Richard Murphy (screenwriter)


Richard Murphy was an American screenwriter, film director and producer. His screenplays for Boomerang and The Desert Rats were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay, respectively.

Biography

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Murphy worked for Literary Digest in the 1930s before leaving in 1937 to work in the short film department at MGM. Murphy's first screenwriting credit was for providing the story for Back in the Saddle, a 1941 Gene Autry western.
While in the Army Air Forces during World War II, Murphy reached the rank of captain seeing action in the Pacific theater countries of New Guinea and the Philippines. Murphy returned to the States and started working for 20th Century Fox. In 1947 he wrote the award-winning film Boomerang. He received the first of two Oscar nominations for this screenplay, with his second in 1953 for the World War II film The Desert Rats. He also directed a few films before moving into television in the 1960s when he wrote and created television series. Murphy's last screenplay was for The Kidnapping of the President in 1980.

Filmography

Writer

Life in Sometown, U.S.A. Back in the Saddle The Singing Hill Flying Blind The Apache Kid Jesse James, Jr. The Cyclone Kid I Live on Danger Wildcat X Marks the Spot Wrecking Crew Boomerang! Deep Waters Cry of the City Slattery's Hurricane Panic in the Streets You're in the Navy Now Les Misérables The Desert Rats Broken Lance Three Stripes in the Sun Compulsion The Last Angry Man The Wackiest Ship in the Army The Mystery of the Chinese Junk Felony Squad

Director

Three Stripes in the Sun

Producer

  • ''The Mystery of the Chinese Junk''