Myles Connolly
Oct 7, 1897 - Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA
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Myles Connolly (October 7, 1897 – July 15, 1964) was an author and a Hollywood screenwriter/producer.
Myles Connolly was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. After graduating from Boston College in 1918 and serving one year in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Connolly worked as a newspaper reporter with The Boston Post. As a reporter, he was able to lay claim to being one of the few journalists ever granted the opportunity to interview President Calvin Coolidge. Both he and his Nashville socialite wife, Agnes (née Bevington), were devout Roman Catholics and each had a sister who was a nun.
Joseph P. Kennedy convinced Connolly to leave Boston to work at the Hollywood movie studio that Kennedy financed, Film Booking Office (FBO), which eventually became RKO. At RKO, Connolly served as associate producer for that studio's earliest Wheeler & Woolsey vehicles. In 1933, his work as a screenwriter-producer of dramatic films was introduced with The Right to Romance.
Connolly eventually befriended director Frank Capra at a cast and crew party for Ladies of Leisure (1930) after actor Alan Roscoe invited Connolly to tag along with him to the event.
Though Connolly chided Capra for turning out frivolities when he thought Capra could produce thought provoking pieces, Connolly did not necessarily follow his own advice. He produced numerous pieces of escapist entertainment such as the Tarzan pictures of the 1940s.
Myles Connolly helped write and produce over forty films. Screenwriting credits include The Right to Romance (1933), Palm Springs (1936), Youth Takes a Fling (1938), and the Charles Vidor film Hans Christian Andersen (1952). Connolly co-wrote the Ann Sothern-Lew Ayres film Maisie Was a Lady (1941) with Elizabeth Reinhardt. In addition, he worked with Sam Fuller to create It Happened in Hollywood. While Myles Connolly collaborated with Frank Capra on State of the Union (1948) and Here Comes the Groom (1951), he was also an uncredited contributor to the Capra films Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life. His last screenwriting credit was MGM's musical biography of Hans Christian Andersen with Danny Kaye (1952).
Myles Connolly was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Music for Millions (1944). 1n 1951, he shared the nomination for a Hugo award (Best Dramatic Presentation) for the screenplay of Harvey. In 1952, he was nominated for the Best Written American Musical award by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) for Here Comes the Groom.
