{{Short description|American screenwriter (1905–1971)}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Hagar Wilde | image = HagarWilde.jpg | alt = A young white woman with dark hair, from a 1931 newspaper photo. | caption = Hagar Wilde, from a 1931 newspaper | other_names = Hagar Wilde Bekassy (after 1941) | birth_name = Beverly Violet Bidwell | birth_date = July 7, 1905 | birth_place = Toledo, Ohio, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1971|9|25|1905|7|7}} | death_place = California, US | occupation = Screenwriter | known_for = ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938; story, co-writer of screenplay); ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949, screenplay) | spouse = Harold Chandler Murner (1923–1928)<br />Ernest Victor Heyn (divorced)<br />Stephen Bekassy (1941–1953) | children = 1 }}
'''Hagar Wilde''' (July 7, 1905 – September 25, 1971) was an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and screenwriter from the 1930s through the 1950s. She is perhaps best known for the screenplays for ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938) and ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949), two Howard Hawks films, both starring Cary Grant.
== Early life == Hagar Wilde was born '''Beverly Violet Bidwell''' in Toledo, Ohio.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == Wilde was a prolific young short story writer<ref>{{Cite news|last=Daffron|first=Polly|date=1931-06-28|title=Introducing Hagar Wilde|pages=32|work=The Times Dispatch|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55352780/introducing-hagar-wildepolly-daffron/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and debut novelist<ref>{{Cite news|date=1931-09-02|title=New Books|pages=4|work=The Shreveport Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55353501/new-books/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> when she was hired by billionaire Howard Hughes in 1931, to write dialogue for ''The Age for Love'', starring Billie Dove.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1931-05-09|title=Hagar Wilde Signs With Howard Hughes|pages=9|work=The Akron Beacon Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55351409/hagar-wilde-signs-with-howard-hughes/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her association with director Howard Hawks included co-writing (with Dudley Nichols) the screenplay for ''Bringing Up Baby'' (for which she had also written the original story, published in the magazine ''Collier's Weekly''),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mast|first=Gerald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhjQPHtlaBMC&q=Hagar+Wilde&pg=PA4|title=Bringing Up Baby|date=1988|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-1341-6|pages=4–5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=McBride|first=Joseph|authorlink=Joseph McBride (author)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccDDAQAAQBAJ&q=Hagar+Wilde&pg=PA85|title=Hawks on Hawks|date=2013-11-05|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4431-3|pages=85–86|language=en}}</ref> and the screenplay for ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949). She also co-wrote the screenplay for ''The Unseen'' (1945), with Raymond Chandler, based on the novel ''Midnight House'' by Ethel Lina White.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1945-07-07|title=Gail Russell Gets Scared Again|pages=7|work=The Akron Beacon Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55352443/gail-russell-gets-scared-again/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Wilde wrote two shows produced on Broadway. Her first stage success was a "taut little horror drama"<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mantle|first=Burns|date=1942-02-25|title='Guest in the House' Story of a Home-Wrecking Visitor|pages=581|work=Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55353231/guest-in-the-house-story-of-a/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> titled ''Guest in the House'' (1942); she co-wrote the play with Dale Eunson, and it was adapted into a film in 1944.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Wilde|first1=Hagar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBJigagYQGcC&q=Hagar+Wilde&pg=PA3|title=Guest in the House|last2=Eunson|first2=Dale|date=1970|publisher=Samuel French, Inc.|isbn=978-0-573-60968-8|language=en}}</ref> She also wrote ''Made in Heaven'' (1946–1947).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilde|first=Hagar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tkEAQAAIAAJ&q=Hagar+Wilde|title=Made in Heaven: A Play in Three Acts|date=1947|publisher=French|language=en}}</ref> In the 1950s she worked extensively in adapting scripts for television.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Walker|first=Ellis|date=1956-12-06|title=Highlights from TV, Radio|pages=13|work=The Napa Valley Register|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55353002/highlights-from-tv-radioellis-walker/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Personal life == Wilde was married at least four times. Her first husband was Harold Chandler Murner; they were married from 1923 to 1928. Her second husband was Ernest Victor Heyn. She divorced Heyn and married her third husband, actor Stephen Bekassy, in 1941. She had a daughter, Stephanie, with Bekassy,<ref>{{Cite news|date=1947-03-23|title=Budapest's Bekassy Arriving Thursday in Simonov Comedy|pages=33|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55353792/budapests-bekassy-arriving-thursday-in/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> before they divorced in 1953.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella|date=1953-06-29|title=In Hollywood|pages=12|work=Courier-Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55353962/in-hollywoodlouella-parsons/|access-date=2020-07-14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her fourth husband was an Englishman; that marriage also ended. She died in 1971 at the Motion Picture Country Home in California, aged 66 years.<ref name=":0">Farr, Louise. [https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=4973&i=285825&view=articleBrowser&article_id=2355054&ver=html5 "Born to be Wilde"] ''Written By'' (January 2016): 22-27.</ref>
==Selected filmography== * ''The Age for Love'' (1931) * ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938) * ''Carefree'' (1938) * ''Fired Wife'' (1943) * ''Guest in the House'' (1944) * ''The Unseen'' (1945) * ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949) * ''Red, Hot and Blue'' (1949) * ''Shadow of the Eagle'' (1950) * ''The Rival of the Empress'' (1951) * ''This is My Love'' (1954)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0928444|name=Hagar Wilde}} * {{IBDB name}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070120211845/http://shortstoryadaptations.com/excerpt.html Excerpt] from Stephanie Harrison, ''Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen. 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films''. 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-5314-8}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Hagar}} Category:1905 births Category:1971 deaths Category:American women screenwriters Category:American television writers Category:American women television writers Category:Writers from Toledo, Ohio Category:American women short story writers Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:Screenwriters from Ohio