John L. Balderston

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia John L Balderston October 22 1889 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania March 8 1954 Los Angeles California was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts Balderston began his career as a journalist He worked as European war correspondent during World War I He was the editor of Outlook magazine and a correspondent for the New York World In 1927 he was retained by Horace Liveright to revise Hamilton Deanes stage adaptation of Dracula for its American production His 1929 play Berkeley Square later formed the basis of the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever His Dracula subsequently formed the basis of the 1931 film version leading Balderston into a screenwriting career initially for Universal Pictures horror films in addition to Dracula he contributed to Frankenstein Bride of Frankenstein The Mummy and Draculas Daughter He spent much of his career adapting novels for the screen including The Prisoner of Zenda in 1937 and 1944s Gaslight which earned him his second Academy Award nomination the first was for 1935s The Lives of a Bengal Lancer He was also one of the team of writers who collaborated on the 1939 film adaptation of Gone with the Wind His 1932 play Red Planet was filmed as Red Planet Mars in 1952 Description above from the Wikipedia article John L Balderston licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia