William Rose (screenwriter)

William Rose was an American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films.

Life

Rose was born in Jefferson City, Missouri. He traveled to Canada after the 1939 outbreak of World War II and volunteered to fight with the Black Watch. After being stationed at bases in Scotland and Europe, Rose returned to live in Britain at war's end to work as a screenwriter, marrying an English woman, Tania Price, with whom he would later collaborate.
In 1964, Rose settled in Jersey in the Channel Islands. His marriage to Tania did not last.
After the couple separated/divorced, Tania returned to live in London in the autumn of 1967. She died in 2015, aged 95.
In the 1970s, Rose had a brief relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn.
Rose died in Jersey in 1987. He is buried in the Churchyard at St. Clement Parish Church, Jersey.

Career

Blessed with the ability to adapt to two distinct cultures, William Rose wrote a number of successful British comedies including Genevieve. Rose became a working associate of American-born director Alexander Mackendrick, notably for his collaboration on The Maggie and The Ladykillers. He also provided scripts for Hollywood studios, earning several Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting and winning the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Rose also won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Written American Comedy for The [Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming].
In 1973, Rose's lifetime achievements were recognized by the Writers Guild of America with their Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1948	Once a Jolly Swagman	Jack Lee	Credited with Jack Lee & Cliff Gordon
1948	Esther Waters	Ian Dalrymple Peter Proud	Credited with Michael Gordon & Gerard Tyrrell
1950	I'll Get You for This	Joseph M. Newman	Credited with George Callahan
1950	My Daughter Joy	Gregory Ratoff	Credited with Robert Thoeren
1952	Gift Horse	Compton Bennett	Credited with William Fairchild & Hugh Hastings
1953	Genevieve	Henry Cornelius
1954	The Maggie	Alexander Mackendrick
1955	The Ladykillers	Alexander Mackendrick
1955	Touch and Go	Michael Truman
1957	The Man in the Sky	Charles Crichton	Credited with John Eldridge
1957	The Smallest Show on Earth	Basil Dearden	Credited with John Eldridge
1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Stanley Kramer	Credited with Tania Rose
1966	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	Norman Jewison
1967	The Flim-Flam Man	Irvin Kershner
1967	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	Stanley Kramer
1969	The Secret of Santa Vittoria	Stanley Kramer