born Feb. 28, 1894, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died April 18, 1964, New York City
U.S. journalist, novelist, playwright, and film writer.
He worked for Chicago newspapers 1910–22; at the Daily News he perfected a type of human-interest sketch that was widely emulated. Later he divided his time between New York and Hollywood. With Charles MacArthur he wrote the plays The Front Page (1928), which influenced both the public's and the newspaper industry's ideas about the newspaper world; Twentieth Century (produced 1932); and Ladies and Gentlemen (produced 1939). His film scripts, often written with MacArthur, include Gunga Din (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), Spellbound (1945), and Notorious (1946).