Keene Thompson

Keene Thompson (born November 15, 1885 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, died July 11, 1937 in Hollywood, California) was a story, scenario and screenwriter who worked in the film industry from 1920 to 1937.[1][2]

Keene Thompson
Born
Robert Keene Thompson

(1885-11-15)November 15, 1885
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DiedJuly 11, 1937(1937-07-11) (aged 51)
Hollywood, California
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA
NationalityAmerican
OccupationStory writer
Scenario writer
Screenwriter
Years active1920–1937
Children3 (deceased)

Career

Thompson had a small acting role in the 1917 Douglas Fairbanks Sr. film Reaching for the Moon,[3][4] but his first writing work was a screenplay for Fairbanks.[5] His last was scripting the Jack Benny musical Artists and Models.[6]

Some of his early silent film work was for the Christie Film Company,[7] but his later screenwriting was associated primarily with Paramount Pictures where he became a general story advisor.[5] At Paramount he was known for his work with Adolphe Menjou,[8][9] and had written scripts and special materials for such stars as Raymond Griffith, Gary Cooper and Clara Bow,[10] such as Clarence G. Badger's Paths to Paradise, Victor Fleming's The Virginian, and Frank Tuttle's True to the Navy.[10]

Fighting Caravans (1931), a story of the caravans of wagon trains that supplied freight to the pre-Civil War Old West before the completion of the transcontinental railways, was his adaption of a Zane Grey novel of the same name.[11] His work Man Against Woman for Irving Cummings was called a "forceful drama" and an "entertaining film".[12] During the later part of his career Thompson specialized in comedies. The more notable of these included Leo McCarey's Six of a Kind (1934) which used the top Paramount actors of the time, including Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, George Burns, W.C. Fields, Gracie Allen, Alison Skipworth.[10] The 1945 Frank R. Strayer comedy film Mama Loves Papa was based upon his screenplay for the 1933 Norman Z. McLeod film of the same name.[13][14]

Keene became ill in June 1937, just after completing the script for the Jack Benny musical comedy Artists and Models.[6] On July 11, 1937, he died of lobar pneumonia.[5] His body is interred in the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of the Graces at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, CA.

Filmography

Silent films

Sound films

References
  1. Henryk Hoffmann (2000). "A" Western filmmakers: a biographical dictionary of writers, directors, cinematographers, composers, actors and actresses. McFarland. pp. 87, 104. ISBN 0-7864-0696-8.
  2. "Keene Thompson". Variety. July 14, 1937.
  3. Jay Robert Nash; Robert Connelly; Stanley Ralph Ross (1988). Motion Picture Guide Silent Film 1910-1936. Cinebooks. p. 229. ISBN 0-933997-10-8.
  4. "Keene Thompson with Fairbanks". Motion Picture World. September 22, 1917. p. 1831.
  5. "Veteran Screen Writer, Keene Thompson, Dies". Milwaukee Journal. July 12, 1937. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  6. Motion Picture Herald. Volume 124, Issues 1-6. Quigley Pub. Co. 1936. p. 92.
  7. International motion picture almanac. Quigley Publications. 1943. p. 374.
  8. John Douglas Eames (1985). The Paramount story. Crown. pp. 51, 55, 79, 104. ISBN 0-517-55348-1.
  9. "Adolphe Menjou at California". San Jose News. November 20, 1928. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  10. Erickson, Hal. "Keene Thompson biography". Allmovie. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  11. "Gary Cooper, State, 'fighting Caravans'". Reading Eagle. February 15, 1931. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  12. Wiliam Gaines (October 19, 1933). "About New York". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  13. The New York Times film reviews, Volume 2. New York Times. The New York Times film reviews. 1932. p. 963.
  14. John Flowers; Paul Frizler (2004). Psychotherapists on film, 1899-1999: a worldwide guide to over 5000 films. McFarland. p. 370. ISBN 0-7864-1908-3.
  15. Library of Congress Copyright Office (1920). Catalogue of copyright entries: Pamphlets, leaflets, contributions to newspapers or periodicals, etc.; lectures, sermons, addresses for oral delivery; dramatic compositions; maps; motion pictures. Government Printing Office. pp. 82, 164, 531.
  16. American Film Institute (1997). The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States, Part 1. The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States. University of California Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-520-20969-9.
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