Helen Deutsch

Versatile, distinguished writer Helen Deutsch penned many award-winning screenplays during the '40s, '50s and '60s. She also penned scores of newspaper articles, many short stories, and plays and teleplays. A graduate of Barnard College, Deutsch started out managing and publicizing the Provincetown Players; she then became a theater reviewer for the New York Herald-Tribune and the Times as well as working with the Theater Guild. Her first screenplay was an adaptation of Enid Bagnold's National Velvet; the ensuing film made young Elizabeth Taylor a star. As a screen writer, Deutsch was known for writing in a wide variety of genres ranging from light-weight spy films to heavy melodramas to musicals to sweeping adventures. Among her best-known films are The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), King Solomon's Mines (1950) and Lili (1953), her most popular film for which she wrote the haunting "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo." In 1961, Deutsch wrote the libretto for the Broadway version of the musical Carnival.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide