On the Waterfront (43 page)
Despite this setback, Schulberg soon had his greatest film success, with his screenplay for
On the Waterfront
, directed by Elia Kazan. The movie, about New Jersey longshoremen whose lives are controlled by the Mob, won eight Academy Awards and also evolved into a novel (1955) and a play (1988), both written by Schulberg. He soon reunited with Kazan, turning the title story from his collection
Some Faces in the Crowd
(1954) into a screenplay for the influential film
A Face in the Crowd
(1957), which launched the career of actor Andy Griffith.
Throughout his career, Schulberg worked as a journalist and essayist, often writing about boxing, a lifelong passion. Many of his writings on the sport are collected in
Sparring with Hemingway
(1995) and
Ringside
(2006). Other highlights from Schulberg’s nonfiction career include
Moving Pictures
(1981), an account of his upbringing in Hollywood, and
Writers in America
(1973), a glimpse of some of the famous novelists he met early in his career.
Schulberg married four times and had five children. He died at his home on Long Island in 2009.
Schulberg’s parents, Adeline and B. P. Schulberg, hold an infant Budd in this early family portrait.
Schulberg and his fourth wife, Betsy Schulberg, in Westhampton Beach, New York, in 2003. © 2003 Ken Regan
Schulberg at work on his typewriter. At the top of this photo, he wrote the following note to his son: “For Benn, To a happy and productive life ahead! Love, Dad 8/14/2003.”
Schulberg’s father, B. P. Schulberg.
Origin: Culver Pictures Inc.
Schulberg, B.P. (1892-1957), American film producer and executive
“This picture is loaned for one reproduction only. Must not be used for advertising without written permission.”
A portrait of Schulberg in 2003, with the following note to his son at the bottom: “For my dear son and best friend Benn with all my love, Dad 8/14/2003.”
The Schulberg family in Westhampton, New York. From left to right: Jessica, Budd, Betsy, and Benn.
From left to right: Schulberg, actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, Elia Kazan, and actress Myrna Loy.
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A letter from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Schulberg, praising
Moving Pictures
, dated September 19, 1981.
Brothers Stuart Schulberg and Budd Schulberg (from left to right) on the set of
Wind Across the Everglades
, a film written by Budd and produced by Stuart, in 1958.
Budd Schulberg with his second wife, Virginia Anderson, at the pool outside his eighteenth-century farmhouse, Inghamdale, near New Hope, Pennsylvania, with Schulberg’s children David, Steve, and Victoria. This photo was taken around 1949.
Schulberg with fellow members of the U.S. military, taken during World War II.