Zoe Akins
Birth : 1886-10-20, Humansville, Missouri, USA
Death : 1958-10-29
History
From Wikipedia
Zoë Akins (October 30, 1886 – October 29, 1958) was a
Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright, poet, and author.
In the early 1930s, Akins became more active in film,
writing several screenplays as well as licensing minor adaptations of her
work—such as The Greeks Had a Word for It which was adapted twice, in 1932 (as
The Greeks Had a Word for Them) and 1938 (as Three Blind Mice) – neither was a
hit. Two highlights of this period are the films Sarah and Son (1930) and
Morning Glory (1933), the latter film remade as Stage Struck. While both films
earned their respective female leads (Ruth Chatterton and Katharine Hepburn)
Academy Award nominations, neither was enough to launch Akins' career.
Finally, Akins received recognition. In 1935, she was
awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her dramatization of Edith Wharton's
The Old Maid, a melodrama set in New York City and written in five episodes
stretching across time from 1839 to 1854. A film version of The Old Maid
followed in 1939, starring Bette Davis.
Akins also adapted the Alexandre Dumas novel, La dame aux
camélias which was adapted into the film Camille in 1936. The film starred Greta
Garbo, Robert Taylor, and Lionel Barrymore, and earned Garbo her third Oscar
nomination.
To Akins' surprise, she was thrust into notoriety again in
1953, when Jean Negulesco directed an adaptation of The Greeks Had a Word for
It. The film, titled How to Marry a Millionaire, became a box office sensation
and helped launch the career of its star, Marilyn Monroe. Monroe's role in the
Akins' play helped the rising star become a cultural icon, and encouraged Akins
to pursue a short stint as a writer for several television variety programs.
Story
A lonely boy finds companionship with a horse.
Theatre Play
A young woman arrives in New York City determined to become a great theatrical star, but discovers that her goal may not be as easily attainable as she had hoped.
Writer
Theatre Play
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
Writer
A war widow falls in love with the man who informed her of her husband's death.
Theatre Play
The lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.
Screenplay
A seductive music hall star falls in love with a married aristocrat.
Screenplay
A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Writer
A polish countess dispatched by her country to become Napoleon Bonaparte's mistress at the urging of Polish leaders, who feel she might influence him to make Poland independent.
Screenplay
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.
Screenplay
Tony and his dance partner/wife Gaby headline a Paris musical. Tony becomes the unwilling target for the attentions of performer Yvette. She is later murdered with the dagger used by Tony and his wife in their act, and Gaby is accused of the crime.
Story
Tony and his dance partner/wife Gaby headline a Paris musical. Tony becomes the unwilling target for the attentions of performer Yvette. She is later murdered with the dagger used by Tony and his wife in their act, and Gaby is accused of the crime.
Screenplay
Because of a very unhappy affair she had earlier in her life, a woman shuts herself off from the rest of the world.
Screenplay
A woman's dubious past proves to be a stumbling block when she becomes engaged to marry.
Theatre Play
Wildly optimistic chatterbox Eva Lovelace is a would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage. She attracts the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom, or will she fade like a morning glory after its brief blooming?
Screenplay
A romance develops between a happily married middle-aged British politician and an adventurous young aviatrix.
Theatre Play
A trio of money-hungry women rent a luxurious penthouse, spending their dough on drink and debonair clothing, backbiting and catfighting as they steal each other's boyfriends.
Screenplay
Two sisters from Indiana, the wide-eyed and innocent Mae Thorpe, and her sister June, more streetwise, move into the Rolf House for Homeless Girls in New York. With June's help, Mae obtains a job as a stenographer for scientist Joseph von Schraeder, while June gets work as a telegraph operator at Western Union.
Writer
A young Russian woman marries a wealthy Englishman, and has a daughter with him. After she has an affair with one of his friends, she is forced to leave Britain and moves to Paris. Many years later, her daughter approaches her, needing her help.
Writer
A dynamic duo in silk and ermine entertain hick businessmen looking for a good time while in Manhattan.
Writer
A woman becomes estranged from her daughter when the girl learns that she is illegitimate.
Adaptation
Dialogue
A lawyer, left by his wife gets drunk and marries a chorus girl, or so he learns the morning after.
Writer
A lawyer, left by his wife gets drunk and marries a chorus girl, or so he learns the morning after.
Author
The movie stars George Bancroft, Mary Astor and Fredric March who are all excellent in their roles. The story begins as Joe Forziati (Bancroft), an Italian immigrant who has battled his way to success as a New York building contractor, decides to embark on a social career.
Dialogue
A ne'er-do-well husband, after years of abusing his wife, disappears with their son, and winds up selling him to a wealthy family. Years later, the wife, now a world-famous opera singer, finally has enough time and money to begin a search for him.
Adaptation
A ne'er-do-well husband, after years of abusing his wife, disappears with their son, and winds up selling him to a wealthy family. Years later, the wife, now a world-famous opera singer, finally has enough time and money to begin a search for him.
Writer
A English aristocrat causes a scandal when she divorces her husband and runs off with a young American.
Theatre Play
Eve's Secret is that she's not the elegant society woman she seems to be. In fact, Eve is an unkempt country girl who's been "transformed," Pygmalion style, by European duke Poltava.
Theatre Play
The last of the impetuous Varicks, Lady Helen Haden is married to Sir Bruce Haden, a brute who treats her shamefully. She falls in love with Ned Thayer, a young American, but refuses to divorce her husband because of the attendant scandal and disgrace. Sir Bruce gains possession of a love letter written to Ned by Lady Helen and divorces her. Ned goes to Africa, and Lady Helen comes to the United States, where she encounters Rudolph Solomon, an art collector who wants her to become his mistress. The noblewoman at first refuses, but when her money runs out, she agrees to the proposal and attends a party at his home. Ned, who has learned of the divorce, comes looking for Helen and meets her at Solomon's party. Lady Helen is so humiliated and ashamed that she rushes from the house and throws herself in front of an automobile.
Theatre Play
Julian (Percy Marmont) is a poor artist who lives with wife Edith (Alice Joyce) and their newborn baby in Harlem. Struggling to make ends meet, he foregoes his artistic calling and draws for magazines. Reaching his limits, Julian convinces his wife he could reach higher grounds if he were to go to Paris. He moves to Paris while his Edith works at a shop on Fifth Avenue. Each of their lives evolves differently—Edith is courted by a wealthy suitor whom she ignores while pining for her husband, while Julian fails to meet his goals in Paris, returning defeated three years later. The meeting highlight how different their routes have been.
