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William Rose (August 31, 1918 – February 10, 1987) was an American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films.

Life

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Born in Jefferson City, Missouri, Rose 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, he 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.

Rose settled in Jersey in the Channel Islands in 1964.

After the couple separated/divorced, Tania returned to live in London in the autumn of 1967. Tania died in 2015 aged 95.

In the 1970s, he had a brief relationship with Katharine Hepburn.

He 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 (1953). He became a working associate of the American-born director Alexander Mackendrick notably for his collaboration on The Maggie (US:High and Dry, 1954) and The Ladykillers (1955). 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 (1967). Rose also won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Written American Comedy for The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966).

In 1973, Rose's lifetime achievements were recognized by the Writers Guild of America with their Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

Screenwriting awards

Filmography

Notes

1. Leo Verswijver (27 February 2003). "Movies Were Always Magical": Interviews with 19 Actors, Directors, and Producers from the Hollywood of the 1930s through the 1950s. McFarland. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7864-1129-0.
2. "William Rose - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
3. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Rose, William (1918-1987) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
4. "Oscar-winning screenwriter made his home in Jersey". Bailiwick Express. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
5. "'The Ladykillers' scriptwriter from Gloucestershire village dies aged 95" Archived 2015-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Gloucestershire Live, October 23, 2015.
6. Claudia Robinson, "Tania Rose obituary", The Guardian, December 18, 2015.
7. Carter, Grace May (18 June 2016). Katharine Hepburn. New Word City. ISBN 9781612309613 – via Google Books.
8. "William Rose". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018.
9. "William Rose - Movie and Film Awards". AllMovie.
10. "Writers Guild Awards Winners 1995-1949". awards.wga.org.
11. "Screen Laurel Award Previous Recipients". awards.wga.org.

External links

• William Rose at IMDb

• 1914 births
• 1987 deaths
• Best British Screenplay BAFTA Award winners
• American expatriates in the United Kingdom
• American male screenwriters
• British Army personnel of World War II
• People from Jefferson City, Missouri
• Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners
• Jersey screenwriters
• Screenwriters from Missouri
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• 20th-century British screenwriters
• Black Watch soldiers