Frances Goodrich

Frances Goodrich December 21 1890 January 29 1984 was an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett Goodrich was born in Belleville New Jersey the daughter of Madeleine Christy née Lloyd and Henry Wickes Goodrich The family moved to nearby Nutley when Goodrich was two She married actor Robert Ames in 1917 divorced 1923 the writer HW Van Loon in 1927 divorced 1930 and Albert Hackett in 1931 Goodrich and Hackett remained married until her death Not long after marrying Hackett the couple went to Hollywood in the late 1920s to write the screenplay for their stage success Up Pops the Devil for Paramount Pictures In 1933 they signed a contract with MGM and remained with them until 1939 Among their earliest assignments was writing the screenplay for The Thin Man 1934 They were encouraged by the director W S Van Dyke to use the writing of Dashiell Hammett as a basis only and to concentrate on providing witty exchanges for the principal characters Nick and Nora Charles played by William Powell and Myrna Loy The resulting film was one of the major hits of the year and the script considered to show a modern relationship in a realistic manner for the first time is considered groundbreaking They received Academy Award for Screenplay nominations for The Thin Man After the Thin Man 1936 Father of the Bride 1950 and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1955 They won Writers Guild of America awards for Easter Parade 1949 Fathers Little Dividend 1951 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954 and The Diary of Anne Frank 1959 as well as nominations for In the Good Old Summertime 1949 Father of the Bride 1950 and The Long Long Trailer 1954 They also won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for their original play The Diary of Anne Frank Some of their other films include Another Thin Man 1939 and Its a Wonderful Life 1946 Frances Goodrich Hackett died from lung cancer on January 29 1984 at the age of 93 in New York City