Lenore Coffee

Lenore J. Coffee
Born	(1896-07-13)July 13, 1896 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	screenwriter, playwright, novelist
Spouse(s)	William J. Cowen (c. 1926 – 16 January 1964)

Lenore Jackson Coffee (13 July 1896, San Francisco – 2 July 1984, Woodland Hills, California) was an American screenwriter, playwright and novelist.

Biography

Coffee began her career when she answered an ad requesting a screen story for the actress Clara Kimball Young and was awarded a one-year contract at $50 a week.

She was twice nominated for an Academy Award for best Adapted Screenplay. The first time was for Street of Chance in 1929/30, adapted from the story by Oliver H. P. Garrett, in collaboration with Howard Estabrook; and the second was with Julius J. Epstein in 1938 for Four Daughters, based on Fannie Hurst's novel, Sister Act. Of the studio system she is quoted as saying:

"They pick your brains, break your heart, ruin your digestion – and what do you get for it? Nothing but a lousy fortune."

Coffee was married to writer and director William J. Cowen, and one of her ancestors was U.S. General John Coffee, Chief of Staff to Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814.

Published works

• Storyline: Reflections of a Hollywood Screenwriter. London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1973. ISBN 0-304-29245-1. (autobiography)
• Weep No More. London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1955. (novel)
• w/ Cowen, William Joyce. Family Portrait, 1939. (play)

Film credits

• The Better Wife (1919; screenplay)
• The Forbidden Woman (1920; story)
• For the Soul of Rafael (1920; uncredited)
• The Fighting Shepherdess (1920; uncredited)
• Alias Ladyfingers (1921; adaptation)
• Hush (1921; uncredited)
• The Right That Failed (1922; adaptation)
• Sherlock Brown (1922; writer)
• The Face Between (1922; writer)
• Thundering Dawn (1923; screenplay; story)
• Daytime Wives (1923; story)
• Temptation (1923; story)
• The Age of Desire (1923; titles)
• Wandering Daughters (1923; titles)
• The Six-Fifty (1923; unconfirmed)
• Strangers of the Night (1923; uncredited)
• The Dangerous Age (1923; uncredited)
• The Rose of Paris (1924; adaptation)
• Bread (1924; writer)
• Fools' Highway (1924; writer)
• Hell's Highroad (1925; adaptation)
• Graustark (1925; uncredited)
• The Swan (1925; uncredited)
• The Great Divide (1925; uncredited)
• East Lynne (1925; writer)
• The Volga Boatman (1926; adaptation)
• For Alimony Only (1926; screenplay)
• The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926; uncredited)
• The Night of Love (1927; adapted screenplay)
• Chicago (1927; screenplay)
• The Angel of Broadway (1927; screenplay)
• Lonesome Ladies (1927; story)
• The Love of Sunya (1927; uncredited)
• Ned McCobb's Daughter (1928; uncredited)
• Desert Nights (1929; continuity)
• Mothers Cry (1930; screen version)
• Street of Chance (1930; writer)
• The Bishop Murder Case (1930; writer)
• Possessed (1931; adaptation and dialogue continuity)
• The Squaw Man (1931; screenplay)
• Honor of the Family (1931; writer)
• Arsène Lupin (1932; dialogue)
• Downstairs (1932; screenplay)

• Rasputin and the Empress (1932; uncredited)
• Night Court (1932; writer)
• Torch Singer (1933; screenplay)
• Such Women Are Dangerous (1934; additional dialogue)
• Evelyn Prentice (1934; writer)
• All Men Are Enemies (1934; writer)
• Four Frightened People (1934; writer)
• Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935; adaptated screenplay)
• Age of Indiscretion (1935; story)
• The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935; uncredited)
• Suzy (1936; writer)
• White Banners (1938; screenplay)
• Four Daughters (1938; writer)
• Stronger Than Desire (1939; contributing writer; uncredited)
• Four Wives (1939; contributor to treatment; uncredited)
• Good Girls Go to Paris (1939 original story)
• My Son, My Son! (1940; screenplay)
• The Way of All Flesh (1940; writer)
• They Died with Their Boots On (1941; additional dialogue; uncredited)
• The Great Lie (1941; writer)
• We Were Dancing (1942; contributing writer; uncredited)
• The Gay Sisters (1942; screenplay)
• Old Acquaintance (1943; screenplay)
• Till We Meet Again (1944; writer)
• Marriage Is a Private Affair (1944; writer)
• Tomorrow Is Forever (1946; writer)
• The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947; story)
• Escape Me Never (1947; uncredited)
• Beyond the Forest (1949; writer)
• Lightning Strikes Twice (1951; writer)
• Sudden Fear (1952; writer)
• Young at Heart (1954; writer)
• Footsteps in the Fog (1955; screenplay)
• Lux Video Theatre "Lightning Strikes Twice" (1955; teleplay)
• The End of the Affair (1955; writer)
• Lux Video Theatre "Old Acquaintance" (1956; teleplay)
• Lux Video Theatre "The Gay Sisters" (1956; teleplay)
• The 20th Century-Fox Hour "Yacht on the High Sea episode" (1956; teleplay)
• Lux Video Theatre "The Great Lie" (1957; teleplay)
• Another Time, Another Place (1958; novel)
• Invisible Man "the Mink Coat" (1959; teleplay)
• Cash McCall (1960; writer)

External links

• Lenore J. Coffee at the Internet Movie Database
• Lenore Coffee at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lenore Coffee at Women Film Pioneers Project