The son of a Russian émigré clothing merchant, Sidney Buchman was born
in Duluth, Minnesota, on March 27 1902. He initially attended the
University of Minnesota. After his family moved to New York, he
continued his studies at Columbia University, graduating in 1923. The
following year, he travelled to England and worked as an assistant
stage manager at the Old Vic. Upon his return to New York, he tried his
hand writing for the theatre and had two plays produced, "This One Man"
(Broadway, 1930) and "Storm Song", both of which flopped.
In 1931, Buchman went to Hollywood, having secured a screenwriting
contract with Paramount. He remained for two years, then moved on to
Columbia, where he was given the opportunity to work on several
sophisticated and witty comedy scripts which often juxtaposed simple,
honest country folk, with slick, corrupt urbanites. Along with
Frank Capra, he helped raise the studio's
prestige and shake off the stigma of having once been a 'poverty row'
outfit. His biggest hits were
She Married Her Boss (1935),
Theodora wird wild (1936),
Mr. Smith geht nach Washington (1939)
and
Urlaub vom Himmel (1941).
In view of the massive box office success of these pictures, Buchman
was promoted up the ladder to producer in 1937. Five years later, he
was made vice-president of production (with his own production company
within the studio), effectively functioning as
Harry Cohn's right-hand man.
He held this post until 1951, when he was subpoenaed to appear before
the House Un-American Activities Committee and forced to admit that he
had been a member of the Communist Party between 1938 and 1945.
However, he steadfastly refused to 'name names'. In March 1953, he was
found guilty of contempt by Congress, fined $150 and blacklisted. While
based in the south of France, Buchman was given a reprieve by 20th
Century Fox, who defied the blacklist, by hiring him in 1960 to work in
their European department. He eventually did most of the work on the
screenplay of Gebrandmarkt (1961), a
British/German co-production starring
Maria Schell and
Stuart Whitman. He was also one of the
many contributors to Fox's epic
Cleopatra (1963). Buchman died in his
adopted home in Cannes in August 1975 at the age of 73.
