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Robert E. Sherwood

Robert E. Sherwood

Writer · Died November 14, 1955, aged 59 · New York City, New York, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Emmet Sherwood (April 4, 1896 – November 14, 1955) was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter. Born in 1896 in New Rochelle, New York, Robert was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a highly accomplished illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood. Sherwood's first Broadway play, The Road to Rome (1927), a comedy concerning Hannibal's botched invasion of Rome, introduced one of his favorite themes: the futility of war. Many of his later dramatic works employed variations of that motif, including Idiot's Delight (1936), which won Sherwood the first of four Pulitzer Prizes. According to legend, he once admitted to the gossip columnist Lucius Beebe, “The trouble with me is that I start with a big message and end up with nothing but good entertainment.” Sherwood's Broadway success soon attracted the attention of Hollywood; he began writing for the silver screen in 1926. While some of his work went uncredited, his films included many adaptations of his plays. He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock and Joan Harrison in writing the screenplay for Rebecca (1940). With Europe in the midst of World War II, Sherwood set aside his anti-war stance to support the fight against the Third Reich. His 1940 play about the Soviet Union's invasion of Finland, There Shall Be No Night, was produced by the Playwright's Company that he co-founded and starred Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, and Montgomery Clift. Sherwood publicly ridiculed isolationist Charles Lindbergh as a "Nazi with a Nazi's Olympian contempt for all democratic processes". After serving as Director of the Office of War Information from 1943 until the conclusion of the war, he returned to dramatic writing with the movie The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler. The 1946 film, which explores changes in the lives of three servicemen after they return home from war, earned Sherwood an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Sherwood died of a heart attack in New York City in 1955. A production of his final work, Small War on Murray Hill, debuted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on January 3, 1957. Nearly four decades later, Sherwood was portrayed by actor Nick Cassavetes in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, a 1994 feature film about the Algonquin Round Table.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
April 4, 1896
Died
November 14, 1955 (aged 59)
From
New York City, New York, USA
Works as
Writer
Titles
21 on MovieCove · 42 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 37 days to Oct 26

Where can I watch Robert E. Sherwood's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 12 of their 21 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (8).

Subscription and free streaming for Robert E. Sherwood's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

42 credits, 21 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

  • The Preacher's Wife(1996)

    Original Film Writer

    Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films

  • A Ponte de Waterloo (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)

    Show 20 episodes · Original Story

  • Abe Lincoln in Illinois (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)

    Theatre Play

  • Gaby (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1956)

    Theatre Play

  • The Petrified Forest (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1955)

    Theatre Play

  • Jupiter's Darling(1955)

    Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all films

  • The Backbone of America (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1953)

    Writer

  • Main Street to Broadway(1953)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all films

  • Man on a Tightrope(1953)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films

  • The Bishop's Wife(1947)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films

  • The Best Years of Our Lives(1946)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films

  • The Queen's Husband (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1946)

    Writer

  • Escape in the Desert (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1945)

    Theatre Play

  • Adam Had Four Sons(1941)

    Producer

    Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films

  • Waterloo Bridge(1940)

    Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films

  • Rebecca(1940)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films

  • Abe Lincoln in Illinois(1940)

    Screenplay · Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films

  • Northwest Passage(1940)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films

  • 20,000 Men a Year (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1939)

    as Dispatcher

  • Over the Moon (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1939)

    Story

  • Idiot's Delight(1939)

    Screenplay · Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films

  • The Adventures of Marco Polo(1938)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 32nd percentile of all films

  • The Divorce of Lady X(1938)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films

  • Tovarich (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1937)

    Theatre Play

  • Thunder in the City (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1937)

    Screenplay

  • The Petrified Forest(1936)

    Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films

  • The Ghost Goes West(1935)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films

  • The Scarlet Pimpernel(1934)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films

  • Roman Scandals(1933)

    Story

    Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films

  • Reunion in Vienna (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1933)

    Theatre Play

  • Cock of the Air (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1932)

    Writer

  • Rasputin and the Empress(1932)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films

  • Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1931)

    Dialogue

  • The Age for Love (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1931)

    Dialogue

  • Waterloo Bridge(1931)

    Theatre Play

    Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films

  • The Royal Bed(1931)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films

  • North of Nowhere (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)

    Editor

  • The Prince of Whales (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)

    Title Graphics

  • Hitting the Trail (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)

    Editor

  • Red Hot Rails (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1926)

    Writer

  • The Lucky Lady (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1926)

    Writer

  • Oh! What a Nurse! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1926)

    Writer

Career shape

Biggest box office

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

$24M worldwide

Highest rated

Rebecca (1940)

Midcredits 98th