19 Facts About Ernest Lehman

Ernest Paul Lehman was an American screenwriter and film producer.

Ernest Lehman was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win.

Ernest Lehman was the first screenwriter to receive that honor.

Ernest Lehman received two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America for screenplays of suspense films he wrote for director Alfred Hitchcock: North by Northwest, his only original screenplay, and Family Plot, one of numerous adaptations.

Ernest Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living", so he began writing copy for a publicity firm that focused on plays and celebrities.

Ernest Lehman drew from this experience for the screenplay of the film Sweet Smell of Success, which he co-wrote with playwright Clifford Odets.

Ernest Lehman published many short stories and novellas in magazines such as Colliers, Redbook and Cosmopolitan.

Ernest Lehman's first film, Executive Suite, was a success.

Ernest Lehman was asked to collaborate on the romantic comedy Sabrina, which was released the same year and became a hit.

Ernest Lehman persuaded studio executive Jack L Warner to allow him to take on the project, and the film was a critical sensation, garnering many Academy Award nominations.

In 1972, Ernest Lehman directed Portnoy's Complaint, based on the novel by Philip Roth; this was his only directorial work.

Ernest Lehman turned down offers to write for Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible.

Ernest Lehman completed adaptations for two films that were never made: a screenplay for the Noel Coward classic Hay Fever, and one for a musical version of Zorba the Greek.

In 1977, Ernest Lehman published the bestselling novel The French Atlantic Affair, about a group of unemployed, middle-class Americans who hijack a French cruise ship for a $35 million ransom.

Ernest Lehman was an active member of the Bel Air Repeater Association.

Ernest Lehman died on July 2,2005, at UCLA Medical Center after an apparent heart attack.

Ernest Lehman was buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Ernest Lehman received six Academy Award nominations during his career, but never won.

Ernest Lehman did receive more honorable recognition from the Writers Guild of America than any other screenwriter in film history.