Robert E. Sherwood

He was a founding member, along with Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, of the Algonquin Club, the famed ad hoc gathering of many of the literary world's brightest lights during the 1920s. The three just happened to dine there one day, then were subsequently joined by the likes of Alexander Woollcott, Heywood Hale Broun, George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, among others. Alan Rudolph's film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) captures this moment--and its evolution--beautifully, recalling a time when the printed word was king.

His first movie writing job came in 1924, rewriting the subtitles for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Over the years he worked with most of the major talents in the film business, including Alexander Korda, George S. Kaufman and Samuel Goldwyn, often working without credit. During WWII Sherwood served in a number of posts, most notably as director of the overseas branch of the Office of War Information (OWI).

Robert E. Sherwood, a brilliant multifaceted writer, was born to Arthur Murray and Rosina Emmet Sherwood, educated at the Milton Academy (Massachusetts) and Harvard, and was wounded while serving with the Canadian Black Watch in WWI. His literary career started with jobs as movie critic at Vanity Fair and Life magazines, but he became a full-time writer with the success of his play "The Road to Rome" in 1927.

Won the 1936 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Idiot's Delight", the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" and the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "There Shall Be No Night".

He resigned in 1944 and returned to film writing, winning an Oscar for his script for The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946).