Elwood Ullman

Earlt in the 1930s, the accidentally Oscar-nominated comedy writer Elwood Ullman submitted script ideas to Columbia Pictures and was promptly put to work in the short-subject department. He soon earned a reputation for his slapstick sensibilities and went on to work with comedy icons like Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges. Ullman left Columbia in 1952 to follow producer Hugh McCollum and writer-director Edward Bernds, who were working on projects for the comedic characters The Bowery Boys. Ullman had been brought on board to write feature-length scripts for the Boys. In 1955, his collaboration with Bernds resulted in an Oscar nomination for "High Society." However, there was a mistake. The Academy had meant to nominate the Bing Crosby / Grace Kelly comedy for Best Writing, not the Bowery Boys comedy of the same name. Because of the mix-up, Ullman and Bernds voluntarily declined the nomination, but were allowed to maintain the certificates of recognition. The pair continued to collaborate into the '60s often on Three Stooges pictures. In 1962, Ullman earned deserved recognition from the Writers Guild of America, who nominated him for his work on "Snow White and the Three Stooges." While Ullman never won any major awards, his contribution to the landscape of American comedy is far-reaching. He retired in the '70s, having scripted more than 140 titles. Elwood Ullman died on October 11, 1985. He was 82 years old.