Joseph Fields

Joseph Fields (February 21 1895 - March 3 1966) was a Tony Award-winning American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer.

Life and career

Joseph Albert Fields was born in New York City, the son of vaudevillean Lew Fields, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and attended New York University before enrolling in the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, after which he remained in Paris until 1922. His early writing career was spent churning out screenplays for mostly B-movies, beginning with "The Big Shot" in 1931.

Fields made his Broadway debut in 1938 with the play "Schoolhouse on the Lot", co-written with Jerome Chodorov, who became a frequent collaborator. The prolific pair went on to write "My Sister Eileen" (1940), "Junior Miss" (1941), "The French Touch" (1945), "Wonderful Town" (1953), "The Girl in Pink Tights" (1954), "Anniversary Waltz" (1954), and "The Ponder Heart" (1956).

With Anita Loos, Fields wrote the book for the Jule Styne musical "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", and he collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on the book for "Flower Drum Song". He also co-produced and wrote the screen adaptation of the latter, garnering a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Written American Musical.

Fields won the Tony Award for Best Musical for "Wonderful Town" and was nominated in the same category for "Flower Drum Song".

As a director, Fields helmed Arthur Miller's "The Man Who Had All the Luck" (1944), his own plays "I Gotta Get Out" (1947) and "The Tunnel of Love" (1957), and "The Desk Set" (1955). Fields was the brother of writer/lyricist Dorothy and writer Herbert. Depending upon the source, he died in either New York City [http://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-field] or Beverly Hills [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276284/] .

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=82266 Internet Broadway Database listing]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276284/ Internet Movie Database listing]