Ivan Moffat was a multifaceted British personality, excelling as a screenwriter, socialite, and producer. His impressive career was marked by numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for adapting Edna Ferber's novel "Giant" alongside Fred Guiol.
Born in Havana, Cuba, to a notable photographer and artist, Curtis Moffatt, and actress and poet Iris Tree, Ivan's family tree boasted impressive connections. His grandfather was the renowned Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, while his lineage was directly linked to Alec Guinness and, through marriage, to Ivana Lowell and Sigmund Freud.
Ivan's formative years were spent at Dartington Hall School and the London School of Economics, where he became a notable figure and joined the Communist Party. During this time, he befriended celebrated writers Dylan Thomas and Christopher Isherwood.
In 1943, Ivan joined the United States Army, serving as a writer for the Signal Corps, a group known as the Hollywood Irregulars. It was here that he collaborated with acclaimed director George Stevens as a writer and assistant director. Ivan supported Stevens on the filming of the liberation of Paris and the discovery of the Dachau concentration camps, an experience that profoundly impacted Stevens' life.
After the war, Ivan joined Stevens as an assistant producer at Liberty Films. He made significant contributions to the writing of several notable films, including "I Remember Mama", "Shane", "Place in the Sun", "Bhowani Junction", "D-Day the Sixth of June", "A Place in the Sun", and "Giant", as well as "The Wayward Bus", "Boy on a Dolphin", "They Came to Cordura", "Tender is the Night", "The Great Escape", "The Greatest Story Ever Told", and "The Chase".
Throughout his life, Ivan maintained close friendships with George Stevens, Christopher Isherwood, and Billy Wilder. He was also the proud father of two sons, Jonathan and Patrick Moffat, and had a daughter, Lorna Moffat, as well as a goddaughter, Jill Ann Davis.
