Gibney, Sheridan

Sheridan de Raismes Gibney (AC 1925), a popular theatrical writer and producer known for such movies as Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) and Anthony Adverse (1936). He was born in New York City on June 11, 1903. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy before entering Amherst College. After Amherst and from 1926 to 1929 he worked as an instructor at Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y. In the 1920s Gibney wrote several plays, including Sunshine, Penelope's Web, Letter to a Lover, Calico Wedding, Encore, Merry Madness, and The Wiser They Are . In the 1930s as a chief contract writer with Warner Brothers, he got his first movie credits with I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang . He collaborated on the House on West 56th Street and, with Marc Connelly, Green Pastures . His screenplay for Anthony Adverse resulted in a big hit in 1936. In that same year he won two Oscars for the original story and screenplay for The Story of Louis Pasteur . Amherst College awarded him an honorary M.A. in 1939.

With the arrival of television, Gibney wrote episodes or stories for "Bachelor Father," "Thriller," "Fair Exchange," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Police Woman." He was a charter member of the Screen Writers Guild and served as its president from 1939-1941 and 1947-1948.

In 1931 Gibney married Mildred McCoy; he was married again in 1952 to Katrin Janecke in Hollywood, California. Sheridan Gibney died on April 12, 1988.

From the guide to the Gibney Papers, 1920-1992, 1922-1985, (Amherst College Archives and Special Collections)