Screenwriter, Harvard Grad Dies at 90

Daniel Taradash ’33, a screenwriter and winner of the 1953 Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, died Feb. 22. He was 90.

Taradash had suffered from pancreatic cancer and was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the time of his death.

Made famous by the memorable beach scene in From Here to Eternity which locks actors Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in a sandy embrace, the screenwriter was a master at adapting literature to the screen.

From Here to Eternity, an adaptation of James Jones’ best-selling novel, was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, of which it won eight. Taradash translated the novel’s controversial glimpse into army life before the attack on Pearl Harbor, satisfying both Jones and industry censors. Taradash also wrote or collaborated on several successful Broadway plays and over 11 other films, including the classic Ranch Notorious.

Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Tom C. Conley recalled that work as “so graphic that it gets incrusted in the images.”

In remembering the screenwriter, Conley noted that “Taradash’s contributions to period pieces such as From Here to Eternity, Desiree, Picnic and Storm Center are crying out for further study.”

After completing undergraduate studies at the College, Taradash went on to attend Harvard Law School, graduating in 1936. However, despite passing the New York state bar exam, Taradash preferred writing to practicing law. He managed to persuade his well-to-do father to support his career goals for a trial period of two years.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Taradash told his father, “If at the end, I still hadn’t made it I promised him I’d go into law full time.” When Taradash won a playwriting contest in 1938 and was then was signed by Columbia Studios to collaborate on the script for the film Golden Boy, his career as a screenwriter was sealed.

Taradash was dedicated to civil liberties throughout his career.

The film Storm Center, which he co-wrote and directed, was about a librarian who refused to remove a book about Communism from her shelves.

Among his many accomplishments in the film industry, Taradash served as president of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild of America, west, throughout the 1970s. In 1996, Taradash received the Guild’s highest honor, the Screen Laurel Award.

The Writers Guild has also announced that plans for a public memorial are pending.

Taradash is survived by his wife of 58 years, Madeleine Forbes Taradash, daughters Jan, of Berkeley, Meg, of Los Angeles, son Bill, of New York and two grandchildren.