Born December 8, 1915, Ernest Lehman’s wealthy parents lost their fortune during the Great Depression. Educated at the College of the City of New York, after graduation he worked as a freelance writer. During World War II, he was trained as a radio operator and later worked in the aviation industry. He also worked as a radio comedy writer and editor and magazine writer. He married wife Jacqueline Shapiro in 1942 with whom he had two sons.
Lehman’s first film was 1948’s The Inside Story, directed by Allan Dwan, for which he wrote the original story. His first full-on screenplays were for two major 1954 films, Robert Wise’s Executive Suite and Billy Wilder’s Sabrina, receiving an Oscar nomination for the latter. He repeated the feat in 1956, providing the screenplays for both Robert Wise’s Somebody Up There Likes Me and Walter Lang’s film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. In 1957, he wrote the screenplay for Sweet Smell of Success, adapted from his novel of the same name.
In 1958, MGM hired Alfred Hitchcock to make a film of Hammond Inness’ novel, The Wreck of the Mary Deare for which Lehman was to write the screenplay. Instead, Hitchcock opted to make North by Northwest for which Lehman for the first time wrote an original screenplay which earned him his second Oscar nomination.
Lehman then wrote the screenplay for Mark Robson’s 1960 film of John O’Hara’s From the Terrace and Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ 1961 Oscar winning film of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story for which he himself received his third Oscar nomination. He followed up with the screenplays for Mark Robson’s 1963 film, The Prize and Robert Wise’s Oscar winning film of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.
Producing for the first time, Lehman received two 1966 Oscar nominations for Mike Nichols’ film of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, one for producing, and one for writing, even though the writing he did to adapt Albee’s play was minimal. He then produced Gene Kelly’s 1969 film of Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
In 1972, Lehman directed his only film, an unsuccessful adaptation of Philip Roths’s Portnoy’s Complaint which he also wrote and produced. He then wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, 1976’s Family Plot and John Frankenheimer’s 1977 film, Black Sunday. He also wrote the screenplays for two films that were never made, and adaptation of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever and Zorba, Kander & Ebb’s musical version of Zorba the Greek. His novel, The French Atlantic Affair, was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1979.
After 1979, Lehman did not write any more screenplays. He turned down both Jonathan Demme’s 1991 Oscar winner, The Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma’s 1996 film version of Mission: Impossible. He was finally given an Oscar of his own, an honorary one at the 2000 awards ceremony.
His wife Jacqueline having died in 1994, he married second wife Laurie Sherman in 1997 with whom he had another son.
Ernest Lehman died of a heart attack on July 2, 2005. He was 89.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
THE KING AND I (1956), directed by Walter Lang
Lehman’s first musical screenplay found him adapting Oscar Hammerstein’s original book for the Broadway stage. Yul Brynner was the only actor in a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical to reprise his stage role in a film version, winning both a Tony and an Oscar for his performance. Gertrude Lawrence was contractually bound to the film version but died while the show was still playing on Broadway. First choice replacement Maureen O’Hara was vetoed by Richard Rodgers as being too rough-and-tumble. Brynner recommended Deborah Kerr who got the job. Dorothy Dandridge was offered Tuptim but declined and was replaced by Rita Moreno.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Lehman, whose forte was adaptations, worked very closely with Hitchcock in developing his original screenplay. The result was one of the director’s most acclaimed films, garnering Lehman his second Oscar nomination. When Cary Grant complained that the script was confusing, Hitchcock and Lehman refused to change anything as it worked best when Grant’s character, like the actor himself, had no idea where things were going. Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, and Martin Landau all had one of the most celebrated roles of their long careers. Mason suffered a massive heart attack shortly after filming ended.
WEST SIDE STORY (1961), directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Lehman earned his third Oscar nomination for his adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical, his first for a musical. Co-director Robbins who was hired to direct the dance sequences was fired by the Mirisch Brothers who produced the film after filming just four of the sequences. Wise directed the remaining dance sequences along with everything else and came in on time. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, and Rita Moreno were all dubbed. Only George Chakiris among the film’s leads wasn’t because he didn’t have any solos. Nominated for 11 Oscars, it won 10, Lehman’s being the only one it lost.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), directed by Robert Wise
Lehman’s screenplay is more endearing than the one Lindsay & Crouse provided for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical, one of the primary reasons for the film’s lasting popularity. Julie Andrews, of course, did not need to be dubbed, but Christopher Plummer and Peggy Wood did, the latter a huge surprise since she had been a major operetta star in her earlier days. Eleanor Parker did not have to be dubbed because she didn’t have any songs to sings, her character’s songs having been excised from the film version. Marni Nixon, Deborah Kerr and Natalie Wood’s dubbed makes her on-screen debut as one of the nuns.
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966), directed by Mike Nichols
Lehman as producer hired himself for $250,000 to write the screenplay which he did, but Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton hated the script so much that they changed all the words back to Edward Albee’s original except for two lines to which Albee quipped: “$125,000 per line, that’s pretty good.” Nevertheless, Lehman was nominated for an Oscar for his adaptation. Nominated for thirteen Oscars, it won five, including Best Actress (Taylor) and Supporting Actress (Sandy Dennis). Burton and George Segal had to be content with being nominated as did director Nichols for his screen debut. Ehman again went home emptyhanded.
ERNEST LEHMAN AND OSCAR
Sabrina (1954) – nominated – Best Screenplay
North by Northwest (1959) – nominated – Best Original Screenplay
West Side Story (1961) – nominated – Best Adapted Screenplay
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – nominated – Best Picture
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – nominated – Best Adapted Screenplay
Hello, Dolly! (1969) – nominated – Best Picture
Honorary Award (2000) – Oscar – Career Achievement
