Coffee, Lenore (1896–1984)
Coffee, Lenore (1896–1984)
American screenwriter. Name variations: Lenore Cowen. Born July 13, 1896, in San Francisco, California; died July 2, 1984, in Woodland Hills, California; m. William Joyce Cowen (English motion picture director), June 8, 1924; children: daughter Toni (b. Jan 29, 1927) and son Garry (b. Feb 2, 1930).
Received 1st screen credit on The Better Wife (1919); in a career that spanned 4 decades, wrote for many of the leading ladies of the day, most often for Joan Crawford and Bette Davis; worked on over 80 films, though she received screen credit on about half of them; credited films include The Light That Failed (1922), East Lynne (1925), Chicago (1927), The Squaw Man (1931), The Age of Indiscretion (1935), The Way of All Flesh (1940), My Son, My Son (1940), The Great Lie (1941), Old Acquaintance (1943), Till We Meet Again (1944), Beyond the Forest (1949), Sudden Fear (1952) and Cash McCall (1958). Nominated for Academy Award for Four Daughters (1938).
See also autobiography Storyline: Reflections of a Hollywood Screenwriter (Cassell, 1973); and Women in World History.