For the remainder of the fifties, Cook worked in television, contributing scripts to series such as
Cook wrote four books:
- Violet, 1942, a collection of the Redbook stories[9]
- Roman Comedy: An Impolite Extravaganza (published in paperback as A Night with Mr. Primrose), 1951, a novel about a film star who travels to Italy to make a movie[9]
- Taxi to Dubrovnik, 1981, a novel about three idle, vacationing Americans traveling by hired car from Athens to Dubrovnik.[10]
- A Choice of Disguises, 2003, a novel[11]
Legacy
In the 2012 film Hitchcock, Cook was portrayed by Danny Huston as a charmer trying to persuade Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, into having an extra-marital affair during the filming of Psycho.[12] Several published Hitchcock biographies document this as accurate from Cook's private diaries.
The New Dramatists of New York City annually bestow a Whitfield Cook Award on a playwright for the best unproduced, unpublished play, as determined by a jury.[13]
References
- ^ a b "Whitfield Cook - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ^ a b "Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center". Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ ISBN 978-0060988272.
- ^ "Bold Type: O. Henry Award Winners 1919-1999". Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ "Chronological List". Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ "Violet on Broadway - Information, Cast, Crew, Synopsis and Photos - Playbill Vault". Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ McGilligan, p. 442
- ^ "Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Database". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ^ a b "whitfield cook - AbeBooks". Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ "TAXI TO DUBROVNIK by Whitfield Cook". Kirkus. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ISBN 9781567150780. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ Vejvoda, Jim (2012-11-14). "Hitchcock Review - IGN". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ^ "Whitfield Cook Award". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
External links
- Whitfield Cook at IMDb
- Whitfield Cook at the Internet Broadway Database
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