Preston Sturges

Biography

Preston Sturges was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter, and film director born in Chicago, Illinois on August 29, 1898. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1941 for The Great McGinty, taking the screwball comedy format to new heights with naturally mature and ahead-of-its-time dialogue. Sturges is credited as the first screenwriter to find success as a director, selling his story to Paramount Pictures for $10 in exchange for directing it.