Paddy Chayefsky

Writer

January 29, 1923 (58 years)

† August 1, 1981

The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay for "Marty" (1955), "The Hospital" (1971), and "Network" (1976). He is the only person to have won both the Academy Awards for adapted and original screenplays. He was one of the most renowned dramatists of the Golden Age of Television. His intimate, realistic scripts provided a naturalistic style of television drama for the 1950s,…

Filmography

6.6

The Philco Television Playhouse

The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.

6.0

Goodyear Television Playhouse

The Goodyear Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the "Golden Age of Television". Sponsored by Goodyear, Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and the Philco Television Playhouse was seen on alternate weeks. In 1955, the title was shortened to The Goodyear Playhouse and it aired on alternate weeks with The Alcoa Hour. The three series were essentially the same, with the only real difference being the name of the sponsor. Producer Fred Coe nurtured and encouraged a group of young, mostly unknown writers that included Robert Alan Aurthur, George Baxt, Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote, Howard Richardson, Tad Mosel and Gore Vidal. Notable productions included Chayefsky's Marty starring Rod Steiger, Chayefsky's The Bachelor Party, Vidal's Visit to a Small Planet, Richardson's Ark of Safety and Foote's The Trip to Bountiful. From 1957 to 1960, it became a taped, half-hour series titled Goodyear Theater, seen on Mondays at 9:30pm.

7.8

Network

When veteran anchorman Howard Beale is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during his farewell broadcast. Network executives rethink their decision when his fanatical tirade results in a spike in ratings.

6.7

Altered States

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.

6.3

Paint Your Wagon

A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.

7.5

Marty

Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother, is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward, he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. He then meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher. Realising their emotional connection, Marty promises to call, but family and friends try to convince him not to.

6.0

The Goddess

A woman adored by the people around her ultimately struggles to be happy with herself.

6.6

The Hospital

Dr. Bock, the chief of medicine at a Manhattan hospital, is suicidal after the collapse of his personal life. When an intern is found dead in a hospital bed, it appears to Bock to be a case of unforgivable malpractice. Hours later, another doctor, who happens to be responsible for another case of malpractice, is found dead. Despondent, Bock finds himself drawn to Barbara, the daughter of a comatose missionary.

N/A

The Mother

Paddy Chayefsky's 1954 play set in the Bronx tells the story of a recently widowed 66-year-old woman who seeks a job after 40 years of being a homemaker.

7.0

Middle of the Night

Jerry Kingsley is a wealthy garment manufacturer left lonely in his 50s when his wife dies. Despite the difference in their ages, he strikes up a romance with divorced 24-year-old receptionist Betty. The relationship is dismissed by his daughter, Lillian, discouraged by his sister, Evelyn, and denounced by Betty's mother. But when Jerry begins to mention marriage, even Betty is forced to confront her ambivalence.

6.7

The Americanization of Emily

American sailor Charlie Madison falls for a pretty Englishwoman while trying to avoid a senseless and dangerous D-Day mission concocted by a deranged admiral.

7.2

The Catered Affair

An Irish cabby in the Bronx watches his wife go overboard planning their daughter's wedding.

6.4

As Young as You Feel

A 65-year-old printer hatches an elaborate scheme to avoid forced retirement.

6.8

The Bachelor Party

Five office friends meet up for a night on the town to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them. As the night wears on and the drink starts to tell, they become more confidential in expressing their concerns and hopes.

8.0

Marty

Marty Pilletti is a 36-year-old butcher who lives with his mother, who is always asking him why he doesn't find a nice girl and get married. The truth is Marty is lonely and would like nothing better, but he has low self-esteem and admits to his mother that he's ugly and no one wants him. He's tired of going to the Saturday night dance with his buddies and then going home more depressed than he was when the evening started. But at one of those dances he meets Clara. They have a great deal in common but Marty will have to overcome peer pressure if he and Clara are to have a relationship.

6.5

The True Glory

A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.

8.0

Ein Zug nach Manhattan

1952 in a suburb of New York: the pious Leon Sternberger is a cantor in a small Jewish community. One morning, he realizes that he has lost his faith in God. There is simply too much misery and injustice in this world. His friend Schames Rosen advises him to ask Rabbi Markus in Manhattan for advice. In the subway compartment, a young woman wants to take her own life because she cannot forget December 22, 1942 in Utrecht. That was the day her family was deported. On another train, he meets a man who also cannot forget December 22, 1942. The unusual events are connected in an exciting way and shed new light on the question of God's existence despite all the suffering.

7.0

Gideon

The Angel of God and an ordinary shepherd named Gideon debate obedience versus disobedience to God.

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