William Bowers was a reporter in Long Beach, California before he broke into playwrighting with Where Do We Go From Here? His position as Hollywood correspondent for the NEA news service led to an RKO contract in 1942. Some of his earliest screenplay work at that studio included Kay Kyser's My Favorite Spy (1942), Brown and Carney's Adventures of a Rookie (1943), and Frank Sinatra's first important film, Higher and Higher (1943). He went on to work at Paramount and Universal, then free-lanced for the remainder of his career. He was Oscar-nominated for his scripts for 1950's The Gunfighter and 1958's Sheepman. On a less positive note, Bowers' screenplay for the 1961 Jack Webb-directed comedy The Last Time I Saw Archie resulted in a lawsuit against Bowers and Webb, instigated by the subject of the film, famed fast-buck filmmaker/entrepreneur Arch Hall Sr. Late in life, William Bowers briefly turned to acting when he was invited by Francis Ford Coppola to play the head of the Senate Investigating Committee in Coppola's The Godfather II (1974).
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
More Wild, Wild West
Screenwriter |
1980 | |||
|
The Wild, Wild West Revisited
Screenwriter |
1979 | |||
|
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid
Screenwriter |
1978 | |||
|
Sidekicks
Screenwriter |
1974 | |||
|
The Godfather Part II
Actor |
1974 | |||
|
The Gun and the Pulpit
Screenwriter |
1974 | |||
|
Support Your Local Sheriff
Producer, Screenwriter |
1969 | |||
|
The Ride to Hangman's Tree
Screenwriter |
1967 | |||
|
Way... Way Out
Screenwriter |
1966 | |||
|
Advance to the Rear
Screenwriter |
1964 | |||
|
The Last Time I Saw Archie
Screenwriter |
1961 | |||
|
-30-
Screenwriter, Songwriter |
1959 | |||
|
Alias Jesse James
Screenwriter |
1959 | |||
|
Imitation General
Screenwriter |
1958 | |||
|
The Law and Jake Wade
Screenwriter |
1958 | |||
|
The Sheepman
Screenwriter |
1958 | |||
|
My Man Godfrey
Screenwriter |
1957 | |||
|
The Best Things in Life Are Free
Screenwriter |
1956 | |||
|
Five Against the House
Screenwriter |
1955 | |||
|
Tight Spot
Screenwriter |
1955 | |||
|
Split Second
Screenwriter |
1953 | |||
|
Assignment - Paris
Screenwriter |
1952 | |||
|
She Couldn't Say No
Screenwriter |
1952 | |||
|
Cry Danger
Screenwriter |
1951 | |||
|
The Mob
Screenwriter |
1951 | |||
|
Convicted
Screenwriter |
1950 | |||
|
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Screenwriter |
1950 | |||
|
The Gunfighter
Screenwriter |
1950 | |||
|
Abandoned
Screenwriter |
1949 | |||
|
The Gal Who Took the West
Screenwriter |
1949 | |||
|
Black Bart
Screenwriter |
1948 | |||
|
Jungle Patrol
Play Author |
1948 | |||
|
Larceny
Screenwriter |
1948 | |||
|
River Lady
Screenwriter |
1948 | |||
|
The Countess of Monte Cristo
Screenwriter |
1948 | |||
|
Ladies' Man
Screen Story, Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
|
Something in the Wind
Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
|
The Web
Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
|
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
|
Night and Day
Screenwriter |
1946 | |||
|
The Fabulous Suzanne
Screen Story |
1946 | |||
|
The Notorious Lone Wolf
Screen Story |
1946 | |||
|
Sing Your Way Home
Screenwriter |
1945 | |||
|
Higher and Higher
Screenwriter |
1944 | |||
|
Adventures of a Rookie
Screenwriter |
1943 | |||
|
My Favorite Spy
Screenwriter |
1942 | |||
|
Seven Days Leave
Screenwriter |
1942 |



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