Person Biography:
Howard Koch was a playwright and author of sophisticated screenplays. He graduated from Bard College and Columbia University Law School, but instead of pursuing a career in law, he began writing plays. Despite his initial failures on Broadway, Koch continued to write and eventually had his first critical success with "The Lonely Man" in 1937. He then moved to Hollywood and worked as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers from 1939 to 1945. During this time, he collaborated with the Epstein brothers to adapt "Everybody Comes to Rick's" into the classic film "Casablanca" in 1942. The film won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and Koch sold his Oscar at auction in 1994 to fund his granddaughter's school tuition.
Koch worked on a variety of films before and after "Casablanca," including "The Sea Hawk," "The Letter," "Sergeant York," and "Rhapsody in Blue." His personal favorite was his script for "Letter from an Unknown Woman" in 1948. However, his reputation was tarnished by his work on "Mission to Moscow" in 1943, which was seen as pro-Russian. He was later blacklisted by the industry in 1951 and moved to England, where he continued to write screenplays under a pseudonym.
