AllMovie

American screenwriter, playwright, and director Charles MacArthur broke into show business as a collaborator of playwright Ben Hecht; together the two wrote many Broadway hits during the early 1930s, including The Front Page and Twentieth Century. Later they began writing screenplays notable for their liveliness and sophistication. In the mid 1930s, they also began co-directing films. MacArthur occasionally wrote his own stories, adaptations, and scripts; sometimes he also collaborated with other writers besides Hecht. His wife was actress Helen Hayes, and his son was actor James MacArthur. In 1957, a year after his death, his partner Hecht wrote his biography, Charlie, as a tribute.