Nelson Gidding

Nelson Gidding
Born
Nelson Roosevelt Gidding

(1919-09-15)September 15, 1919
New York
DiedMay 2, 2004(2004-05-02) (aged 84)
Santa Monica, California
OccupationScreenwriter

Nelson Roosevelt Gidding (September 15, 1919 – May 2, 2004) was an American screenwriter specializing in adaptations. A longtime collaboration with director Robert Wise began with Gidding's screenplay for I Want to Live! (1958), which earned him an Oscar nomination. His long-running course on screenwriting adaptions at the University of Southern California inspired screenwriters of the present generation, including David S. Goyer.

Gidding was born in New York and attended school at Phillips Exeter Academy; as a young man he was friends with Norman Mailer. After graduating from Harvard University, he entered the Army Air Forces in World War II as the navigator on a B-26. His plane was shot down over Italy, but he survived; he spent 18 months as a POW but effected an escape. Returning from the war, in 1946 he published his only novel, End Over End, begun while captive in a German prison camp.

In 1949, Gidding married Hildegarde Colligan; together they had a son, Joshua Gidding, who today is a Seattle writer and college professor.

In Hollywood, Gidding entered work in television, writing for such series as Suspense and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and eventually moved into feature films like The Helen Morgan Story (1957), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), The Haunting (1963), Lost Command (1966), The Andromeda Strain (1971), and The Hindenburg (1975).

After the death of his first wife on June 13, 1995, in 1998 Gidding married Chun-Ling Wang, a Chinese immigrant.

Gidding taught at USC until his death from congestive heart failure at a Santa Monica hospital in 2004.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Notes
1953 The Triangle Segment "American Duel"
1957 The Helen Morgan Story
1958 Onionhead
I Want to Live!
1959 Odds Against Tomorrow
1962 Lisa
1963 The Haunting
Nine Hours to Rama
1966 Lost Command
1970 Skullduggery
1971 The Andromeda Strain
1975 The Hindenburg
1979 Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
1987 The Misfit Brigade
1991 Journey of Honor
1993 The Mummy lives

Television

Year Title Notes
1952 Hallmark Hall of Fame 1 Episode
Hollywood Opening Night 1 Episode
1953 Rheingold Theater 1 Episode
The Web 1 Episode
1954 The Stranger 2 Episodes
Inner Sanctum 3 Episodes
President for a Day TV movie produced as an episode of Hallmark Hall of Fame
1954-55 The Man Behind the Badge 12 Episodes
1955 Kraft Television Theatre 1 Episode
Warner Bros. Presents 1 Episode
1955-56 Casablanca 5 Episodes
1955-57 Sergeant Preston of the Yukon 52 Episodes;
Also story editor
1956 Playwrights '56 1 Episode
1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars 2 Episodes
1960 Bourbon Street Beat 1 Episode
1972 Banyon 1 Episode
1983 Casablanca 1 Episode
I Want to Live TV movie

Bibliography


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