Biography
Beirne Lay Jr. was an American author and screenwriter who specialised in aviation and military subjects. Born on 1 September 1909 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, he graduated from Yale University in 1931 and entered the US Army Air Corps the following year. He served as a pilot and, during the Second World War, rose to the rank of colonel, commanding a bomber group in the Eighth Air Force; he was shot down over France in 1944 and evaded capture with assistance from the French Underground.
Lay is best known for his collaboration with Sy Bartlett on the novel Twelve O'Clock High, published in 1948, and the 1949 film adaptation for which they wrote the screenplay. The film, directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck, received four Academy Award nominations. His other screenwriting credits include Flying Leathernecks (1951), Strategic Air Command (1955), Toward the Unknown (1956) and The Gallant Hours (1960). He also wrote the 1945 book I've Had It about his wartime experiences.
Lay died of cancer on 26 May 1982 in Los Angeles, aged 72.
