Bradley King (July 8, 1889 – August 24, 1977) was the pen name of Josephine McLaughlin. She was a screenwriter who wrote 56 scripts for films between 1920 and 1947. All but one of her 40 silent films are lost, but most of her 20 or so sound films still exist.
Bradley King | |
|---|---|
 Bradley King in 1923 | |
| Born | Josephine McLaughlin July 8, 1889 New York |
| Died | August 24, 1977 (aged 83) Century City, California |
| Years active | 1920–1947 |
Biography
editKing was born in New York city, possibly on July 8, and most probably in 1889. Other sources give her birth date as 1894, but she was listed as age 16 in the 1905 census, and Dettwyler confirms her birth date with other extant records.[1] She was educated at the Academy of the Sacred Heart (later Kenwood) in Albany, New York.[2]
King recalled that she entered the business after selling a few short stories to pulp magazines and arranged a meeting with silent era filmmaker Thomas Ince. "I've read some of your stuff and I think your literary style is absolutely lousy," she later recounted Ince saying. "But you've got a good sense of drama, and I'll give you $50 a week." Five years later, she was making $1,500 a week.[3]
She was married four times.[4] One was a short marriage to silent film director John Griffith Wray, who died just nine months after their October 1928 wedding.[5] After a later husband, George Hiram Boyd, lost most of her $400,000 fortune ($8.7 million today) to bad investments, she divorced him in 1940. She wrote her last screenplay for the 1947 movie That's My Man. She married Albert C. Windley in 1944, sometimes going by the name Bradley King Windley, and they remained married until his death in 1969.[4] She died in 1977.
Partial filmography
edit- Footlights and Shadows (1920)
- The Girl from Nowhere (1921)
- Lying Lips (1921)
- I Am Guilty (1921)
- Beyond the Crossroads (1922)
- A Man of Action (1923)
- Anna Christie (1923)
- Christine of the Hungry Heart (1924)
- The Chorus Lady (1924)
- Enticement (1925)
- When the Door Opened (1925)
- The Gilded Butterfly (1926)
- The Palace of Pleasure (1926)
- Hell's Four Hundred (1926)
- The Return of Peter Grimm (1926)
- The Lovelorn (1927)
- Under the Black Eagle (1928)
- Diamond Handcuffs (1928)
- Scarlet Seas (1929)
- Drag (1929)
- Weary River (1929)
- The Squall (1929)
- Young Nowheres (1929)
- Drag (1929)
- Dark Streets (1929)
- Son of the Gods (1930)
- Wild Company (1930)
- The Way of All Men (1930)
- The Lash (1930)
- The Mask Falls (1931)
- A Passport to Hell (1932)
- Six Hours to Live (1932)
- Humanity (1933)
- Let's Live Tonight (1935)
- Maid of Salem (1937)
References
edit- ^ New York, U.S., State Census, 1905 for Josephine Mclaughlin, see https://www.marjorieoconnellshearon.com/the-remarkable-mclaughlin-sisters.html
- ^ Tarsney, Patrick. "Are Hollywood Scenario Writers Lucky?" (PDF). Hollywood Screenland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "7 Feb 1937, Page 21 - Battle Creek Enquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ^ a b Dettwyler, Kathy. "The Remarkable McLaughlin Sisters: Lilian, Josephine, and Madeline". Marjorie O'Connell Shearon: A Most Peculiar Woman.
- ^ John G. Wray Marries. New York Times, October 8, 1928, p. 15
External links
edit
- Bradley King at IMDb
- Bradley King at Women Film Pioneers Project