Oscar Brodney

Who was Oscar Brodney?

Oscar Brodney was an American lawyer-turned-screenwriter. He was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an immigrant fisherman. One of seven children, a younger brother was the painter Edward Brodney.

Entering the film industry in 1935, Brodney worked on various projects, including Abbott and Costello's Mexican Hayride and the adapted screenplay for Harvey. The playwright Lawrence Riley and two other screenwriters adapted one of Brodney's story for the screen under the title You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith. He was nominated for an Oscar for The Glenn Miller Story screenplay which he wrote with Valentine Davies in 1954. In the late 1950s he began to produce movies, his first one being When Hell Broke Loose in 1958, where he was co-producer. The movie starred Charles Bronson.

Brodney died in 2008, six days before his 101st birthday. Some members of Brodney's family learned of his death through an update to this page, as story which is told in this blog post .