Philip MacDonald


Philip MacDonald was a British writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.

Life and work

MacDonald was born in London, the son of author Ronald MacDonald and actress Constance Robertson, and grandson of the fiction writer and Christian minister George MacDonald. During World War I he served with the British cavalry in Mesopotamia, later trained horses for the army, and was a show jumper. He also raised Great Danes. After marrying the writer F. Ruth Howard, he moved to Hollywood in 1931. He was one of the most popular mystery writers of the 1930s, and between 1931 and 1963 wrote many screenplays along with a few radio and television scripts.
His detective novels, particularly those featuring his series detective
Anthony Gethryn, are primarily "whodunits" with the occasional locked room mystery. His novel X v. Rex, aka The Mystery of The Dead Police, is an early example of what has become known as a serial killer novel, in which an insane murderer is killing police officers one after the other. Perhaps his best-known novel is The List of Adrian Messenger.
His work in screenwriting included not only screenplays based on his own works but also original stories and screenplays for series characters such as Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.
He did not receive any screen credit for his work in adapting Bride of Frankenstein. He adapted a story written by Agatha Christie for the movie Love From A Stranger. MacDonald and Michael Hogan adapted the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, from which Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison created the screenplay for Rebecca, the 1940 film. Sherwood and Harrison were nominated for an Academy Award.
MacDonald's 1927 novel Patrol was issued as one of the first twenty Penguin Books in 1935. He won the annual Edgar Award for Best Short Story twice, in 1953 for "Something to Hide" and in 1956 for "Dream No More". He also wrote television scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Perry Mason.
As "W.J. Stuart", MacDonald wrote the novelisation of the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. He also dabbled in science fiction under his own name, writing four SF short stories over a span of decades. Two of them are frequently issued in anthologies.
MacDonald died in Woodland Hills, California.
A critical essay on MacDonald's crime novels appears in S. T. Joshi's book Varieties of Crime Fiction .

As Oliver Fleming