Lucille Fletcher
Encyclopedia
Lucille Fletcher was an American
screenwriter
of film
, radio
and television
. Her full name was Violet Lucille Fletcher. Her credits include the story "The Hitch-Hiker
", which was later turned into a radio drama by Orson Welles
, a memorable Twilight Zone
episode called "The Hitch-Hiker
" and more recently inspired "Roadkill", an episode of Supernatural
. Fletcher also wrote the screenplay for the film noir
suspense thriller Sorry, Wrong Number
, which was an expanded version of her 30-minute radio drama script.
, where she earned a degree in 1933.
, where she met her future husband, composer Bernard Herrmann
. The couple dated for five years, but delayed marriage due to her parents' objections. They finally married on October 2, 1939. Fletcher and Herrmann collaborated on several projects. He wrote the score for the Campbell Playhouse adaptation of her famous story ""The Hitch-Hiker
"," and she helped write the libretto for his operatic adaptation of "Wuthering Heights
."
As Lucille once explained in an interview, Sorry, Wrong Number
was partially inspired by an incident from someone else's life. While Herrmann was sick at home, Lucille went down to the corner drug store for medicine. Innocently striking up a conversation with her pharmacist, a longtime friend, she raised the ire of an elderly woman who had apparently been waiting first. The woman interrupted and approached the druggist, complaining about poor service and demanding to "know who this interloper is?!", referring to Fletcher. Ms. Fletcher, finding the woman's shrill voice and demeanor particularly irritating, went home with the intention of writing a script based around a character with those traits who becomes embroiled in a precarious situation.
The radio drama premiered in 1943 and became one of the most legendary radio plays of all time. Agnes Moorehead
created the role in the first performance and again in several later radio productions. Barbara Stanwyck
starred in the 1948 film version and, in 1952, performed the original radio play over the airwaves. A 1959 version produced for the CBS
radio series Suspense
received a 1960 Edgar Award
for Best Radio Drama.
on October 2, 1939. They had two children, Wendy and Dorothy. The couple divorced in 1948, over his affair with her cousin Kathy Lucille (Lucy) Anderson. In 1949, Bernard Herrmann married Lucy. Lucille later married Douglass Wallop
, and they remained married until he died in 1985.
While married to Herrmann, she adapted the Emily Bronte
novel Wuthering Heights
into a libretto for her husband's opera of the same name
. He completed the opera in 1951, by which time they had divorced.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Her full name was Violet Lucille Fletcher. Her credits include the story "The Hitch-Hiker
The Hitch Hiker (radio play)
-Plot:The story concerns Ronald Adams, a man travelling cross-country from New York City to Los Angeles. On his way out of New York, Adams narrowly avoids hitting a hitch-hiker with his car; at several points along his journey, Adams repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker, despite the fact that,...
", which was later turned into a radio drama by Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, a memorable Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode called "The Hitch-Hiker
The Hitch-Hiker (The Twilight Zone)
"The Hitch-Hiker" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:The story begins with Nan Adams, whose vehicle gets a flat tire on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Los Angeles. A mechanic puts a spare tire on her car and directs her to the...
" and more recently inspired "Roadkill", an episode of Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
. Fletcher also wrote the screenplay for the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
suspense thriller Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American suspense film noir directed by Anatole Litvak. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a plot for murder. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley, Leif Erickson and William Conrad.The film was adapted by Lucille...
, which was an expanded version of her 30-minute radio drama script.
Early life
Fletcher was born in Brooklyn in 1912 to parents Matthew and Violet Fletcher. She attended Vassar CollegeVassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, where she earned a degree in 1933.
After college
After graduation, she got a clerical job at CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, where she met her future husband, composer Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
. The couple dated for five years, but delayed marriage due to her parents' objections. They finally married on October 2, 1939. Fletcher and Herrmann collaborated on several projects. He wrote the score for the Campbell Playhouse adaptation of her famous story ""The Hitch-Hiker
The Hitch Hiker (radio play)
-Plot:The story concerns Ronald Adams, a man travelling cross-country from New York City to Los Angeles. On his way out of New York, Adams narrowly avoids hitting a hitch-hiker with his car; at several points along his journey, Adams repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker, despite the fact that,...
"," and she helped write the libretto for his operatic adaptation of "Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
."
As Lucille once explained in an interview, Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American suspense film noir directed by Anatole Litvak. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a plot for murder. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley, Leif Erickson and William Conrad.The film was adapted by Lucille...
was partially inspired by an incident from someone else's life. While Herrmann was sick at home, Lucille went down to the corner drug store for medicine. Innocently striking up a conversation with her pharmacist, a longtime friend, she raised the ire of an elderly woman who had apparently been waiting first. The woman interrupted and approached the druggist, complaining about poor service and demanding to "know who this interloper is?!", referring to Fletcher. Ms. Fletcher, finding the woman's shrill voice and demeanor particularly irritating, went home with the intention of writing a script based around a character with those traits who becomes embroiled in a precarious situation.
The radio drama premiered in 1943 and became one of the most legendary radio plays of all time. Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
created the role in the first performance and again in several later radio productions. Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
starred in the 1948 film version and, in 1952, performed the original radio play over the airwaves. A 1959 version produced for the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio series Suspense
Suspense (radio program)
-Production background:One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era...
received a 1960 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for Best Radio Drama.
Personal life
She married Bernard HerrmannBernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
on October 2, 1939. They had two children, Wendy and Dorothy. The couple divorced in 1948, over his affair with her cousin Kathy Lucille (Lucy) Anderson. In 1949, Bernard Herrmann married Lucy. Lucille later married Douglass Wallop
Douglass Wallop
John Douglass Wallop III was an American novelist and playwright.-Early life:John Douglass Wallop III was born on March 8, 1920 to John Douglass, Jr., an insurance agent, and Marjorie Wallop ....
, and they remained married until he died in 1985.
While married to Herrmann, she adapted the Emily Bronte
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
novel Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
into a libretto for her husband's opera of the same name
Wuthering Heights (Herrmann)
Wuthering Heights is the sole opera written by Bernard Herrmann. He worked on it from 1943 to 1951. It is cast in a prologue, 4 acts, and an epilogue that repeats the music of the prologue...
. He completed the opera in 1951, by which time they had divorced.
Novels
- Sorry, Wrong Number, 1948, with Allan Ullman
- Night Man, 1951, with Ullman
- The Daughters of Jasper Clay, 1958
- Blindfold, 1960
- And Presumed Dead, 1963
- The Strange Blue Yawl, 1964
- The Girl in Cabin B54, 1968
- Eighty Dollars to Stamford, 1975
- Mirror Image, 1988
Plays
- Sorry, Wrong Number, (broadcast 1944), 1952
- Wuthering HeightsWuthering Heights (Herrmann)Wuthering Heights is the sole opera written by Bernard Herrmann. He worked on it from 1943 to 1951. It is cast in a prologue, 4 acts, and an epilogue that repeats the music of the prologue...
, librettist, 1943-51 - Night Watch, 1972
Radio plays
- My Client Curley, 1940
- The Hitch-Hiker, 1941
- Remodeled Brownstone
- The Furnished Floor
- The Diary of Sophronia Winters
- The Search for Henri Le Fevre
- Badm Dreams Fugue in C Minor
- Someone Else
- Night Man
- Dark Journey and The Intruder