William Ludwig Filmography

Occupation:: Screenwriter
Biography:: Before becoming a screenwriter, William Ludwig was a practicing attorney in New York. While working in Hollywood, Ludwig penned the screenplays for many films in the Andy Hardy series. In 1955, he shared an Oscar for Interrupted Melody. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide...Read More

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Back Street

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Susan Hayward, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Charles Drake, Virginia Grey

Synopsis: This third film version of the lachrymose Fannie Hurst novel Back Street stars Susan Hayward as Rae Smith the role previously essayed by Irene Dunne (in 1932) and Margaret Sullavan (in 1941). In both earlier films, Rae Smith sacrifices 28 years of her life to her married lover, who can never get a Read More

1961
Gun Glory

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills, Steve Rowland, James Gregory

Synopsis: Originally titled Man of the West (the name of the Philip Yordan novel on which it was based), Gun Glory was rechristened to avoid confusion with a like-vintage Gary Cooper vehicle of the same title. Stewart Granger plays gunslinger/gambler Tom Early, who tries a bit too late to make amends for Read More

1957
Ten Thousand Bedrooms

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dean Martin, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eva Bartok, Dewey Martin, Walter Slezak

Synopsis: Dean Martin's first solo film after his split with Jerry Lewis was very nearly his last. Dino plays Ray Hunter, a Conrad Hiltonesque playboy hotelier at large in Rome. Taking charge of his latest acquisition -- a huge hotel with the titular 10,000 bedrooms -- Hunter finds himself being pursued by Read More

1957
Hit the Deck

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jane Powell, Tony Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone

Synopsis: Hit the Deck is the second film version of the same-named 1927 hit Broadway musical. Though updated for the 1950s, the basic plot remains the same. Sailors Tony Martin, Vic Damone and Russ Tamblyn spend their entire shore leave in pursuit of three beautiful gals. Martin is "that way" about Ann Read More

1955
Oklahoma!

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Rod Steiger

Synopsis: Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 Broadway musical was considered revolutionary for a multitude of reasons, not least of which were the play's intricate integration of song and storyline, and the simplicity and austerity of its production design. The 1955 film version of Oklahoma! retains the songs Read More

1955
Interrupted Melody

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Glenn Ford, Eleanor Parker, Roger Moore, Cecil Kellaway, Peter Leeds

Synopsis: Interrupted Melody is the inspirational filmed biography of world-renowned Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence. Eleanor Parker plays Ms. Farrell, while her vocal renditions, ranging from selections from Madame Butterfly to MGM's own Over the Rainbow, were dubbed by Eileen Farrell, who would be Read More

1955
The Student Prince

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn

Synopsis: Edmund Purdom plays Prince Karl, but Mario Lanza sings the bold tunes coming out of Purdom's mouth, in this MGM remake of the 1927 Ernst Lubitsch silent picture based on the renowned 1924 operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly, which itself was based on the novel and play by Wilhelm Read More

1954
Athena

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Virginia Gibson, Nancy Kilgas, Dolores Starr

Synopsis: Health faddist Mulvain (Louis Calhern) and his astrology-minded wife Salome (Norma Varden) hold court over their seven musical-prodigy daughters. Each girl is named after a mythical Greek: Athena (Jane Powell), Minerva (Debbie Reynolds), Niobe (Virginia Gibson), Aphrodite (Nancy Kligas), Medea (Jane Fischer Read More

1954
The Merry Widow

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas, Una Merkel, Richard Haydn, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: Based on an operetta by Franz Lehar, this remake of the 1934 original finds a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) returning to her husband's native land to dedicate a memorial to him. The king (Thomas Gomez) of the country, deep in debt, tries to convince her to stay by offering a young count (Fernando Lamas Read More

1952
The Great Caruso

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Richard Hageman

Synopsis: The film traces Naples-born Caruso's ascension from adolescent choir singer to the uppermost ranks of the opera world. Caruso is brought to America, getting off to a bad start by inadvertently insulting the impresario (Carl Benton Reid) responsible for his Metropolitan debut. This complication has Read More

1951
It's a Big Country

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston Read More

1950
Shadow on the Wall

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Nancy Davis, Kristine Miller

Synopsis: A murder is witnessed by the victim's little daughter (Gigi Perreau), who immediately goes into a state of shock. All the girl has seen is the shadow of her mother's killer, but the audience knows that the murderer is Ann Sothern. At first Sothern is secure that the girl will never be able to Read More

1950
The Sun Comes Up

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jeanette MacDonald, Lloyd Nolan, Claude Jarman, Jr., Percy Kilbride

Synopsis: In this moving drama an embittered widow, a former concert singer, can't help but blame Lassie for her son's death. Needing help with her chores, she hires an orphan from the local home. At first she remains aloof towards the charming lad who quickly bonds with the collie dog, but as time passes Read More

1949
Challenge to Lassie

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Brooks, Reginald Owen, Alan Webb

Synopsis: A "new" Lassie (once again, a male collie in drag) starred in A Challenge to Lassie, MGM's fourth entry in their series based on characters created by Eric Knight. This time, Lassie is plunked into the plotline of William Ludwig's novel Greyfriars Bobby (remade by Disney under its original title Read More

1949
Hills of Home

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Rhys Williams

Synopsis: MGM's Lassie series was declining in popularity by 1948, so the studio decided to release its latest adventure of the famous collie as Hills of Home, so that non-Lassie fans might be inveigled into entering the theatre. Actually, Hills is one of the best entries in the series, due in no Read More

1948
Julia Misbehaves

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: After suffering nobly in several heavyweight MGM dramas, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon begged the studio to cast them together in a comedy. Though not an all-out laff riot, Julia Misbehaves strives hard to please. Garson plays an ever-in-debt British music-hall performer who relies on the Read More

1948
Boys' Ranch

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Butch Jenkins, James Craig, Skip Homeier, Dorothy Patrick, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Boys' Ranch was conceived as a showcase for MGM's newest juvenile star, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins. James Craig is billed second as baseball player Dan Walker, who sets up a Texas ranch for disadvantaged city kids. Jenkins plays Butch, the cutest and most precocious of the boys, while Skip Homeier is Read More

1946
Love Laughs at Andy Hardy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Bonita Granville, Sara Haden, Fay Holden, Lina Romay

Synopsis: For his first post-WWII starring film, 26-year-old Mickey Rooney returned to familiar territory in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy. In true Art-Imitates-Life fashion, Rooney plays returning GI Andy Hardy, who arrives in his home town of Carvel to the open arms of his family: Father Judge Hardy (Lewis Read More

1946
An American Romance

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel, John Qualen, Horace McNally

Synopsis: Director King Vidor intended An American Romance as the third entry in his "War, Wheat and Steel" trilogy (the War had been covered in The Big Parade, while Wheat was dispensed with in Our Daily Bread). Two years in production, the film cost nearly $3 million-little of which actually shows up on Read More

1944
Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden, Sara Haden, Herbert Marshall

Synopsis: College boy Andy continues his studies in this comedy. Well, at least he should be studying. Unfortunately, he seems to be more interested in the pretty co-eds, especially the rambunctious Wilde twins. They cause poor Andy so much trouble that he begins plotting to drop out of school. Fortunately Read More

1944
Girl Crazy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, Rags Ragland

Synopsis: This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a Read More

1943
Journey for Margaret

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, Robert Young, Laraine Day, Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: This wartime weeper could just as well have been titled Stardom for Margaret, inasmuch as it solidified the popularity of that remarkable child actress Margaret O'Brien. While visiting London, American married couple Robert Young and Laraine Day are caught in the middle of the 1940 blitz. Read More

1942
Love Crazy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gail Patrick, Jack Carson, Florence Bates

Synopsis: William Powell and Myrna Loy re-team for this (literally) crazy screwball comedy about a happily married couple who, thanks to a visit from mother, find their marriage on the rocks and the husband committed to a mental institution. Poised to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary, Steven (William Powell Read More

1941
Blackmail

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Hussey, Gene Lockhart, Bobs Watson, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: Through a miscarriage of justice, John Ingram (Edward G. Robinson) is convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to a long stretch on a chain gang in the deep South. In time, Ingram flees to Oklahoma, where he makes a living fighting oil fires under an assumed name. Several years later Read More

1939
Stronger Than Desire

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Stronger Than Desire is a streamlined remake of 1934's Evelyn Prentice. Instead of the earlier film's William Powell and Myrna Loy, we are offered Walter Pidgeon and Virginia Bruce in the roles of a dynamic attorney and his wife. Little has changed storywise from Evelyn Prentice: Bruce kills (or Read More

1939
The Hardys Ride High

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: The fifth of MGM's "Andy Hardy" series, The Hardys Ride High finds the Hardy family outside their usual small-town environs. The complacently middle-class family (middle class by Hollywood standards, that is!) inherits a large estate, compelling them to move in different social circles. Judge Read More

1939
Out West with the Hardys

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden, Ann Rutherford

Synopsis: The title tells the story in this fourth of MGM's "Hardy Family" series. Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) takes his family to the Wide Open Spaces when a friend has legal difficulties over water rights. Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) thinks he can pass as a westerner, which results in saddle sores for the Read More

1938
Love Finds Andy Hardy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden

Synopsis: The third of MGM's Andy Hardy series (discounting the "pilot" film, A Family Affair) stars, as ever, Mickey Rooney as the teenaged protagonist. Andy finds himself in dutch with girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) when he agrees to escort his best friend's gal, Cynthia Potter (Lana Turner). Read More

1938