John Michael Hayes on AllMovie

As was the case with most of Alfred Hitchcock's screenwriters, John Michael Hayes has tended to be overshadowed by "The Master." The general assumption is that Hitchcock was the predominant guiding force behind such films as Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955) The Trouble With Harry (1956) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), while Hayes (and his collaborators) merely provided the words and the character names. Proof that Hayes was a potent talent without Hitchcock's input is provided by his adaptations of such literary and theatrical pieces as Peyton Place (1957, which earned him the second of his two Oscar nominations), Butterfield Eight (1958) and The Chalk Garden (1964). After many years of retirement, John Michael Hayes resurfaced to co-write the screenplay of director Charles Haid's Iron Will (1994). He died in 2008 at age 89.