Ben Hecht

Born in New York City in 1894 and raised in Wisconsin, he started out as a reporter in Chicago before turning his newspaper experience into fiction and plays. That background fed some of his best-known work, including The Front Page, the blistering comedy he wrote with Charles MacArthur, and it also gave his writing its trademark speed, wit, and urban edge.

He went on to become one of the most influential screenwriters of the studio era. He won Academy Awards for Underworld and The Scoundrel, and his name became closely linked with smart, hard-driving Hollywood storytelling. Alongside film work, he wrote novels, memoir, short fiction, journalism, and plays, building a career that moved easily between literary and commercial success.

He was also known for speaking out beyond the entertainment world, especially on Jewish causes in the 1930s and 1940s. He died in 1964, but his reputation has lasted because so much of modern newspaper drama, gangster cinema, and wisecracking screen dialogue still feels touched by his style.