Jewish Screenwriters

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Listed below are screenwriters and radio and television scriptwriters who were, or are, Jewish (or of partial Jewish descent, as noted). For lists of Jewish novelists, playwrights, poets, and other Jewish writers, see Jews in Literature. The following abbreviations are employed:

AA = Academy Award AA-N = Academy Award Nomination
BOS = Best Original Screenplay BAS = Best Adapted Screenplay BMPS = Best Original Motion Picture Story

Woody Allen, Annie Hall (1977 AA:BOS), Interiors (1978 AA-N: BOS), Manhattan (1979 AA-N: BOS), Broadway Danny Rose (1984 AA-N:BOS), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986 AA:BOS), Radio Days (1987 AA-N:BOS), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989 AA-N:BOS), Midnight in Paris (2011 AA:BOS)
Edward Anhalt, Panic in the Streets (1950 AA:BMPS), Becket (1964 AA:BAS)
George Axelrod, Bus Stop, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961 AA-N:BAS), The Manchurian Candidate, Goodbye Charlie
Sanford Barnett, Father Goose (1964 AA:BOS)
S.N. Behrman, Jacobowsky and the Colonel
Irving Berlin, Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938 AA-N:BMPS), Holiday Inn (1942 AA-N:BMPS)
Lajos Biro, The Last Command (1927/1928 AA-N:BMPS)
Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right (2010 AA-N:BOS)
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker (2009 AA: BOS)
Irving Brecher, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944 AA-N:BAS), Bye, Bye, Birdie
Marshall Brickman, Annie Hall (1977 AA:BOS), Manhattan (1979 AA-N: BOS)
James L. Brooks, Terms of Endearment (1983 AA:BAS), Broadcast News (1987 AA-N:BOS), As Good as It Gets (1997 AA-N:BOS)
Mel Brooks, The Producers (1968 AA:BOS), Young Frankenstein (1974 AA-N:BAS), Blazing Saddles
Richard Brooks, Elmer Gantry (1960 AA:BAS), Blackboard Jungle (1955 AA-N:BAS), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 AA-N:BAS)
Sidney Buchman, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939 AA-N:BAS), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941 AA:BAS), The Talk of the Town (1942 AA-N:BAS)
Arthur Caesar, Manhattan Melodrama (1934 AA:BMPS)
Paddy Chayefsky, Marty (1955 AA:BAS), Hospital (1971 AA:BOS), Network (1976 AA:BOS), The Americanization of Emily, Paint Your Wagon
Stan Chervin, Moneyball (2011 AA-N:BAS)
Jerome Chodorov, My Sister Eileen, Louisiana Purchase
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right (2010 AA-N:BOS)
Ethan Coen, Fargo (1996 AA:BOS), No Country for Old Men (2007 AA:BAS), True Grit (2010 AA-N:BAS)
Joel Coen, Fargo (1996 AA:BOS), No Country for Old Men (2007 AA:BAS), True Grit (2010 AA-N:BAS)
Alfred Cohn, The Jazz Singer (1927/28 AA-N:BAS)
Norman Corwin, Radio and Television Scriptwriter and Film Screenwriter: The Story of Ruth, Lust for Life (1956 AA-N:BAS)
Larry David, Head Writer: Seinfeld (1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a TV Comedy Series)
Paul Dehn, Seven Days to Noon (1951 AA:BMPS)
Helen Deutsch, Valley of the Dolls, Lili, I'll Cry Tomorrow, National Velvet
I. A. L. Diamond, The Apartment (1960 AA:BOS)
Harlan Ellison, TV scripts for: Star Trek (including The City on the Edge of Forever) and The Outer Limits (including Demon With a Glass Hand)
Henry and Phoebe Ephron, Carousel, Captain Newman, M.D. (1963 AA-N:BAS)
Nora Ephron, Silkwood (1983 AA-N:BOS), When Harry Met Sally (1989 AA-N:BOS), Sleepless in Seattle (1993 AA-N:BOS)
Julius Epstein, Four Daughters (1938 AA-N:BAS), Casablanca (1943 AA:BAS), Reuben, Reuben (1983 AA-N:BAS)
Philip Epstein, Casablanca (1943 AA:BAS)
Harry Essex, Creature from the Black Lagoon
Carl Foreman, High Noon (1952 AA-N:BAS), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957 AA:BAS), The Guns of Navarone (1961 AA-N:BAS)
Melvin Frank, Road to Utopia (1946 AA-N:BOS), Knock on Wood (1954 AA-N:BOS), The Facts of Life (1960 AA-N:BOS), A Touch of Class (1973 AA-N:BOS)
George Froeschel, Mrs. Miniver (1942 AA:BAS)
Daniel Fuchs, Love Me or Leave Me (1955 AA:BMPS)
Jules Furthman, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 AA-N:BAS)
Lowell Ganz, Splash (1984 AA-N:BOS), City Slickers
Larry Gelbart, Oh, God! (1977 AA-N:BAS), Tootsie, (1982 AA-N: BOS)
Benjamin Glazer, Seventh Heaven (1927/1928 AA:BAS), Arise, My Love (1940 AA:BMPS)
Bo Goldman, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975 AA:BAS), Melvin and Howard (1980 AA:BOS)
James Goldman, The Lion in Winter (1968 AA:BAS)
William Goldman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969 AA:BOS), All the President's Men (1976 AA:BAS)
Akiva Goldsman, A Beautiful Mind (2001 AA:BAS)
Debra Granik, Winter's Bone (2010 AA-N:BAS)
Moss Hart, Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935 AA-N:BMPS), Gentleman's Agreement (1947 AA-N:BAS)
Ronald Harwood, The Dresser (1983 AA-N:BAS), The Pianist (2002 AA:BAS)
Lawrence Hauben, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975 AA:BAS)
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist (2011 AA-N:BOS)
Ben Hecht, Underworld (1927/1928 AA:BMPS), Viva Villa! (1934 AA-N:BAS), The Scoundrel (1935 AA:BMPS), Wuthering Heights (1939 AA-N:BAS), Angels Over Broadway (1940 AA-N:BOS), Notorious (1946 AA-N:BOS)
Lukas Heller, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Dirty Dozen, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
Lillian Hellman, The Little Foxes (1941 AA-N:BAS), The North Star (1943 AA-N:BOS)
Buck Henry¹, Catch-22, The Graduate
Heinz Herald, The Life of Emil Zola (1937 AA:BAS), Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940 AA-N:BOS)
Géza Herczeg, The Life of Emil Zola (1937 AA:BAS)
Samuel Hoffenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 AA-N:BAS), Laura (1944 AA-N:BAS)
Agnieszka Holland,² Europa Europa (1991 AA-N:BAS)
Paul Jarrico, Tom, Dick and Harry (1941 AA-N:BOS)
Tamara Jenkins³, Slums of Beverly Hills, The Savages (2007 AA-N:BOS)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, A Room with a View (1986 AA:BAS), Howards End (1992 AA:BAS), The Remains of the Day (1993 AA-N:BAS)
Spike Jonze⁴, Her (2013 AA:BOS)
Julian Josephson, Disraeli (1929 AA-N:BOS), The Rains Came, Stanley and Livingstone
Garson Kanin, A Double Life (1947 AA-N:BOS)
Michael Kanin, Woman of the Year (1942 AA:BOS)
Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, The Big Chill (1983 AA-N: BOS), The Accidental Tourist (1988 AA-N:BAS), Grand Canyon (1991 AA-N:BOS), Continental Divide, Body Heat
Charlie Kaufman, Being John Malkovich (1999 AA-N:BOS), Adaptation (2002 AA-N:BAS), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 AA:BOS)
George S. Kaufman, A Night at the Opera
Robert Klane, Weekend at Bernie's
Howard Koch, Sergeant York (1941 AA-N:BOS), Casablanca (1943 AA:BAS), War of the Worlds (radioplay)
Frederick Kohner, Mad About Music (1938 AA-N:BMPS)
Norman Krasna, The Richest Girl in the World (1934 AA-N:BOS), Fury (1936 AA-N:BOS), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941 AA-N:BOS), Princess O'Rourke (1943 AA:BOS)
Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove (1964 AA-N:BAS), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 AA-N:BOS), A Clockwork Orange (1971 AA-N:BAS), Barry Lyndon (1975 AA-N:BAS), Full Metal Jacket (1987 AA-N: BAS)
Jeremy Larner, The Candidate (1972 AA:BOS)
Arthur Laurents, The Turning Point (1978 AA-N:BOS), Bonjour Tristesse, Anastasia, The Way We Were
John Howard Lawson, Blockade (1938 AA-N:BMPS)
Ernest Lehman, North by Northwest (1959 AA-N:BOS), West Side Story (1961 AA-N:BAS), The Sound of Music, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966 AA-N:BAS)
Mike Leigh, Secrets & Lies (1996 AA-N:BOS), Another Year (2010 AA-N:BOS)
Claude Lelouch, A Man and a Woman (1966 AA:BOS)
Melchior Lengyel, Ninotchka (1939 AA-N:BMPS)
Alan Jay Lerner, An American in Paris (1951 AA:BOS), Gigi (1958 AA:BAS), My Fair Lady (1964 AA-N:BAS)
Sonya Levien, State Fair (1932/1933 AA-N:BAS), Interrupted Melody (1955 AA:BOS)
Barry Levinson, ...And Justice for All (1979 AA-N:BOS), Diner (1982 AA-N: BOS), Avalon (1990 AA-N:BOS)
Albert Lewin, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
William Ludwig, Interrupted Melody (1955 AA:BOS)
Sidney Lumet, Prince of the City (1981 AA-N:BAS)
Richard Maibaum, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only
David Mamet, The Verdict (1982 AA-N:BAS), Wag the Dog (1997 AA-N:BAS)
Marc "Babaloo" Mandel, Splash (1984 AA-N:BOS), City Slickers
Herman J. Mankiewicz, Citizen Kane (1941 AA:BOS)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, A Letter to Three Wives (1949 AA:BAS), All About Eve (1950 AA:BAS)
Wolf Mankowitz, Casino Royale
Abby Mann, Judgment at Nuremberg (1961 AA:BAS)
Elaine May, Heaven Can Wait (1978 AA-N:BAS), Primary Colors (1998 AA-N: BAS)
Paul Mazursky, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969 AA-N:BOS), Harry and Tonto (1974 AA-N:BOS), An Unmarried Woman (1978 AA-N:BOS), Enemies, A Love Story (1989 AA-N:BAS)
Mark Medoff, Children of a Lesser God (1986 AA-N:BAS)
Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976 AA-N:BAS), Star Trek II, IV, & VI
John Milius, Apocalypse Now (1979 AA-N:BAS), Red Dawn, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Alfred Neumann, None Shall Escape (1944 AA-N:BMPS)
Max Ophuls, La Ronde (1949 AA-N:BAS)
George Oppenheimer, A Day at the Races
Alan Pakula, Sophie's Choice (1982 AA-N:BAS)
Norman Panama, Road to Utopia (1946 AA-N:BOS), White Christmas, Knock on Wood (1954 AA-N:BOS), The Facts of Life (1960 AA-N:BOS)
Dorothy Parker⁵, A Star is Born (1937 AA-N:BAS)
S. J. Perelman, Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 AA:BAS)
Eleanor Perry, David and Lisa (1962 AA-N:BAS), Diary of a Mad Housewife
Harold Pinter, The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981 AA-N:BAS), Betrayal (1983 AA-N:BAS)
Robert Pirosh, Battleground (1949 AA:BOS), A Day at the Races
Abraham Polonsky, Body and Soul (1947 AA-N:BOS)
Emeric Pressburger, The Invaders (1942 AA:BMPS), The Red Shoes (1948 AA-N:BMPS)
Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces (1970 AA-N:BOS)
Harold Ramis, Groundhog Day, Animal House, Ghost Busters
Frederic Raphael, Darling (1965 AA:BOS)
Samson Raphaelson, Heaven Can Wait, Green Dolphin Street , (1965 AA:BOS)
Irving Ravetch, Hud (1963 AA-N:BAS), Norma Rae (1979 AA-N:BAS)
Walter Reisch, Ninotchka (1939 AA-N:BAS), Comrade X (1940 AA-N:BMPS), Gaslight (1944 AA-N:BAS), Titanic (1953 AA:BOS)
Maurice Richlin, Pillow Talk (1959 AA:BOS)
Robert Riskin, Lady for a Day (1932/1933 AA-N:BAS), It Happened One Night (1934 AA:BAS), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936 AA-N:BAS), You Can't Take It with You (1938 AA-N:BAS)
Arthur A. Ross, Creature from the Black Lagoon
Gary Ross, Big (1988 AA-N:BOS), Dave (1993 AA-N:BOS), Seabiscuit (2003 AA-N:BAS), The Hunger Games
Robert Rossen, All the King's Men (1949 AA-N:BAS)
Eric Roth, Forrest Gump (1994 AA:BAS), The Insider (1999 AA-N:BAS), Munich (2005 AA-N:BAS)
Bruce Joel Rubin, Ghost (1990 AA:BOS)
Danny Rubin, Groundhog Day
Morrie Ryskind, My Man Godfrey (1936 AA-N:BAS), Stage Door (1937 AA-N:BAS), Animal Crackers, A Night at the Opera
David Saperstein, Cocoon
Alvin Sargent, Julia (1977 AA:BAS), Ordinary People (1981 AA:BAS)
Dore Schary, Boys Town (1938 AA:BMPS and AA-N:BAS), Edison, the Man (1940 AA-N:BMPS)
Murray Schisgal, Tootsie, (1982 AA-N: BOS)
Charles Schnee, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952 AA:BAS)
Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront (1954 AA:BOS), A Face in the Crowd
Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society (1989 AA:BOS)
Erich Segal, Yellow Submarine, Love Story, Oliver's Story
Harry Segall, Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941 AA:BMPS)
David Seidler, The King's Speech (2010 AA:BOS)
Rod Serling, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Twilight Zone (majority of scripts for the TV series), Seven Days in May, Planet of the Apes
Peter Shaffer, Equus (1977 AA-N:BAS), Amadeus (1984 AA:BAS)
Steve Shagan, Save the Tiger (1973 AA-N:BOS), City of Angels, Voyage of the Damned (1976 AA-N:BAS)
Stanley Shapiro, Pillow Talk (1959 AA:BOS), Lover Come Back (1961 AA-N:BOS), That Touch of Mink (1962 AA-N:BOS)
Melville Shavelson, I'll See You in My Dreams, Houseboat, Cast a Giant Shadow
Irwin Shaw, The Talk of the Town (1942 AA-N:BAS)
Sidney Sheldon, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947 AA:BOS)
Neil Simon, The Odd Couple (1968 AA-N:BAS), The Sunshine Boys (1975 AA-N:BAS), The Goodbye Girl (1977 AA-N:BOS), California Suite (1978 AA-N:BAS), Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues
Curt Siodmak, The Wolf Man
Tess Slesinger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945 AA-N:BAS)
Aaron Sorkin, Lead writer, years 1-4: The West Wing (2000 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a TV Drama Series), The American President, The Social Network (2010 AA:BAS), Moneyball (2011 AA-N:BAS)
Bella and Samuel Spewack, My Favorite Wife (1940 AA-N:BMPS)
Oliver Stone⁶, Midnight Express (1978 AA:BAS), Platoon (1986 AA-N:BOS), Born on the Fourth of July (1989 AA-N: BAS)
Peter Stone, Father Goose (1964 AA:BOS)
Sir Tom Stoppard, Brazil (1985 AA-N:BOS), Shakespeare in Love (1998 AA:BOS)
Jo Swerling, The Pride of the Yankees (1942 AA-N:BAS)
Daniel Taradash, From Here to Eternity (1953 AA:BAS)
Frank Tarloff, Father Goose (1964 AA:BOS)
Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy (1989 AA:BAS)
Malvin Wald, The Naked City (1948 AA-N:BMPS)
David Wechsler, The Search (1948 AA:BMPS, AA-N:BAS)
Billy Wilder, Ninotchka (1939 AA-N:BAS), Ball of Fire (1941 AA-N:BMPS), Hold Back the Dawn (1941 AA-N:BAS), Double Indemnity (1944 AA-N:BAS), The Lost Weekend (1945 AA:BAS), Sunset Boulevard (1950 AA:BOS), The Apartment (1960 AA:BOS)
Philip Yordan, Dillinger (1945 AA-N:BOS), Detective Story (1951 AA-N:BAS), Broken Lance (1954 AA:BMPS)
ZAZ (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker), Airplane!, The Naked Gun Series

NOTES
1. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
2. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
3. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
4. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
5. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.
6. Jewish father, non-Jewish mother.

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