Biopics of Writers, Poets and Playwright
Biographical Films on Famous Writers/Authors, Playwright and Poets (research started in 2007 and work is still in progress)
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- DirectorCurt GoetzStarsTheodor LoosHermann VallentinIsabel HeermannDespite his wish to become a pastor, Friedrich Schiller is ordered to join a military school. There, he begins to write poetry...Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Die Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsJohn BarrymoreConrad VeidtMarceline DayFrançois Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an occasional criminal, and an ardent patriot.François Villon in fifteenth-century French, (c. 1431 – after 5 January 1463) was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison. The question "Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?", taken from the Ballade des dames du temps jadis and translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?", is one of the most famous lines of translated secular poetry in the English-speaking world.
- DirectorJohn G. AdolfiStarsGeorge ArlissDoris KenyonMargaret LindsayWriter and philosopher Voltaire, loyal to his king, Louis XV of France, nonetheless writes scathingly of the king's disdain for the rights and needs of his people. Louis admires Voltaire but is increasingly influenced against him by his minister, the Count de Sarnac. Louis's mistress, the courtesan Madame de Pompadour, is Voltaire's protector and advocate, but even she has difficulty preserving his welfare when Voltaire publicly excoriates the king for the wrongful execution of one of his subjects, Calas. Voltaire gives refuge to Calas's daughter and endeavors to show the king the error of his ways. But the Count de Sarnac, with an agenda of intrigue and disloyalty, determines to do away with the troublesome Voltaire.François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name VOLTAIRE, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform, despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day.
Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émilie du Châtelet) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions. - DirectorSidney FranklinStarsNorma ShearerFredric MarchCharles LaughtonElizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.Elizabeth Barrett Browning (6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsPaul MuniGale SondergaardJoseph SchildkrautThe biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.Émile François Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J'Accuse.
- DirectorMark DonskoyStarsAleksei LyarskyVarvara MassalitinovaMikhail TroyanovskiyA drama reveals the great writer's inauspicious early years as an orphan raised by conniving relatives.Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), also known as Maxim Gorky was a Russian, Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.
- DirectorMark DonskoyStarsAleksei LyarskyIrina ZarubinaVarvara MassalitinovaFor the family really no money, Alexei began to make a living. Everything was limited to dirty chores, but while reading could end his depression. After hard working experience, he was determined to Kazan in the passion of being a strongmen.Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), also known as Maxim Gorky was a Russian, Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.
- DirectorMark DonskoyStarsNikolai ValbertStepan KayukovNikolai DorokhinThe last installment of Russian director Mark Donskoy's Maxim Gorky trilogy. Having endured a painful youth in Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938) and a torturous sojourn as a serf in My Apprenticeship, future writer Maxim Gorky reaches maturity with an insatiable desire for personal and artistic freedom.Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), also known as Maxim Gorky was a Russian, Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.
- DirectorHarry LachmanStarsLinda DarnellShepperd StrudwickVirginia GilmoreEdgar Allan Poe led an unhappy childhood, broken only by the unceasing devotion of his foster mother, Mrs. Frances Allan, whose loving ministrations gave him courage to carry out his desire to write. His first love was Elmira Royster, and though she married another while he was at the University of Virginia, he could never purge his thoughts of her and, under the influence of her spell, he poured out the deepest passions of his heart. After a discouraging period during which he was disowned by his foster father and lost his appointment to West Point, he found the love that tamed his restless heart with Virginia Clemm. After he and Virginia married, Poe did his greatest creative work, writing for the Southern Literary Messenger and Graham's Magazine.Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement.
- DirectorAlfred SantellStarsMichael O'SheaSusan HaywardOsa MassenEpisodes in the adventurous life of the American novelist (1876-1916).John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney,[1] January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916)[2][3][4][5] was an American author, journalist, and social activist.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsFredric MarchAlexis SmithDonald CrispThe dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly after Halley's Comet returned.Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsOlivia de HavillandIda LupinoPaul HenreidGenius authors Emily and Charlotte Brontë fall in love with their curate as they seek to get their work published.The Brontës (were a 19th century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (born 21 April 1816), Emily (born 30 July 1818), and Anne (born 17 January 1820), are well known as a trio of sibling poets and novelists. They originally published their poems and novels under masculine pseudonyms, following the custom of the times practised by female writers. Their stories immediately attracted attention, although not always the best, for their passion and originality. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsDanny KayeFarley GrangerZizi JeanmaireThe opening scene of the movie describes it best: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales."Hans Christian Andersen, referred to using the initials H. C. Andersen in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia; April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Snow Queen", "The Little Mermaid", "Thumbelina", "The Little Match Girl", and "The Ugly Duckling".
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckDeborah KerrEddie AlbertToward the end of his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald is writing for Hollywood studios to be able to afford the cost of an asylum for his wife. He is also struggling against alcoholism. Into his life comes the famous gossip columnist.Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMillie PerkinsShelley WintersJoseph SchildkrautDuring World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (12 June 1929 – early March 1945) is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.
- DirectorKen HughesStarsPeter FinchYvonne MitchellJames MasonA chronicle of Oscar Wilde's libel suit against the Marquis of Queensberry and the tragic turn his life takes because of it.Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.
- DirectorHenry LevinGeorge PalStarsLaurence HarveyClaire BloomKarlheinz BöhmThe story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, and three of their stories.The Brothers Grimm (German: Die Brüder Grimm or Die Gebrüder Grimm), Jacob Grimm (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859), were German academics, linguists and cultural researchers who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.Sayat-Nova (14 June 1712, Tiflis – died 22 September 1795, Haghpat), was an Armenian poet, musician and ashik who had compositions in a number of languages. His adopted name Sayat Nova meant "Master of Songs" in Persian.
- DirectorMohy QuandourStarsRobert Walker Jr.Cesar RomeroTom DrakePoe's fiance, Lenore, falls into a coma and is taken for dead. She is rescued at the last possible moment from being buried alive, but the experience has driven her insane. On the advice of his friend, Dr. Forrest, Poe commits Lenore to the asylum run by Dr. Grimaldi. On a visit to the asylum, Poe and Forrest sense that something strange is going on, and decide to sneak back in after dark and investigate.Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement.
- DirectorGeorge SchaeferStarsRichard ChamberlainBlythe DannerSusan SarandonA semi-fictional account of how writer F. Scott Fitzgerald met his wife while he was in the army and stationed in Alabama in 1919.Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
- DirectorAnthony PageStarsJason MillerTuesday WeldJulia FosterThe story of author F. Scott Fitzgerald's two stays in Hollywood to write for films, once in 1927 at the height of his acclaim, and again in 1937 when he arrived with little money, enormous expenses and an ill wife.Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
- DirectorCharles S. DubinStarsJulie HarrisPortrait of 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson based on her poems, letters and notes. This is a taped broadcast of a live one-woman performance.Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsJane FondaVanessa RedgraveJason RobardsAt the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.Lillian Florence “Lily” Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes. She was romantically involved for 30 years with mystery and crime writer Dashiell Hammett (and was the inspiration for his character Nora Charles), and was also a long-time friend and literary executor of author Dorothy Parker.
- DirectorJoseph StrickStarsBosco HoganT.P. McKennaJohn GielgudStephen Dedalus is a young man growing up in Ireland in the early part of the twentieth century. His search for knowledge and understanding, and the decline of his family's circumstances, lead him to revelations on the nature of art and politics. His personal renaissance makes him feel unwelcome in his own country, and forces him to decide whether to leave and accept exile, or to stay and fight.James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark novel which perfected his stream of consciousness technique and combined nearly every literary device available in a modern re-telling of The Odyssey. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His complete oeuvre includes three books of poetry, a play, occasional journalism, and his published letters.
- DirectorRobert EndersStarsGlenda JacksonMona WashbourneAlec McCowenThis biographical film has Glenda Jackson portraying a British poet with emotional problems.Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971) was an English poet and novelist.