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Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer. Brooks was born Ruben Sax to Russian Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from West Philadelphia High School, and later Temple University. He was a sports reporter at several newspapers (the Atlantic City Press Union, the Philadelphia Record and the New York World-Telegram), then moved into radio at WNEW in New York. He served at the NBC network as a staff writer in the 1930s before directing for the stage at the Mill Pond Theatre in... MORE

Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer. Brooks was born Ruben Sax to Russian Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from West Philadelphia High School, and later Temple University. He was a sports reporter at several newspapers (the Atlantic City Press Union, the Philadelphia Record and the New York World-Telegram), then moved into radio at WNEW in New York. He served at the NBC network as a staff writer in the 1930s before directing for the stage at the Mill Pond Theatre in New York. He then spent several years in Hollywood as a staff writer for low-budget pictures and serials before serving in the U.S. Marines during World War II. Brooks' time in the Corps had him writing training films at Quantico, Virginia and Camp Pendleton, California and rose to the rank of Sergeant. During this time he wrote his first novel The Brick Foxhole based on conversations he heard amongst his fellow Marines.. His second published novel was Splinters in 1941, but his 1945 novel, The Brick Foxhole, was a larger success; it is the story of a group of Marines who pick up and then murder a LESS