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Born in 1923 in New York, Paddy Chayefsky started working in radio and television after serving in World War II. His teleplay, Marty, became a film and won him his first Academy Award in 1955. Chayefsky also wrote several plays for Broadway, including The Tenth Man. In the 1970s, he picked up two more Academy Awards for The Hospital and Network. He died in 1981.
Born on January 29, 1923, and raised in the Bronx, New York, Paddy Chayefsky was the son of Jewish-Russian immigrants. Both his religion and his lower-middle-class background informed and influenced his many works. As a young man, Chayefsky developed an interest in wr
Born in 1923 in New York, Paddy Chayefsky started working in radio and television after serving in World War II. His teleplay, Marty, became a film and won him his first Academy Award in 1955. Chayefsky also wrote several plays for Broadway, including The Tenth Man. In the 1970s, he picked up two more Academy Awards for The Hospital and Network. He died in 1981.
Born on January 29, 1923, and raised in the Bronx, New York, Paddy Chayefsky was the son of Jewish-Russian immigrants. Both his religion and his lower-middle-class background informed and influenced his many works. As a young man, Chayefsky developed an interest in writing. He learned how to write a play by studying the works of others, and he even copied out the entire text of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour by hand. Chayefsky attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then studied at the City College of New York.
After graduating from college in 1943, Chayefsky joined the U.S. Army. He served in an infantry division in Germany, where he earned the nickname "Paddy." His real was Sidney Aaron Chayefsky, but his fellow soldiers started calling him Paddy after he kept asking to be excused to attend mass. This was an effort to avoid kitchen duty, not to convert to another faith. But his comrades joked that he must have been Irish for going to services so much.
Chayefsky was injured in the war after stepping on a landmine. While recuperating in an English hospital, he wrote a military musical called No T.O. for Love. Chayefsky returned to New York after the war and went to work at an uncle's print shop. In his own time, he continued writing, developing scripts and stories for radio, and the emerging medium of television.
Chayefsky first broke into television by writing scripts for two crime dramas, Danger and Manhunt. Before long, he was a part of what some would later refer to as "The Golden Age of Television." Chayefsky penned engaging dramas for the small screen, including 1953's Marty, which aired on Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse. He soon adapted his teleplay for film, scoring his first Academy Award for his screenplay. The movie version starred Ernest Borgnine as the lonely, overweight butcher who falls for a schoolteacher.
Writing for the theater, Chayefsky made his Broadway debut in 1957 with Middle of the Night. The play, called a love story, featured Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands. His next effort, The Tenth Man, was a comedy set in an Orthodox synagogue. It ran for nearly two years in New York before going out on a successful tour. It was criticism of The Passion of Josef D., an experimental production about Communist leader Josef Stalin and the Russian Revolution, that drove Chayefsky away from the theater. The show lasted less than two weeks before it closed, and he vowed to never write for the Broadway stage again.
While television tastes changed, Chayefsky turned to films. He adapted his earlier teleplay, The Americanization of Emily, into a screenplay with mixed reviews.
The 1964 wartime romantic comedy starred Julie Andrews failed to win over critics and movie-goers alike. Trying to revive a fading genre, Chayefsky adapted the musical Paint Your Wagon for the big screen. The western starred Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, but it, too, proved to be a disappointment.
As the new decade began, Chayefsky enjoyed a new wave of success. He wrote the screenplay for The Hospital (1971), which offered a satirical look at the medical establishment. Chayefsky took another institution to task in 1976's Network, exploring the ugly underbelly of television. The movie features one of cinema's most famous scenes when a news anchor (Peter Finch) has a breakdown on air. The news anchor instructs his viewers to open their windows and shout "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." His command began a popular catchphrase. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film netted four Academy Awards, including one for Chayefsky's screenplay. Some thought that Chayefsky had gone over the deep end with Network, but he insisted that it was a realistic portrayal of the news media, stating, "It's the world that's gone nuts, not me. It's the world that's turned into a satire."
Chayefsky tackled a new literary form later in his life, publishing his first novel, Altered States, in 1979. He also adapted this science-fiction drama for the movies, but he had trouble with the production. The film went through two directors—first Sidney Lumet and then Ken Russell—and Chayefsky clashed with both of them. While Russell insisted that the final film version remained true to Chayefsky's script, the famous playwright had his name removed from the credits; he was listed under the pseudonym "Sidney Aaron."
Disappointed, Chayefsky returned to playwriting. He was reportedly at work on a new play about the Alger Hiss trial, but he wasn't able to finish it. On August 1, 1981, Chayefsky died of cancer in a New York City hospital. Many famous figures from the theatrical, cinematic and literary worlds turned out for his memorial service, including David Mamet, Sidney Lumet and Bob Fosse. He was remembered for his distinctive dialogue style, for his sharp satirical wits and for his unwavering support of love as tool for redemption.
Chayefsky had one son, Daniel, from his marriage to Susan Sackler. The couple married in 1945 and remained together until Paddy's death.
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Tags: Screenwriter (1), Jews In The Military (1), Writers In The Military (1), Wounded In Combat (1), World War II Veteran (1), Born January 29 (1), Born In New York City (1), Born In New York (1), Died Aged 58 (1), Died Young (1), Died 1981 (1), Born 1923 (1), Military (1), US Army (1), Purple Heart (1), Infantry (1), Veteran (1), Jewish (1), Novelist (1), Oscar Winner (1)
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Oscars 1977 Winners (My Version) (21 movies items)