John Taintor Foote was a novelist, playwright, short-story writer, and screenwriter.

Foote studied at Kenyon Military Academy, Gambier Ohio. He began as a writer of sporting stories. His first story was published in The American Magazine in 1913. He wrote horse stories featuring the roguish track character Blister Jones, and the story upon which the Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 film Notorious is based. He also wrote or collaborated on five plays, among them the comedy Toby's Bow (1919) and the dramas Tight Britches (1934), and Julie the Great (1936).

Foote came to Hollywood in 1938 to work on the screenplay of his book The Look of Eagles, which was retitled Kentucky

Kentucky (film)

Kentucky is a 1938 Technicolor film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle...

, starred Loretta Young

Loretta Young

Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...

, and won an Academy Award for Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...

. Foote’s subsequent scripts included The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)

The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox. The action movie stars Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vega , Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone as the villain...

, Broadway Serenade

Broadway Serenade

Broadway Serenade is a 1939 musical drama film distributed by MGM, and directed and produced by Robert Z. Leonard. The screenplay was written by Charles Lederer, based on story by Lew Lipton, John Taintor Foote and Hanns Kräly...

, Swanee River

Swanee River (film)

Swanee River is a biopic about Stephen Foster, a songwriter from Pittsburgh who falls in love with the South, marries a Southern girl, then is accused of sympathizing when the Civil War breaks out...

, The Story of Seabiscuit

The Story of Seabiscuit

The Story of Seabiscuit is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay was written by John Taintor Foote. The film is a fictionalized account of the career of the racehorse Seabiscuit with a subplot involving the romance between the niece of a horse trainer and a jockey...

and The Great Dan Patch.

Foote is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

External links

• John Taintor Foote on the Internet Movie Database
• John Taintor Foote on findagrave.com
• John Taintor Foote on the Internet Broadway Database
• Blister Jones - free ebook at manybooks.net