William Rose

William Rose

Birth : 1914-12-12,

Death : 1987-02-10

History

William Rose was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, USA, and travelled to Canada at the outbreak of World War II, while the US was still neutral, in order to join up and fight the Nazis. This took him to Britain, where he decided to stay after the war.   He spent his demobilisation money on a course in screenwriting, and then became a writer of British and American comedies such as Ladykillers, Genevieve, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, as well as more serious films such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.  He retired to Jersey, where he died in 1987 at the age of 72.

Profile

William Rose

Movies

The Ladykillers
Screenplay
An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.
Made In Ealing: The Story of Ealing Studios
Interviewee
Documentary about the British film studio. First appeared on the BBC television programme Omnibus.
Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks
Screenplay
Brazzi plays mad Dr. Frankenstein, Dunn is an evil dwarf and Lugosi (no relation to Bela) is a Neanderthal man. Add a monster named Hulk, and some nude women for sexploitation value.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
Screenplay
During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Writer
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Screenplay
When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov, to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief and a vacationing television writer, while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.
Island Splendor
Writer
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Story
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Screenplay
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
Davy
Screenplay
The Mad Morgans are a family song and dance act touring the British Music Halls. Young Davy is the star of the act but should he stay with his family or strike out on his own ? The last comedy to be produced at Ealing Studios.
The Smallest Show on Earth
Screenplay
Jean and Bill are a married couple trying to scrape a living. Out of the blue they receive a telegram informing them Bill's long-lost uncle has died and left them his business—a cinema in the town of Sloughborough. Unfortunately they can't sell it for the fortune they hoped as they discover it is falling down and almost worthless.
The Man in the Sky
Story
The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.
The Man in the Sky
Screenplay
The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.
The Ladykillers
Story
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
The Ladykillers
Screenplay
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
Touch and Go
Screenplay
When Jim Fletcher is told by his firm, that his new furniture designs, are not in keeping with the firms image. he threatens to resign, and decides to uproot his family, and emigrate to Australia. but his problems are only just beginning.
The 'Maggie'
Screenplay
The poor, elderly—and the wily, when it comes to parting those who can afford it from their money—Scottish skipper of a broken-down old 'puffer' boat tricks an American tycoon into paying him to transport his personal cargo. When the tycoon learns of the trick, he attempts to track down the boat and remove his possessions.
Genevieve
Screenplay
Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.
Genevieve
Story
Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.
Gift Horse
Adaptation
Compton Bennett's war drama The Gift Horse follows the fortunes of ageing destroyer The Ballantrae and her crew from the time they come together in 1940 until the climactic raid on occupied St Nazaire in 1942. Trevor Howard plays Lt Cmdr Hugh Alginon Fraser, the newly appointed captain, back in service after having left the navy following a court martial.
Song of Paris
Story
An archetypal Englishman returns from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign count in a screwball duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.
I'll Get You for This
Screenplay
Nick, an American gambler, arrives in San Paolo and falls in love with Colleen, an American tourist, after she loses all of her money at the casino. Nick flees with Colleen after they are framed for murder and he tries to track down the real killer.
My Daughter Joy
Screenplay
A financier plots to become the richest man in the world by marrying off his daughter to the son of an Arab sheik.
Once a Jolly Swagman
Screenplay
A factory worke quits his job to become a motorcycle racer.
Esther Waters
Screenplay
Esther goes into service in Victorian England, only to be seduced by the sweet talking groom William, who then takes off with his employer's daughter. Left alone to bring up the child, Esther manages and after 7 years has a chance at happiness. Then William turns up again...