Ernest Lehman Bio In the Works

Ernest Lehman

My colleague Jon Krampner, author of "Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley," is at work on a biography of screenwriter Ernest Lehman. His previous book of the legendary and complex actress Kim Stanley is worth a read. He also helped me out on my bio of George C. Scott, providing lots of information and even videos of a BBC interview from when Stanley and Scott starred together in an ill-fated London production of Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Jon sent me the following email on this fascinating new project:

I'm working on a biography of Lehman, whose film credits include "Sabrina," "The King and I," "The Sweet Smell of Success," "North by
Northwest," "West Side Story," "The Sound of Music," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," and "Hello, Dolly." A pretty diverse and illustrious bunch. Interestingly, before he becoming a screenwriter in the early 1950's, he spent a decade as a Broadway publicist, working for Irving Hoffman, who planted items with Walter Winchell and other columnists. (Hoffman was also a theater critic and had a column, "Tales of Hoffman," in The Hollywood Reporter. He was legendary for being one of the few publicists who could actually stand up to Winchell.)