death_place death_date birth_place birth_date article_title name occupation
woodland hills , california , united states 1987 1916 las cruces , new mexico , united states 1916 william bowers
 william bowers writer
william bowers

william bowers -lrb- january 17 , 1916 in las cruces -- march 27 , 1987 in woodland hills , california -rrb- was a reporter in long beach , california before becoming a screenwriter and specializing in writing comedy westerns and also turned out several thrillers .
his first credited screenplay was `` my favorite spy '' in 1942 .
during world war ii bowers served in the united states army air forces where he met arch hall sr. .
bowers later wrote a screenplay based in his experiences called `` the last time i saw archie '' where jack webb played bowers .
his career noticeably picked up after his oscar nomination for the gritty gregory peck western `` the gunfighter '' in 1950 , leading to such assignments as the remake of `` my man godfrey '' in 1957 and `` the sheepman '' in 1958 -lrb- a second oscar nomination -rrb- .
bowers produced the last film that he wrote , the western parody `` support your local sheriff ! ''
-lrb- 1969 -rrb- .
he also had a bit part as an actor in `` the godfather part ii '' -lrb- 1974 -rrb- .
