---
name: "Ben Maddow"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ben-maddow"
fi1m_id: "ben-maddow"
imdb_id: "nm0534693"
tmdb_id: 50961
wikidata_id: "Q816551"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "7 August 1909"
died: "9 October 1992"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 86
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-25T06:46:26.532303+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."
---

# Ben Maddow

## Identity

Ben Maddow

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ben-maddow
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ben-maddow
- **IMDb ID:** nm0534693
- **TMDB ID:** 50961
- **Wikidata ID:** Q816551
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Maddow, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816551, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534693/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/50961

Writer. Born 7 August 1909 in Passaic, New Jersey, USA. Died 9 October 1992.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 7 August 1909, Passaic, New Jersey, USA
- **Died:** 9 October 1992
- **Active:** 1950–1954
- **Also known as:** David Wolff
- **Frequently works with:** [Sterling Hayden](https://film.one/person/sterling-hayden.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 86, as writer, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Maddow, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816551, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534693/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/50961

## Biography

Ben Maddow (also credited as David Wolff) was an American screenwriter and documentarian whose career spanned the 1930s to the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, he began in the documentary movement, co-founding the newsreel The World Today in 1936 and co-writing the screenplay for Native Land (1942) under the pseudonym David Wolff.

He received his first feature screenplay credit for Framed (1947). Notable credits include Intruder in the Dust (1949), The Asphalt Jungle (1950, for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay), Johnny Guitar (1954), The Unforgiven (1960), The Way West (1967) and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969). During the blacklist period he worked uncredited or with fronts such as Philip Yordan on several projects. As a documentarian he co-directed The Savage Eye (1959), which won a BAFTA Flaherty Documentary Award. He also directed the feature An Affair of the Skin (1963).

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

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Johnny Guitar* (1954), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/johnny-guitar.md)
- *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950), Fi1m 88, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-asphalt-jungle.md)

## Complete filmography (29)

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

- *Slow Fires: On the Preservation of the Human Record* (1987), Writer
- *Man on a String* (1972), Writer
- *The Mephisto Waltz* (1971), Writer
- *The Secret of Santa Vittoria* (1970), Screenplay
- *The Chairman* (1969), Screenplay
- *The Way West* (1967), Screenplay
- *An Affair of the Skin* (1963), Producer, Writer, Director
- *The Balcony* (1963), Producer, Writer
- *Two Loves* (1961), Screenplay
- *The Savage Eye* (1960), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Unforgiven* (1960), Screenplay
- *Murder by Contract* (1958), Screenplay
- *No Down Payment* (1957), Screenplay
- *Men in War* (1957), Screenplay
- *Johnny Guitar* (1954), Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/johnny-guitar.md)
- *The Wild One* (1953), as Additional Writing
- *Shadow in the Sky* (1952), Screenplay
- *The Steps of Age* (1950), Director, Writer
- *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950), Screenplay — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-asphalt-jungle.md)
- *Intruder in the Dust* (1949), Screenplay
- *Kiss the Blood Off My Hands* (1948), Adaptation
- *The Man from Colorado* (1948), Screenplay
- *Framed* (1947), Screenplay
- *Native Land* (1942), Writer
- *Valley Town: A Study of Machines and Men* (1940), Writer
- *United Action Means Victory* (1939), Writer
- *People of the Cumberland* (1937), Writer
- *The World Today: The Black Legion - Shadow of Fascism Over America* (1937), Writer
- *The Bridge*, Writer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1951: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Asphalt Jungle*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Edgar Awards 1951: Edgar Awards (won)

*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/ben-maddow