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{{short description|American journalist}}
{{Short description|American journalist (born 1947)}}


{{other people||Joseph McBride (disambiguation)}}
{{other people||Joseph McBride (disambiguation)}}
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| caption =
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|8|9}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|8|9}}
| birth_place = [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
| birth_place = [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| education = [[Marquette University High School]], [[University of Wisconsin]]
| education = [[Marquette University High School]], [[University of Wisconsin]]
| alma_mater =
| alma_mater =
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'''Joseph McBride''' (born August 9, 1947) is an American [[film]] [[historian]], [[biographer]], [[screenwriter]], [[author]] and [[educator]]. He has written numerous books including biographies of notable film directors, a book on screenwriting, an investigative journalism book on the JFK assassination, and a memoir of the dark years in his life.
'''Joseph McBride''' (born August 9, 1947) is an American [[film]] [[historian]], [[biographer]], [[screenwriter]], [[author]] and [[educator]]. He has written books on a variety of subjects including notable film directors, screenwriting, the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|JFK assassination]], and a memoir of his youth.


He also serves as professor in the [[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Joseph McBride|url=http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|website=[[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]]|access-date=December 10, 2017}}</ref>
He also serves as professor in the [[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Joseph McBride|url=http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|website=[[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]]|access-date=December 10, 2017|archive-date=June 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605101934/http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
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===Books===
===Books===
McBride has published more than 20 books since 1968, including biographies of film directors [[Steven Spielberg]] (''Steven Spielberg: A Biography'', 1997, and published in translation in mainland [[China]] in 2012), [[Frank Capra]] (''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', 1992), [[Orson Welles]] (''Orson Welles'' (1972), ''Orson Welles: Actor and Director'' (1977) and ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career'' (2006)), and [[John Ford]] (''John Ford'' (with Michael Wilmington, 1974) and ''Searching for John Ford'' (2001)). McBride's interview book with director Howard Hawks, ''Hawks on Hawks'', was published in 1982.
McBride has published more than 20 books, including biographies of directors [[Steven Spielberg]] (''Steven Spielberg: A Biography'', 1997, and published in translation in mainland [[China]] in 2012), [[Frank Capra]] (''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', 1992), two of [[John Ford]]: ''John Ford'' (with Michael Wilmington, 1974) and ''Searching for John Ford)'' (2001) and three of Orson Welles: ''Orson Welles'' (1972), ''Orson Welles: Actor and Director'' (1977) and ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career'' (2006). McBride's interview book with [[Howard Hawks]], ''[[Hawks on Hawks]]'', was published in 1982.


In 2012, he published a [[screenwriting]] manual, ''Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Honeycutt|first=Kirk|url=http://honeycuttshollywood.com/writing-in-pictures/|title=McBride's guide to 'Painless'screenwriting|date=September 28, 2012|website=Honeycutt's Hollywood|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> In the book, McBride uses his adaptation of [[Jack London]]’s short story "[[To Build a Fire]]" to break down the steps necessary for a screenplay, such as research, treatments, and outlines. The book draws from his extensive teaching experience.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scriptmag.com/features/joseph-mcbrides-necessary-screenwriting-book|title=Joseph McBride's Necessary Screenwriting Book|date=Sep 14, 2012|access-date=Mar 2, 2019}}</ref>
In 2012, he published a [[screenwriting]] manual, ''Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Honeycutt|first=Kirk|url=http://honeycuttshollywood.com/writing-in-pictures/|title=McBride's guide to 'Painless'screenwriting|date=September 28, 2012|website=Honeycutt's Hollywood|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> In the book, McBride uses his adaptation of [[Jack London]]’s short story "[[To Build a Fire]]" to break down the steps necessary for a screenplay, such as research, treatments, and outlines. The book draws from his extensive teaching experience.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scriptmag.com/features/joseph-mcbrides-necessary-screenwriting-book|title=Joseph McBride's Necessary Screenwriting Book|newspaper=Script Magazine |date=Sep 14, 2012|access-date=Mar 2, 2019}}</ref>


In 2013, he published ''Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit'', which was the result of McBride's 31-year investigation of the case. Later, in 2015, he published ''The Broken Places: A Memoir'', which deals with his troubled childhood, his teenage breakdown, and his subsequent recovery.
In 2013, he published ''Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit'', which was the result of McBride's 31-year investigation of the case. Later, in 2015, he published ''The Broken Places: A Memoir'', which deals with his troubled childhood, his teenage breakdown, and his subsequent recovery.


Columbia University Press published ''How Did Lubitsch Do It?'', McBride's look at the career of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, in June 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-forgotten-filmmaker-who-influenced-alfred-hitchcock-and-billy-wilder-gets-his-due/2018/07/03/7887fc4c-6b61-11e8-bf8c-f9ed2e672adf_story.html|title=Forgotten filmmaker who influenced Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder gets his due|last=Yogerst|first=Chris|date=July 5, 2018|website=The Washington Post}}</ref>
Columbia University Press published ''How Did Lubitsch Do It?'', McBride's look at the career of filmmaker [[Ernst Lubitsch]], in June 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-forgotten-filmmaker-who-influenced-alfred-hitchcock-and-billy-wilder-gets-his-due/2018/07/03/7887fc4c-6b61-11e8-bf8c-f9ed2e672adf_story.html|title=Forgotten filmmaker who influenced Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder gets his due|last=Yogerst|first=Chris|date=July 5, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>


In March 2019, ''Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra'' was published by McBride. It recounts his legal battle with original publisher Knopf/Random House and Capra allies over publication of the biography ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra|last=McBride|first=Joseph|publisher=Hightower Press|year=2019|isbn=978-1949950472|location=Berkeley, California}}</ref>
In March 2019, McBride's ''Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra'' was published. It recounts his legal battle with original publisher Knopf/Random House and Capra allies over publication of his biography ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'', which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra|last=McBride|first=Joseph|publisher=Hightower Press|year=2019|isbn=978-1949950472|location=Berkeley, California}}</ref> His biography of [[Billy Wilder]], ''Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge'' was published in 2021.


===Film and television===
===Film and television===
McBride's screenwriting credits include the movies ''[[Rock 'n' Roll High School]]'' and ''Blood and Guts'' and five [[American Film Institute]] [[AFI Life Achievement Award|Life Achievement Award]] specials on [[CBS]]-TV dealing with [[Fred Astaire]], [[Frank Capra]], [[Lillian Gish]], [[John Huston]], and [[James Stewart]]. He was also cowriter of the United States Information Agency worldwide live TV special ''Let Poland Be Poland'' (1982).
McBride's screenwriting credits include ''[[Blood and Guts (film)]]'' (1978) and ''[[Rock 'n' Roll High School]]'' (1979) and five [[American Film Institute]] [[AFI Life Achievement Award|Life Achievement Award]] specials on [[CBS]]-TV about [[Fred Astaire]], [[Frank Capra]], [[Lillian Gish]], [[John Huston]], and [[James Stewart]]. He was also cowriter of the United States Information Agency worldwide live TV special ''Let Poland Be Poland'' (1982).


He plays a film critic, Mr. Pister, in the Orson Welles feature ''[[The Other Side of the Wind]]'' (1970–76) and served as a consultant on its completion in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/november-2018-issue|title=Sight & Sound: the November 2018 issue {{!}} Sight & Sound|website=British Film Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-01-18}}</ref> He is also the coproducer of the documentaries ''Obsessed with "Vertigo": New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece'' (1997) and ''John Ford Goes to War'' (2002).
He plays a film critic, Mr. Pister, in the Orson Welles feature ''[[The Other Side of the Wind]]'' (1970–76) and served as a consultant on its completion in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/november-2018-issue|title=Sight & Sound: the November 2018 issue {{!}} Sight & Sound|website=British Film Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-01-18}}</ref> He is also the coproducer of the documentaries ''Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece'' (1997) and ''John Ford Goes to War'' (2002).


==Awards and honors==
==Awards and honors==
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==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
===As Author===
===As author===


* ''Orson Welles'' (1972, revised and expanded 1996)
* ''Orson Welles'' (1972, revised and expanded 1996)
* ''John Ford'' (1975, with Michael Wilmington)
* ''John Ford'' (1975, with Michael Wilmington, revised and expanded 2023)
* ''Kirk Douglas'' (1976)
* ''Kirk Douglas'' (1976)
* ''Orson Welles: Actor and Director'' (1977)
* ''Orson Welles: Actor and Director'' (1977)
* ''High and Inside: An A-to-Z Guide to the Language of Basebal''l (1980)
* ''High and Inside: An A-to-Z Guide to the Language of Baseball'' (1980)
* ''Hawks on Hawks'' (1982)
* ''[[Hawks on Hawks]]'' (1982)
* ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'' (1992)
* ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success'' (1992)
* ''Steven Spielberg: A Biography'' (1997, revised and expanded 2012)
* ''Steven Spielberg: A Biography'' (1997, revised and expanded 2012)
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* ''Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit'' (2013)
* ''Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit'' (2013)
* ''The Broken Places: A Memoir'' (2015)
* ''The Broken Places: A Memoir'' (2015)
* T''wo Cheers for Hollywood: Joseph McBride on Movies'' (2017)
* ''Two Cheers for Hollywood: Joseph McBride on Movies'' (2017)
* ''How Did Lubitsch Do It?'' (2018)
* ''How Did Lubitsch Do It?'' (2018)
* ''Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra'' (2019)
* ''Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra'' (2019)
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* ''The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers'' (2022)
* ''The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers'' (2022)


===As Editor===
===As editor===


* ''Persistence of Vision: A Collection of Film Criticism'' (1968)
* ''Persistence of Vision: A Collection of Film Criticism'' (1968)
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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.josephmcbridefilm.com Official site]
*[http://www.josephmcbridefilm.com Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206013601/https://www.josephmcbridefilm.com/ |date=2020-12-06 }}
*{{cite web|title=Joseph McBride|url=http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|website=[[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]]|access-date=December 10, 2017}}
*{{cite web|title=Joseph McBride|url=http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|website=[[Cinema Department at San Francisco State University]]|access-date=December 10, 2017|archive-date=June 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605101934/http://cinema.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/joseph-mcbride|url-status=dead}}
*{{IMDb name|0564323}}
*{{IMDb name|0564323}}
*[http://www.beatrice.com/interviews/mcbride/ Beatrice interview: Joseph McBride]
*[http://www.beatrice.com/interviews/mcbride/ Beatrice interview: Joseph McBride]
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[[Category:21st-century American biographers]]
[[Category:21st-century American biographers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
⚫
[[Category:Screenwriting instructors]]
[[Category:American conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:American conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:American film critics]]
[[Category:American film critics]]
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[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American film historians]]
[[Category:American film historians]]
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[[Category:American male biographers]]
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[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Film theorists]]
[[Category:Film theorists]]
[[Category:John F. Kennedy conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:John F. Kennedy conspiracy theorists]]
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[[Category:Screenwriters from California]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from California]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Wisconsin]]
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[[Category:Screenwriting instructors]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin&ndash;Madison alumni]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin&ndash;Madison alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Writers from Milwaukee]]
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[[Category:American male biographers]]

Latest revision as of 16:13, 6 October 2024

For other people with the same name, see Joseph McBride (disambiguation).
Joseph Pierce McBride
Born (1947-08-09) August 9, 1947 (age 77)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
EducationMarquette University High School, University of Wisconsin
Occupations
actor
EmployerSan Francisco State University
PartnerAnn Weiser Cornell
AwardsWriters Guild of America Award
Websitejosephmcbridefilm.com

Joseph McBride (born August 9, 1947) is an American film historian, biographer, screenwriter, author and educator. He has written books on a variety of subjects including notable film directors, screenwriting, the JFK assassination, and a memoir of his youth.

He also serves as professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University.[1]

Career

[edit]

Early life and career

[edit]

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, McBride grew up in the suburb of Wauwatosa. He attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and worked as a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, before moving to California in 1973.

Books

[edit]

McBride has published more than 20 books, including biographies of directors Steven Spielberg (Steven Spielberg: A Biography, 1997, and published in translation in mainland China in 2012), Frank Capra (Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, 1992), two of John Ford: John Ford (with Michael Wilmington, 1974) and Searching for John Ford) (2001) and three of Orson Welles: Orson Welles (1972), Orson Welles: Actor and Director (1977) and What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career (2006). McBride's interview book with Howard Hawks, Hawks on Hawks, was published in 1982.

In 2012, he published a screenwriting manual, Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless.[2] In the book, McBride uses his adaptation of Jack London’s short story "To Build a Fire" to break down the steps necessary for a screenplay, such as research, treatments, and outlines. The book draws from his extensive teaching experience.[3]

In 2013, he published Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit, which was the result of McBride's 31-year investigation of the case. Later, in 2015, he published The Broken Places: A Memoir, which deals with his troubled childhood, his teenage breakdown, and his subsequent recovery.

Columbia University Press published How Did Lubitsch Do It?, McBride's look at the career of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, in June 2018.[4]

In March 2019, McBride's Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra was published. It recounts his legal battle with original publisher Knopf/Random House and Capra allies over publication of his biography Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1992.[5] His biography of Billy Wilder, Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge was published in 2021.

Film and television

[edit]

McBride's screenwriting credits include Blood and Guts (film) (1978) and Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) and five American Film Institute Life Achievement Award specials on CBS-TV about Fred Astaire, Frank Capra, Lillian Gish, John Huston, and James Stewart. He was also cowriter of the United States Information Agency worldwide live TV special Let Poland Be Poland (1982).

He plays a film critic, Mr. Pister, in the Orson Welles feature The Other Side of the Wind (1970–76) and served as a consultant on its completion in 2018.[6] He is also the coproducer of the documentaries Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece (1997) and John Ford Goes to War (2002).

Awards and honors

[edit]

McBride received the "Television: Comedy/Variety - Special" Writers Guild of America Award in 1984 for cowriting The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston with producer George Stevens, Jr.[7] He has also received four other WGA nominations,[7] two Emmy nominations,[8] and a Canadian Film Awards nomination. The French edition of Searching for John Ford, titled A la recherche de John Ford, published in 2007, was chosen the Best Foreign Film Book of the Year by the French film critics' association, le Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma.

A documentary feature on his life and work, Behind the Curtain: Joseph McBride on Writing Film History, written and directed by Hart Perez, had its world debut in 2011 at the Tiburon International Film Festival in Tiburon, Marin County, CA, and was released on DVD in 2012.

Personal life

[edit]

McBride lives in Berkeley, California. His life partner is author and psychology educator Ann Weiser Cornell.[9]

Bibliography

[edit]

As author

[edit]
  • Orson Welles (1972, revised and expanded 1996)
  • John Ford (1975, with Michael Wilmington, revised and expanded 2023)
  • Kirk Douglas (1976)
  • Orson Welles: Actor and Director (1977)
  • High and Inside: An A-to-Z Guide to the Language of Baseball (1980)
  • Hawks on Hawks (1982)
  • Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success (1992)
  • Steven Spielberg: A Biography (1997, revised and expanded 2012)
  • The Book of Movie Lists: An Offbeat, Provocative Collection of the Best and Worst of Everything in Movies (1998)
  • Searching for John Ford (2001)
  • What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career (2006, revised and expanded 2022)
  • Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless (2012)
  • Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit (2013)
  • The Broken Places: A Memoir (2015)
  • Two Cheers for Hollywood: Joseph McBride on Movies (2017)
  • How Did Lubitsch Do It? (2018)
  • Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra (2019)
  • Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge (2021)
  • Political Truth: The Media and the Assassination of President Kennedy (2022)
  • The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers (2022)

As editor

[edit]
  • Persistence of Vision: A Collection of Film Criticism (1968)
  • Focus on Howard Hawks (1972)
  • Filmmakers on Filmmaking: The American Film Institute Seminars on Motion Pictures and Television, Volume 1 (1983)
  • Filmmakers on Filmmaking: The American Film Institute Seminars on Motion Pictures and Television, Volume 2 (1983)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Joseph McBride". Cinema Department at San Francisco State University. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (September 28, 2012). "McBride's guide to 'Painless'screenwriting". Honeycutt's Hollywood. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  3. ^ "Joseph McBride's Necessary Screenwriting Book". Script Magazine. Sep 14, 2012. Retrieved Mar 2, 2019.
  4. ^ Yogerst, Chris (July 5, 2018). "Forgotten filmmaker who influenced Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder gets his due". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ McBride, Joseph (2019). Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra. Berkeley, California: Hightower Press. ISBN 978-1949950472.
  6. ^ "Sight & Sound: the November 2018 issue | Sight & Sound". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  7. ^ a b "Joseph McBride: Awards". Writers Guild Foundation. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  8. ^ "Joseph McBride: Awards & Nominations". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  9. ^ McBride, Joseph. Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless. Random House, 2012. pp. 352–353.
[edit]
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