Edna FerberFilmography

Born:: August 15, 1887 in Kalamazoo, MI
Occupation:: Screenwriter, Book Author, Play Author
Biography:: Edna Ferber was probably the most respected and widely read woman author of the 20th century, and ranks among the most influential female novelists in history. Her books, which often told large, sweeping stories across a great historical arc from the standpoint of ordinary men and women, sold in...Read More

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Show Boat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Eddie Bracken

1989
Ice Palace

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Richard Burton, Robert Ryan, Carolyn Jones, Martha Hyer, Jim Backus

Synopsis: Based on the Edna Ferber novel, this engrossing period piece covers the triumphs, tragedies, loves, and sorrows of a few generations of Alaskan settlers between the first World War and the granting of statehood in 1959. Zeb (Richard Burton) is a local despot whose tough personality dominates the Read More

1960
Cimarron

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter, Arthur O'Connell, Russ Tamblyn

Synopsis: The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 provides the starting point for this western drama, based on a novel by Edna Ferber. Yancey Cravat (Glenn Ford) is an impulsive, short-fused cowboy who has married an immigrant woman, Sabra (Maria Schell). Together, Yancey and Sabra claim a homestead, and Yancey Read More

1960
Giant

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Withers

Synopsis: George Stevens' sprawling adaptation of Edna Ferber's best-selling novel successfully walks a fine line between potboiler and serious drama for its 210-minute running time, making it one of the few epics of its era that continues to hold up as engrossing entertainment across the decades. Giant Read More

1956
So Big

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest, Elisabeth Fraser

Synopsis: This 1953 tear-jerker is the third film version of the Edna Ferber novel So Big. Stepping into the role previously essayed by Colleen Moore and Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Wyman plays Selina, a girl of wealth who comes to a Dutch community outside Chicago as a schoolteacher. Here Selina falls in love Read More

1953
Show Boat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion

Synopsis: The third and (to date) last film version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat falls just short of greatness but is still a whale of a show. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are in fine fettle as irresponsible gambler Gaylord Ravenal and showboat ingenue Magnolia Read More

1951
Saratoga Trunk

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Flora Robson, Jerry Austin, John Warburton

Synopsis: Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper paired off again after For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) with this overwrought melodrama based on the romance novel by Edna Ferber. Bergman plays Clio Dulaine, a beautiful half-Creole woman whose return to 1875 New Orleans from Paris creates a stir. Born out of wedlock Read More

1945
No Place to Go

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: No Place to Go is a remake of the 1932 Chic Sale vehicle The Expert, which in turn was adapted from the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber play Old Man Minick. Fred Stone plays elderly retiree Andrew Plummer, who moves in with his well-to-do son Joe (Dennis Morgan) and Joe's wife Gertrude (Gloria Read More

1939
Stage Door

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier

Synopsis: Adapted from the Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman play, Stage Door is a comedic portrait of the theatrical community in New York. Katharine Hepburn stars as Terry Randall a young woman who comes from a wealthy, socially connected family. Aspiring for a career on the stage, Terry opts to see if Read More

1937
Show Boat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan

Synopsis: This second film version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat is considered by many film buffs to be the best of the three. Covering nearly four decades (was there ever an Edna Ferber novel that didn't?), the film stars Irene Dunne as Magnolia Hawks, a role she'd Read More

1936
Come and Get It

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea, Frances Farmer, Walter Brennan, Andrea Leeds

Synopsis: Set in the woodlands of Wisconsin, Come and Get It stars Edward Arnold as a logger-turned-lumber tycoon. In his rise to the top, Arnold loses out on a chance for lasting happiness by spurning earthy dance hall girl (Frances Farmer), who marries his best pal (Walter Brennan) on the rebound. Read More

1936
Glamour

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Paul Lukas, Constance Cummings, Phillip Reed, Joseph Cawthorn, Doris Lloyd

Synopsis: Another of director William Wyler's "apprenticeship" films, Glamour is based on a story by Edna Ferber. The original story covered 24 hours in the life of actress Linda Fayne (Constance Cummings), who is so busy with her career that there's no time left over for her baby. This plotline was used as Read More

1934
Dinner at Eight

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke

Synopsis: Based on the Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, Dinner at Eight is a near-flawless comedy/drama with an all-star cast at the peak of their talents. Social butterfly Mrs. Oliver Jordan (Billie Burke) arranges a dinner party that will benefit the busines of her husband (Lionel Barrymore Read More

1933
So Big

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis, Mae Madison

Synopsis: This second of three film versions of Edna Ferber's novel So Big stars Barbara Stanwyck as Ferber's resilient heroine Selena Dejong Peake. Widowed early in the proceedings, Chicago truck farmer Selena sacrifices everything for her son Dirk (Dickie Moore as a child, Hardie Albright as a grown-up) Read More

1932
The Expert

Crew: Play Author, Short Story Author

Actors: Charles "Chic" Sale, Dickie Moore, Lois Wilson, Earl Foxe, Ralf Harolde

Synopsis: An elderly gentleman finds himself in a difficult situation when he finds himself faced with becoming a burden on his children or going into an old folks home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1932
Cimarron

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier, Jr.

Synopsis: Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim Read More

1930
The Royal Family of Broadway

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett

Synopsis: Royal Family of Broadway was an abridged but otherwise literal translation of the George S. Kaufman/Edna Ferber Broadway hit The Royal Family. The title referred not to kings and queens but to a prominent theatrical family named Cavendish--based none too loosely on the famed Barrymore clan. Ina Claire Read More

1930
Hard to Get

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Dorothy Mackaill, James Finlayson, Louise Fazenda, Jack Oakie, Edmund Burns

Synopsis: Edna Ferber's short story "Classified" was the source for the Dorothy Mackaill vehicle Hard to Get. Mackaill is cast as Bobby Martin, a dress-shop model with intellectual aspirations. Wealthy Dexter Courtland (Edmund Burns) rescues Bobby from a masher, whereupon romance blooms. Likewise smitten Read More

1929
Show Boat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Laura La Plante, Joseph Schildkraut, Emily Fitzroy, Otis Harlan, Elsie Bartlett

Synopsis: Show Boat was a part-silent, part-talkie adaptation of the book by Edna Ferber. The film traces the life of Magnolia Hawkes (Laura La Plante), daughter of Captain Andy of the Cotton Blossom, a 19th century show boat. Magnolia's head is turned by handsome gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Joseph Schildkraut Read More

1929
Mother Knows Best

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Madge Bellamy, Louise Dresser, Barry Norton, Albert Gran

1928
Gigolo

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Rod La Rocque, Jobyna Ralston, Louise Dresser, Cyril Chadwick, George Nichols

Synopsis: A novel by Edna Ferber was the source for this Rod LaRocque vehicle. The story begins just before the outbreak of WWI, when Julia Gory (Louise Dresser) wealthy widowed mother of hero Gideon Gory (LaRoque), marries socially prominent doctor Blagden (Cyril Chadwick). Interested only in Julia's money Read More

1926
Welcome Home

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Luke Cosgrave, Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson, Ben Hendricks, Sr., Margaret Morris

Synopsis: Fred Prouty (Warner Baxter) and his wife, Nettie (Lois Wilson), are living happily until the day that his aged father (Luke Cosgrave) shows up on their doorstep. He immediately begins creating havoc, upsetting the once-orderly household and trying to force his opinions on everyone. Nettie does her Read More

1925
So Big

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Colleen Moore, John Bowers, Ben Lyon, Wallace Beery

Synopsis: Colleen Moore may have been The Perfect Flapper, but as an actress she longed to spread her creative wings. She insisted on portraying the lead character in this adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel -- a 19th century girl doomed to a life of drudgery, who ages over 30 years throughout the course of Read More

1924