John L. Balderston
John L. Balderston
Screenwriter, playwright
John L. Balderston (October 22, 1889, in Philadelphia – March 8, 1954, in Los Angeles) was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts. He wrote the plays Berkley Square and Dracula. Balderston's play of Dracula formed the basis of the 1931 film version starring Lugosi, made by Universal Pictures. Universal then bought his American adaptation of Peggy Webling's 1927 play Frankenstein, and used it as the basis for the 1931 film Frankenstein.Balderston left journalism in 1931 when the New York World went out of business.Universal hired Balderston to adapt a story on Cagliostro in The Mummy (1932). He wrote a version of The Invisible Man for James Whale which was not used. Balderston returned to Broadway in 1932, working with J.E. Hore on Red Planet. It only ran seven performances. For MGM he did an unused treatment of She: A Story of Adventure in 1932 and did some uncredited work on Smilin' Through (1932). He is credited as screenwriter on the adaptation of Berkeley Square (1933). Balderston was one of several writers on The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), which earned him an Oscar nomination. He worked on The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and was the last writer on Mad Love (1935). He was an uncredited contributor to the script of Mark of the Vampire (1935) and wrote a version of Dracula's Daughter (1936) for David O. Selznick which was sold to Universal. Balderston worked on Peter Ibbetson (1935) for Henry Hathaway. He was one of several writers on The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936) and did The Last of the Mohicans (1936) with Philip Dunne. He adapted a Hungarian play into Farewell Performance for the English stage in 1936. In Hollywood, Balderston specialised in British themed subjects: The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936); Beloved Enemy (1936) for Sam Goldwyn; The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) for Selznick. He wrote an unused script, Murder in Church in 1938 and was one of the team of writers who collaborated on the 1939 film adaptation of Gone with the Wind for Selznick. He wrote a musical for Fox, Little Old New York (1940) then adapted Victory (1940) for Paramount. At MGM he worked on Smilin' Through (1941), Stand By for Action (1942), and Tennessee Johnson (1942). He was also one of the writers on 1944's Gaslight, which earned him his second Academy Award nomination. He also wrote a book Chicago Blueprint, which was published in 1943.
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