John Dighton

Who was John Dighton?

John Dighton was a British playwright and screenwriter.

Dighton wrote for the stage until 1936, when he made the transition to films. His 1940s output included comedian Will Hay's last starring features, and several George Formby films as well as the 1947 adaptation of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, and the 1943 war movie Undercover starring John Clements and Michael Wilding.

Most gainfully employed by Ealing Studios, he collaborated on the screenplays of such celebrated comedies as Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Man in the White Suit, sharing an Academy Award nomination for the latter. He earned a second nomination for the American-financed Roman Holiday.

Two of his more popular stage plays, The Happiest Days of Your Life and Who Goes There!, were successfully adapted for the screen by Dighton himself, the former in collaboration with Frank Launder.

His final screen credit was his adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, penned in collaboration with Roland Kibbee.