Ivan Goff facts for kids

Ivan Goff (born April 17, 1910 – died September 23, 1999) was a writer from Australia who wrote scripts for movies and TV shows. He was famous for working with Ben Roberts on many projects. Some of their well-known works include the movie White Heat (1949), Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), and the first episode of the TV show Charlie's Angels (1976).

Biography

Early Life and Travels

Ivan Goff was born in Perth, Australia. His parents were musicians. He went to Perth Boys Central School and grew up in a town called Claremont.

When he was 15, Ivan started writing for a local newspaper. But he soon felt like he was too far away from everything. He once said that new ideas and plays took a very long time to reach Australia. He wanted to see more of the world.

In April 1930, Ivan left his job as a journalist at The West Australian newspaper. He decided to travel to the United States with a friend, E Irwin. They traveled through Sydney, Auckland, and Fiji. They even got into a bit of trouble in Fiji for traveling on a ship without a ticket!

They eventually arrived in Canada, then the U.S., and went to Los Angeles. They also visited Mexico, where Ivan wrote for a sports newspaper. In July 1931, they finally made it to London. Later, in 1933, Ivan and Irwin wrote a book about their adventures called No Longer Innocent. People really liked their book.

Starting in Hollywood

In London, Ivan worked different jobs, like taking bets on races, while trying to become a journalist. He eventually found a job with the Daily Mirror newspaper. In the mid-1930s, this newspaper sent Ivan to Los Angeles. His job was to report on Hollywood, where all the movies were made.

Ivan worked as a journalist in Hollywood for a while. In January 1937, he signed a contract to write scripts for Warner Bros. He also started working for Republic Studios. There, he helped write some Western movies, like those in The Three Mesquiteers series. He also worked on a Gene Autry movie called Sunset in Wyoming (1941).

It was at Republic Studios that Ivan first met Ben Roberts. Ben remembered Ivan as someone with a "proper English accent" who was writing a cowboy movie. They became good friends and later writing partners.

Ivan then joined Warner Bros. again. He worked on several films, including My Love Came Back (1940). He also wrote a script about an American soldier in Australia, but this movie was never made.

Working with Ben Roberts

During World War Two, Ivan Goff joined the Army Signal Corps. He helped make movies for the war effort in New York. There, he met Ben Roberts again.

One day, Ben told Ivan about an idea for a short story. Ivan helped him come up with an ending and suggested they turn it into a play instead. They worked on it at night for over a year. The play was called Portrait in Black. It was shown in London and on Broadway, and later became a movie.

Ivan and Ben decided to keep working together after the war. Ivan said that they worked well together because they respected each other. They wrote a short film about fighting against prejudice called Prejudice (1949).

They also wrote a movie script called The Shadow, which Warner Bros. liked. This led to them being hired to rewrite a mystery movie called Backfire (released in 1950). Warner Bros. was so impressed that they signed Ivan and Ben to a five-year contract.

Big Successes at Warner Bros.

Even though Ivan and Ben thought of themselves as comedy writers, Warner Bros. saw them as great at action stories. They were asked to rewrite a gangster movie called White Heat (1949). This movie became a huge hit and is now considered a classic. The main actor, James Cagney, played a gangster with a strong connection to his mother.

A writer named Patrick McGilligan described how Ivan and Ben worked. He said they planned everything in great detail before writing. They wrote dialogue together, line by line. It was hard to tell who wrote what because their styles blended so well. Ben Roberts said their scripts had a unique style that was neither his nor Ivan's, but a "third person's."

Ivan and Ben worked on many other films for Warner Bros. and other studios. They wrote Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) starring Gregory Peck. They also worked with James Cagney again on Come Fill the Cup (1951). They wrote a movie for Joan Crawford called Goodbye, My Fancy (1952).

They wrote adventure films like White Witch Doctor (1953) and King of the Khyber Rifles (1954). In 1954 and 1955, Ivan was the president of the screenwriters' group, the Screen Writers Guild.

They wrote another adventure story, Green Fire (1954), and a musical movie with Mario Lanza called Serenade (1956). They made a third movie with James Cagney, Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). This movie was about the famous actor Lon Chaney and earned Ivan and Ben an Oscar nomination for their writing.

They also wrote a pilot episode for a TV series called The Fat Man (1959), but it was never made into a full series. James Cagney worked with them again on a movie about the IRA called Shake Hands with the Devil (1959).

In 1960, their play Portrait in Black was finally made into a movie. They also wrote another thriller called Midnight Lace (1960).

Moving to Television

In the 1960s, Ivan and Ben started writing more for television. They wrote a pilot for a show starring Rod Taylor called Dateline: San Francisco (1962), but it wasn't picked up.

They created and wrote the TV series The Rogues (1964). They also wrote another unsold pilot called Three for Danger (1967).

They had great success as writers and producers for the TV show Mannix (1968–75). They oversaw many changes to the show from its second season. A profile of them in 1968 noted how well they worked together, complementing each other's ideas.

Another TV series they created, My Friend Tony (1969), ran for one season.

They wrote TV thrillers like Diagnosis: Murder (1975) and The Killer Who Wouldn't Die (1976). They had huge success creating and writing the pilot episode for Charlie's Angels (1976–81). However, Ivan and Ben later left the show because the producers wanted more car chases and guns for the main characters, which they disagreed with.

Ivan and Ben were also the main writers for the TV series Logan's Run (1976). They created another short-lived show called Time Express (1979) and produced Nero Wolfe (1981). They were also among the many writers for the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981).

Ben Roberts, Ivan's long-time writing partner, passed away in 1984.

Later Years

Towards the end of his life, Ivan Goff lived in Malibu, California. He died in 1999 at the age of 89 from Alzheimer's disease in Santa Monica.

Filmography

• My Love Came Back (1940)
• Sunset in Wyoming (1941)
• The Captain from Köpenick (completed in 1941, but only released in 1945)
• White Heat (1949) (with Ben Roberts)
• Prejudice (1949) (with Ben Roberts)
• Backfire (1950) (with Ben Roberts)
• Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) (with Ben Roberts)
• Come Fill the Cup (1951) (with Ben Roberts)
• Goodbye My Fancy (1951) (with Ben Roberts)
• O Henry's Full House (1952) (with Ben Roberts)
• The Gift Horse (1952) – story only (with Ben Roberts)
• King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) (with Ben Roberts)
• White Witch Doctor (1953) (with Ben Roberts)
• Green Fire (1954) (with Ben Roberts)
• Serenade (1956) (with Ben Roberts)
• Band of Angels (1957) (with Ben Roberts)
• Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) (with Ben Roberts)
• Shake Hands With the Devil (1959) (with Ben Roberts)
• Portrait in Black (1960) + play (with Ben Roberts)
• Midnight Lace (1960) (with Ben Roberts)
• The Second Sin (1966) (with Ben Roberts)
• The Killer Who Wouldn't Die (1976) (with Ben Roberts)
• The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) (with Ben Roberts)

TV series

• Burke's Law (1963) (with Ben Roberts)
• The Rogues (1964) (with Ben Roberts)
• Ironside (1967) (with Ben Roberts)
• Mannix (1967–75) (with Ben Roberts)
• Charlie's Angels (1976–81) (with Ben Roberts)
• Logan's Run (1977–1978) (with Ben Roberts)
• Time Express (1979) (with Ben Roberts)