# Dudley Nichols

Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1938.

## Biography

Dudley Nichols was born April 6, 1895, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He studied at the University of Michigan where he was active member of the Sigma chapter of Theta Xi fraternity.
After working as a reporter for the New York World, Nichols moved to Hollywood in 1929 and became one of the most highly regarded screenwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. He collaborated on many films over many years with director John Ford, and was also noted for his work with George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir.
Nichols wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for films including Bringing Up Baby (1938), Stagecoach (1939), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Scarlet Street (1945), And Then There Were None (1945), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Pinky (1949) and The Tin Star (1957).
Nichols initially declined the Academy Award he received in 1936 for The Informer, due to a dispute between the Screen Writers Guild, of which he was a founder, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He collected the award at the 1938 Oscar ceremony. He served as president of the Screen Writers Guild in 1937 and 1938.
He also co-wrote the documentary The Battle of Midway, which won the 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Nichols produced and directed three films—Government Girl (1943), Sister Kenny (1946) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)—for which he also wrote the screenplay.

## Awards

In 1954 he received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.

## Death

He died in Hollywood of cancer in 1960 and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1930 | Men Without Women | |
| 1930 | Born Reckless | |
| 1930 | On the Level | |
| 1930 | One Mad Kiss | |
| 1930 | A Devil with Women | |
| 1931 | Not Exactly Gentlemen | |
| 1931 | Seas Beneath | |
| 1931 | A Connecticut Yankee | |
| 1931 | Hush Money | |
| 1931 | Skyline | |
| 1931 | Reckless Living | |
| 1931 | The Black Camel | |
| 1932 | She Wanted a Millionaire | |
| 1932 | While Paris Sleeps | |
| 1932 | This Sporting Age | |
| 1933 | Robbers Roost | |
| 1933 | The Man Who Dared | |
| 1933 | Pilgrimage | |
| 1933 | Hot Pepper | |
| 1934 | Frontier Marshal | |
| 1934 | You Can't Buy Everything | |
| 1934 | Ever Since Eve | |
| 1934 | The Lost Patrol | |
| 1934 | Hold That Girl | |
| 1934 | Call It Luck | |
| 1934 | Wild Gold | |
| 1934 | Grand Canary | |
| 1934 | Judge Priest | |
| 1935 | Mystery Woman | |
| 1935 | Life Begins at 40 | |
| 1935 | The Informer | Academy Award, Best Writing, Screenplay (not accepted until 1938) |
| 1935 | The Arizonian | |
| 1935 | She | |
| 1935 | Steamboat Round the Bend | |
| 1935 | The Crusades | |
| 1935 | The Three Musketeers | |
| 1936 | Mary of Scotland | |
| 1937 | The Plough and the Stars | |
| 1937 | The Toast of New York | |
| 1937 | The Hurricane | |
| 1938 | Bringing Up Baby | |
| 1938 | Carefree | |
| 1939 | Gunga Din | |
| 1939 | Stagecoach | |
| 1939 | The 400 Million | |
| 1940 | The Long Voyage Home | Academy Award nominee |
| 1941 | Man Hunt | |
| 1941 | Swamp Water | |
| 1942 | The Battle of Midway | |
| 1943 | Air Force | Academy Award nominee |
| 1943 | This Land Is Mine | |
| 1943 | Mr. Lucky | |
| 1943 | For Whom the Bell Tolls | |
| 1944 | Government Girl | Also producer and director |
| 1944 | It Happened Tomorrow | |
| 1945 | And Then There Were None | |
| 1945 | The Bells of St. Mary's | |
| 1945 | Scarlet Street | |
| 1946 | Sister Kenny | Also producer and director |
| 1947 | The Fugitive | |
| 1947 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Also producer and director |
| 1949 | Pinky | |
| 1951 | Rawhide | |
| 1952 | Return of the Texan | |
| 1952 | The Big Sky | |
| 1954 | Prince Valiant | |
| 1956 | Run for the Sun | |
| 1957 | The Tin Star | Academy Award nominee |
| 1959 | The Hangman | |
| 1960 | Heller in Pink Tights | |