---
name: "Alec Coppel"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/alec-coppel"
fi1m_id: "alec-coppel"
imdb_id: "nm0178785"
tmdb_id: 5735
wikidata_id: "Q1437441"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "17 September 1907"
died: "22 January 1972"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T21:24:25.252690+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Alec Coppel

## Identity

Alec Coppel

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alec-coppel
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** alec-coppel
- **IMDb ID:** nm0178785
- **TMDB ID:** 5735
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1437441
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Coppel, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1437441, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178785/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5735

Writer. Born 17 September 1907 in Melbourne, Australia. Died 22 January 1972.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 17 September 1907, Melbourne, Australia
- **Died:** 22 January 1972
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Coppel, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1437441, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178785/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5735

## Biography

Alec Coppel (1907–1972) was an Australian screenwriter, novelist and playwright. Born in Melbourne, he attended Wesley College before studying medicine at Cambridge University, which he left without graduating. He worked in advertising and began writing plays in his spare time.

Coppel achieved early success with the West End hit *I Killed the Count* (1937). He later wrote screenplays including *Obsession* (1949), *Mr. Denning Drives North* (1951) and *No Highway in the Sky* (1951). In 1953 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Story for *The Captain's Paradise*, becoming the first Australian nominated in a screenwriting category. He moved to Hollywood in 1954 and co-wrote the screenplay for *Vertigo* (1958) with Samuel A. Taylor.

Other credits include contributions to *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* and the play *The Gazebo*, later adapted for film. Coppel died in London on 22 January 1972.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Vertigo* (1958), Fi1m 92, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/vertigo.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Jo* (2019), Author
- *Unfinished Crime* (1990), Original Story
- *Jo* (1971), Theatre Play
- *ITV Saturday Night Theatre* (1969), series, Writer
- *The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom* (1968), Screenplay, Theatre Play
- *Moment to Moment* (1966), Screenplay, Story
- *The Laughing Crime* (1963), Original Story
- *The Swordsman of Siena* (1962), Screenplay
- *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, Writer
- *The Gazebo* (1959), Novel
- *Vertigo* (1958), Screenplay — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/vertigo.md)
- *Alcoa Theatre* (1957), series, Story, Writer
- *Appointment with a Shadow* (1957), Screenplay
- *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, Story
- *The Black Knight* (1954), Screenplay
- *Hell Below Zero* (1954), Screenplay
- *The Captain's Paradise* (1953), Story, Screenplay
- *Mr. Denning Drives North* (1951), Novel, Screenplay
- *Two on the Tiles* (1951), Writer
- *No Highway in the Sky* (1951), Writer
- *Smart Alec* (1951), Writer
- *Obsession* (1949), Screenplay, Novel, Dialogue
- *Brass Monkey* (1948), Screenplay
- *Woman Hater* (1948), Story
- *Just like a Woman* (1939), Writer
- *Over the Moon* (1939), Writer
- *I Killed the Count* (1939), Theatre Play

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1954: Best Story (nominated), for *The Captain's Paradise*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alec-coppel