Stern, Stewart 1922–

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Stern, Stewart 1922–

PERSONAL: Born March 22, 1922, in New York, NY; married; wife's name Marilee. Education: Attended University of Iowa.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, 4th Fl., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Writer for film and television. Faculty member at University of Washington and Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. Military service: U.S. Army, served during World War II.

AWARDS, HONORS: Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay, 1968, for Rachel, Rachel; Emmy Award for best dramatic writing, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1976, for Sybil.

WRITINGS:

SCREENPLAYS

(With Alfred Hayes) Teresa, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1951.

Benjy, Paramount, 1951.

Rebel without a Cause (based on the novel by Robert M. Linder), Warner Bros., 1955.

The Rack (adapted from a teleplay by Rod Serling), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956.

The James Dean Story, Warner Bros., 1957.

Thunder in the Sun, Paramount, 1959.

The Outsider, Universal, 1961.

The Ugly American (based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer), Universal, 1963.

Rachel, Rachel (adapted from the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence), Warner Bros./Seven Arts, 1968.

(With Dennis Hopper) The Last Movie, Alta-Light Productions/Universal, 1971.

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, Raster Pictures/Columbia, 1973.

OTHER

Thunder Silence (television script), Televison Playhouse, National Broadcasting Company, 1954.

Sybil (television script; based on the book by Flora Rheta Schreiber), National Broadcasting Company, 1976.

A Christmas to Remember (television script; adapted from the novel The Melodeon by Glendon Swarthout), Columbia Broadcasting System, 1978.

No Tricks in My Pocket: Paul Newman Directs, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1989.

SIDELIGHTS: Stewart Stern has written screenplays for some of the most memorable films of mid-twentieth century America. His first script, Teresa, which was nominated for an Academy award, tells the story of a troubled U.S. soldier who brings his Italian war bride back to New York City after World War II. The film, which was described as "uncompromisingly realistic" by a contributor to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, follows the soldier's treatment by a psychiatrist who helps him cope with his life. Stern had been asked by producer Arthur Loew, Sr., to provide comments on the existing script, and Loew was so impressed by Stern's contributions that he asked the aspiring writer to revise the entire screenplay. Stern drew on his own combat experiences—he served as an infantryman in the Battle of the Bulge—and also visited veterans' hospitals to research the effects of combat fatigue. The resulting screenplay was hailed for its psychological depth, an element that became a hallmark of Stern's subsequent work.

Stern's next major screenwriting project was Rebel without a Cause, a film that reflects the misunderstood American teens of the 1950s. The story, based on a book by Robert M. Lindner, concerns three alienated adolescents, played by James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo. Defying their parents, the youths act out in dangerous ways that get them into trouble with the authorities. In the end, a juvenile psychiatrist helps the parents reach a new understanding of the stresses facing modern teenagers. When Dean, a good friend of Stern's, died in a car crash in 1955, Stern wrote the documentary tribute The James Dean Story. It was the first film directed by Robert Altman.

The Rack, which Stern adapted from a teleplay by Rod Serling, returns to the subject of the psychological trauma of war. The film tells the story of a Korean War veteran on trial for collaborating with the enemy. The captain, who had been subjected to psychological torture by his North Korean captors, must also confront his troubled childhood and his sense of guilt. Stern also wrote the screenplays for Thunder in the Sun, about Basque immigrants in the American West, and The Outsider, about American Indian Ira Hayes, one of the marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima.

Stern went on to write the screenplay for The Ugly American, based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer. Starring Marlon Brando as a U.S. ambassador to a troubled Asian country, the film exposes political and personal corruption. Stern's next project allowed him to focus on more domestic concerns. Rachel, Rachel, adapted from the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence, tells the story of an inhibited thirty-five-year-old schoolteacher who finally discovers her sexuality. Directed by Paul Newman and starring Joanne Woodward, the film became a huge commercial and critical hit. It received Oscar nominations for best actress, best director, and best screenplay.

For his next project, Stern accepted an invitation from actor Dennis Hopper to write a film about how a remote village in South America is affected after a Hollywood company shoots a movie there on location. Despite the story's potential, The Last Movie was Stern's greatest career disappointment. Hopper made drastic changes in the script, and, according to the Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor, "failed in his attempt to recapture the alienation of [his earlier success] Easy Rider." Stern's last film project was the original screenplay for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, about a neurotic middle-aged woman who must confront the failure of her marriage. Although it was not a box office success, the film won critical praise.

Among Stern's more notable later scripts was the adaptation of Flora Rheta Schreiber's book Sybil for television. Starring Sally Field as a woman living with multipersonality disorder and Joanne Woodward as the psychiatrist who treats her, the television film won Stern an Emmy award for best dramatic writing. Sybil also won for best dramatic special; Field won for best actress.