Biography
Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist, and screenwriter. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and received a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay of Gone with the Wind.
Born in Oakland, California, to Helen Louise (née Coe) and John Lawrence Howard, Sidney Howard studied playwriting at Harvard University under George Pierce Baker in the famed "47 workshop." During World War I, he volunteered with Andrew's American Field Service, serving in France and the Balkans. After the war, he utilized his language skills to translate literary works from French, Spanish, Hungarian, and German. Howard was a liberal intellectual whose political views grew increasingly left-wing over time.
His breakthrough came with the 1924 realistic romance They Knew What They Wanted, which established him as a serious writer. The play tells the story of a middle-aged Italian vineyard owner who courts a young woman through letters using a misleading photo, marries her, and later forgives her when she becomes pregnant by one of his farmhands. Theater critic Brooks Atkinson described it as "a tender, original, merciful drama." The play won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was adapted into films three times (1928, 1930, and 1940), and inspired the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella.
Among his notable Broadway successes was The Late Christopher Bean, an adaptation of a French comedy by René Fauchois. Yellow Jack, a historical drama about the fight against yellow fever, premiered in 1934 to acclaim for its noble themes and innovative staging.
Howard was hired by Samuel Goldwyn and worked at MGM in Hollywood, writing several successful screenplays. Despite his known leftist political leanings, he became a savvy insider in the film industry. He earned Academy Award nominations in 1932 for his adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's Arrowsmith and in 1936 for Dodsworth.
In 1935, Howard adapted Humphrey Cobb's novel Paths of Glory for the Broadway stage. The play’s stark portrayal of wartime brutality led to its commercial failure, though as a World War I veteran, Howard felt it was important to reveal the horrors of war. The novel’s film adaptation, directed by Stanley Kubrick, was not released until 1957. Howard’s screenplay for Gone with the Wind also presented an unflinching view of war’s toll.
Howard died at age 48 in the summer of 1939 on his 700-acre farm in Tyringham, Massachusetts. He was accidentally crushed by his two-and-a-half-ton tractor while attempting to start it in a garage.
He posthumously won the 1939 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind. Although several writers revised the script, Howard was the sole recipient of the Oscar. This marked the first time a posthumous nominee won an Academy Award. In 1981, he was also inducted posthumously into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Sidney Howard is buried in Tyringham Cemetery.
