Preston Sturges Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Preston Sturges

Born	Edmund Preston Biden (1898-08-29)August 29, 1898 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	August 6, 1959(1959-08-06) (aged 60) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright screenwriter film director
Years active	1928–1956
Spouse(s)	Estelle de Wolf Mudge (m. 1923; div. 1928) Eleanor Close Hutton (m. 1930; annulled 1932) Louise Sargent Tevis (m. 1938; div. 1947) Anne Margaret "Sandy" Nagle (m. 1951; died 1959)
Children	3, including Tom Sturges
Relatives	Shannon Sturges (granddaughter)

Preston Sturges (born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American writer and director for plays and movies. He was famous for his funny films, especially comedies from the 1940s.

In 1941, he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his movie The Great McGinty (1940). This was the first of three times he was nominated for this award. Sturges was known for making "screwball comedies" even funnier. His movie dialogue often sounded very real and modern, even though the situations were silly. He could have a character say something clever and then immediately trip and fall in the same scene!

Before Sturges, some Hollywood figures like Charlie Chaplin and Frank Capra directed movies they also wrote. But Sturges was one of the first people in Hollywood to become successful as a screenwriter and then start directing his own scripts. At that time, writing and directing were usually separate jobs. Sturges famously sold the story for The Great McGinty to Paramount Pictures for only $10. In return, he was allowed to direct the film himself. He also wrote and directed other classic comedies like The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story (1942). In 1944, he was nominated for two more Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, for The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero.

Early Life and Career
Personal Life
Later Life and Legacy
Filmography
Movie Adaptations
Published Screenplays
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Career

Preston Sturges was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Mary Estelle Dempsey, was an artist who later became known as Mary Desti. His father was a traveling salesman named Edmund C. Biden. His grandparents on his mother's side came from Ireland, and his father's family was from England.

When Sturges was three years old, his mother moved to Paris to become a singer. She ended her marriage with Preston's father there. Later, she married a rich stockbroker named Solomon Sturges, who adopted Preston in 1902. Preston's adoptive father was very different from his artistic mother. His mother was good friends with the famous dancer Isadora Duncan, and young Preston sometimes traveled with Duncan's dance company.

Sturges spent much of his childhood and youth traveling between Europe and the United States. Because he spent a lot of time in France, he became fluent in French. He always thought of France as his "second home."

In 1916, he worked for stock brokers in New York, a job he got through his adoptive father. The next year, he joined the United States Army Air Service. He became a lieutenant but did not fight in World War I. While in the army, Sturges wrote an essay called "Three Hundred Words of Humor." It was printed in the camp newspaper and was his first published work. After the army, Sturges managed a store in New York called the Desti Emporium. His mother's fourth husband owned the store. He worked there for eight years, from 1919 to 1927.

Personal Life

Preston Sturges was married four times and had three sons:

Estelle deWolfe Mudge – married in 1923, divorced in 1928.
Eleanor Close Hutton – married in 1930, but the marriage was ended in 1932.
Louise Sargent Tevis – married in 1938, divorced in 1947.
- Their son, Solomon Sturges IV, was born in 1941 and became an actor.
Anne Margaret "Sandy" Nagle – married in 1951. Their marriage lasted until Sturges' death in 1959. She was the mother of his two younger sons.
- Preston Sturges Jr. was born in 1953 and became a screenwriter.
- Thomas Preston Sturges was born in 1956 and became a music executive.

Later Life and Legacy

Sturges died from a heart attack in 1959. He was staying at the Algonquin Hotel and was writing his autobiography at the time. He had planned to title his book The Events Leading Up to My Death. He was buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

His book, Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words, was published in 1990. In 1975, he was the first writer to receive the Laurel Award from the Screen Writers Guild after his death. He also has a star dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 1601 Vine Street.

Filmography

The Big Pond (1930; dialogue)
Fast and Loose (1930; additional dialogue)
The Invisible Man (1933; contributing writer)
The Power and the Glory (1933; screenplay, dialogue director)
Imitation of Life (1934; contributing writer)
We Live Again (1934; co-screen adaptation)
Thirty Day Princess (1934; co-screenplay)
The Good Fairy (1935; screenplay)
Diamond Jim (1935; screenplay)
Love Before Breakfast (1936; contributor to treatment)
Next Time We Love (1936; contributor to screenplay construction)
Easy Living (1937; screenplay)
Hotel Haywire (1937; original story, screenplay)
If I Were King (1938; screenplay)
Port of Seven Seas (1938; screenplay)
College Swing (1938; contributing writer)
Never Say Die (1939; co-screenplay)
Remember the Night (1940; screenplay)
The Great McGinty (1940; director, writer)
Christmas in July (1940; director, writer)
The Lady Eve (1941; director, writer)
Sullivan's Travels (1941; director, writer)
The Palm Beach Story (1942; director, writer)
I Married a Witch (1942; producer)
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (filmed 1942, released 1944; director, writer)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944; producer, director, writer)
The Great Moment (filmed 1942, released 1944; director, writer)
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (Mad Wednesday) (1947/1950; director, writer)
Unfaithfully Yours (1948; producer, director, writer)
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949; producer, director, writer)
Vendetta (1950; uncredited director)
The French, They Are a Funny Race (Les carnets du Major Thompson) (French, 1955; director, writer)
The Birds and the Bees (1956, co-screenplay)
Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958; based on a story by)

Movie Adaptations

Three of Sturges' films, Christmas in July, The Great McGinty, and Remember the Night, were remade for NBC's Lux Video Theater.
The 1956 movie The Birds and the Bees starring George Gobel was a remake of The Lady Eve.
The 1958 Jerry Lewis movie Rock-A-Bye Baby was loosely based on Sturges' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
The 1984 Dudley Moore movie Unfaithfully Yours was a remake of Sturges' 1948 original film.

Published Screenplays

Five Screenplays collects The Great McGinty, Christmas in July, The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, and Hail the Conquering Hero.
Four More Screenplays collects The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Palm Beach Story, Unfaithfully Yours, and The Great Moment.
Three More Screenplays collects The Power and the Glory, Remember the Night, and Easy Living.