Niven Busch

Novelist, screenwriter and producer, Manhattan-born Niven Busch first gained national exposure in the 1920s as the associate editor of Time magazine (Busch was the cousin of Time co-founder Briton Hadden). His magazine work led to screenplay... more

Novelist, screenwriter and producer, Manhattan-born Niven Busch first gained national exposure in the 1920s as the associate editor of Time magazine (Busch was the cousin of Time co-founder Briton Hadden). His magazine work led to screenplay assignments at Warner Bros. in the early 1930s, among them The Crowd Roars (1932) and Babbitt (1934). By the early 1940s, Busch was chief story editor for independent producer Sam Goldwyn. During his years with Goldwyn, Busch helped to boost the career of contract actress Teresa Wright, to whom he was briefly married. As a novelist, Busch's best-known work was the psycho-erotic western Duel in the Sun (1944), which was later filmed by David O. Selznick. After wrapping up his movie career in 1955, Busch taught and lectured in several prestigious colleges. At the age of 85, Niven Busch made a wholly unexpected acting debut, essaying a small part in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less