Biography
Frank S. Nugent studied journalism at Columbia University, started his career as a news reporter with The New York Times in 1929 and in 1934 moved into reviewing films; two years later he succeeded Andre Sennwald as the NYT's motion picture editor and critic in 1936, a post he held till 1940. It was Nugent who wrote the very favorable New York Times reviews of the classic films The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind in 1939, and of the 1936 Universal film version of "Show Boat" in 1936.
In 1939, Nugent's not so positive review of The Story of Alexander Graham Bell led to a reduction of 20th Century Fox's advertising in the Times for six months, costing the Times $50,000 in lost advertising revenue A review of Fox's The Grapes of Wrath led to an offer from studio head Darryl F. Zanuck to work as a script editor at the studio with Zanuck saying "if you can't fire 'em, hire 'em". Nugent freelanced as a journalist during this period.
Nugent met Ford when an assignment for the New York Times Magazine to Mexico to meet with John Ford during the filming of The Fugitive (1947) led to a long and fruitful association with the John Ford Stock Company. Nugent also worked in England (The Red Beret and North West Frontier), Scotland (Trouble in the Glen), Ireland (The Quiet Man and The Rising of the Moon), and Hawaii (Donovan's Reef).
Nugent wrote a variety of Western films such as Fort Apache, 3 Godfathers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagonmaster and The Searchers for John Ford with other westerns for Stuart Heisler (Tulsa), Robert Wise (Two Flags West), Raoul Walsh (The Tall Men), and They Rode West and Gunman's Walk for Phil Karlson. Nugent also worked on the troubled Mister Roberts.
He served as the President of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), from 1957 to 1958, he also served a three-year stint (1956–59) as chairman of the building fund committee that oversaw the construction of its headquarters in Beverly Hills. He died of a sudden heart attack on 29 December 1965 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of fifty-seven.
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