Ben Maddow

Prolific screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 70s. Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 30s. In 1936 he co-founded the short-lived left-wing newsreel "The World Today." Under the pseudonym of David Wolff, Maddow co-wrote the screenplay to the Paul Strand-Leo Hurwitz documentary landmark, "Native Land" (1942). He earned his first feature screenplay credit with "Framed" (1947), and other screenplays include Clarence Brown's "Intruder in the Dust" (1949, an adaptation of the Faulkner novel), John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) and "The Unforgiven" (1960). As a documentarian he directed and wrote such films as "Storm of Strangers" and "The Stairs." Maddow made his solo feature directorial debut with the striking, offbeat feature "An Affair of the Skin" (1963), a well-acted story of several loves and friendships gone sour and marked by the rich characterizations which had distinguished his best screenplays. His final screenplay was for the horror melodrama "The Mephisto Waltz" (1970).