Lawrence Edward Watkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lawrence Edward Watkin (1901-12-01, New York, USA - 1981-12-16, San Joaquin County, California, USA) was an American author and scriptwriter. He has become known especially as a scriptwriter for a series of Walt Disney films of the 1950s.
Contents |
[edit] Life
Lawrence Edward Watkin was at first an English professor in Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. His first novel On Borrowed Time, written in 1937, was published and remains his best known work. The novel was dramatized in 1938 by Paul Osborn and was survived a successful run on Broadway. A Hollywood film version,with Lionel Barrymore and Sir Cedric Hardwicke followed in 1939. Watkins next novel, Geese in the Forum (1940), was an allegory about university structures, and the geese represented the faculty.
In 1947 Walt Disney hired Watkin to make a film screenplay out of the Leprechaun stories of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh around Darby O'Gill. The project was realised only in 1959 under the title Darby O'Gill and the Little People. However, at that time Watkin had written numerous other screenplays for Disney's productions. The first of his Disney screenplays which came to the cinemas was the 1950 feature presentation of Robert Louis Stevenson which Watkins had adapted, Treasure Island. Another three screenplays followed for features made in Great Britain for Disney's studio. The popular Disney television serials Spin and Marty (1955–1957) were adaped by screenplay writer Jackson Gillis from Watkin's 1942 book Marty Markham.[1][2] Watkin was producer of Disney's 1956 western, The Great Locomotive Chase.
[edit] Works
[edit] Novels
- On Borrowed Time, New York and London 1937
- Geese in the Forum, New York and London 1940
- Thomas Jones and His Nine Lives, New York 1941
- Gentleman from England, New York 1941
- Marty Markham, New York 1942 LCCN -42021068
- Darby O’Gill and the Little People, New York 1959
[edit] Screenplays
- 1947 – Keeper of the Bees
- 1950 – Treasure Island – Originally by Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1950 – Beaver Valley; aka In Beaver Valley
- 1952 – The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, aka The Story of Robin Hood
- 1953 – The Sword and the Rose; aka When Knighthood Was in Flower – based on the novel by Charles Major
- 1954 – Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue
- 1956 – The Great Locomotive Chase ; Producer and Writer
- 1958 – The Light in the Forest – Originally by Conrad Richter
- 1959 – Darby O'Gill and the Little People – Originally by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh
- 1960 – Ten Who Dared
- 1972 – The Biscuit Eater
