Frank S. Nugent

Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer. He wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for The New York Times before leaving journalism for Hollywood. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953 and twice won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy. The Writers Guild of America, West ranks his screenplay for The Searchers among the top 101 screenplays of all time.

Early life and film criticism Nugent was born in New York City on May 27, 1908, the son of Frank H. and Rebecca Roggenburg Nugent. He graduated from Regis High School in 1925 and studied journalism at Columbia University, graduating in 1929, where he worked on the student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator. He started his journalism career as a news reporter with The New York Times in 1929 and in 1934 moved to reviewing films for that newspaper. At the end of 1936 Nugent succeeded Andre Sennwald as its motion picture editor and critic, and held the post until 1940. In that position he wrote very favorable reviews of Show Boat (1936), and of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind (1939).

One account of his output at the Times says that "He was known for his acerbic wit and poison-tipped pen, and even his news articles had verve and voice; his features were chatty, clever, and intimate, if occasionally smug." Nugent praised director John Ford without reservation, writing of Stagecoach in 1939:

Of Ford's The Grapes of Wrath, released the following year, he wrote:

His critiques were sometimes sharp-tongued. He called Mannequin with Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy a "glib, implausible and smart-gowned little drama, as typical Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Leo himself". Of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), he wrote: "The film is almost unrelievedly brutal and without the saving grace of unreality which makes Frankenstein's horrors a little comic." He aimed his barbs at individuals as well, like "the screen's latest leading man, John Trent, former transport pilot. Mr. Trent is square-jawed, rangy and solidly masculine. Eventually he may deteriorate and become an actor as well."

He particularly disliked the work of Tyrone Power for 20th Century Fox, and began his review of The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) by saying: "If only because it has omitted Tyrone Power, 20th Century Fox's [picture] must be considered one of that company's more sober and meritorious contributions to the historical drama." In response, Fox and the theater that presented the film reduced their advertising in The New York Times for months, costing the paper $50,000.

Career in films Nugent continued to write for the Times on a freelance basis during his first several years in Hollywood.

His screenplay for The Searchers (1956) has been ranked among the top 101 screenplays of all time by the Writers Guild of America, West. It was named the greatest western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. It placed 12th on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the 100 Greatest American Films.

He wrote other westerns for Stuart Heisler (Tulsa), for Robert Wise (Two Flags West), for Raoul Walsh (The Tall Men), and for Phil Karlson (They Rode West and Gunman's Walk). Nugent also worked on Mister Roberts.

His screenplays in other genres include The Red Beret, North West Frontier, Trouble in the Glen, The Quiet Man, The Rising of the Moon and Donovan's Reef.

For his work on for The Quiet Man, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The Quiet Man won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy in 1953 and he won the same award in 1956 for Mister Roberts (1955).

Of his long association with Ford, Nugent once wrote: They divorced in 1952. He married his second wife, Jean Lavell, in 1953.

Nugent suffered from heart problems for several years before dying of a heart attack on December 29, 1965, in Los Angeles.

Feature film screenwriting credits Credited as Frank S. Nugent or Frank Nugent for screenplay or the story that provides the basis for the screenplay.

Fort Apache, 1948 3 Godfathers, 1948 Tulsa, 1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1949 Wagon Master, 1950 Two Flags West, 1950 The Quiet Man, 1952 Angel Face, 1953 Paratrooper, released in the UK as The Red Beret, 1953 They Rode West, 1954 Trouble in the Glen, 1954 Mister Roberts, 1955 The Tall Men, 1955 The Searchers, 1956 The Rising of the Moon, 1957 Gunman's Walk, 1958 The Last Hurrah, 1958 North West Frontier, 1959 Two Rode Together, 1961 Donovan's Reef, 1963 Incident at Phantom Hill, 1966

+ Table key Indicates films directed by John Ford