---
name: "Howard Koch"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/howard-e-koch"
fi1m_id: "howard-e-koch"
imdb_id: "nm0462321"
tmdb_id: 4508
wikidata_id: "Q1343692"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "12 December 1901"
died: "17 August 1995"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-09-20T00:33:16.944773+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."
---

# Howard Koch

## Identity

Howard Koch

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/howard-e-koch
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** howard-e-koch
- **IMDb ID:** nm0462321
- **TMDB ID:** 4508
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1343692
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Koch_(screenwriter), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1343692, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0462321/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4508

Writer. Born 12 December 1901 in New York City, New York, US. Died 17 August 1995.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 12 December 1901, New York City, New York, US
- **Died:** 17 August 1995
- **Active:** 1940–1948
- **Also known as:** Howard E. Koch
- **Frequently works with:** [Hal B. Wallis](https://film.one/person/hal-b-wallis.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 1 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as writer, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 81 to 73 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Romance 2, Crime 1, History 1, War 1
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $27m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Koch_(screenwriter), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1343692, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0462321/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4508

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Casablanca*](https://film.one/film/casablanca.md) (93)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Letter from an Unknown Woman*](https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman.md) (86)
- **Tubi:** [*Sergeant York*](https://film.one/film/sergeant-york.md) (66)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Howard E. Koch was an American playwright and screenwriter. Born in New York City, he graduated from St. Stephen's College (later Bard College) and Columbia Law School before practising law and turning to playwriting in the late 1920s.

His radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's *The War of the Worlds* for Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre broadcast in 1938 brought him to the attention of Hollywood studios. He joined Warner Bros. as a contract writer and contributed screenplays to films including *The Sea Hawk* (1940), *The Letter* (1940), *Sergeant York* (1941) and *In This Our Life* (1942). He co-wrote the screenplay for *Casablanca* (1942) with Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein, for which the three shared the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Koch was one of the Hollywood Nineteen subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee and was blacklisted in the 1950s. He later worked in the United Kingdom under a pseudonym before resuming screenwriting in the United States. He died in Kingston, New York, in 1995.

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

## On Fi1m (4)

- *Letter from an Unknown Woman* (1948), Fi1m 86, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman.md)
- *Casablanca* (1943), Fi1m 93, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/casablanca.md)
- *Sergeant York* (1941), Fi1m 66, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/sergeant-york.md)
- *The Letter* (1940), Fi1m 78, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-letter.md)

## Complete filmography (23)

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

- *Scenes from Casablanca* (2025), Writer
- *The Greek Tycoon* (1978), Executive Producer
- *The Night That Panicked America* (1975), as Radio Play
- *The Fox* (1967), Associate Producer, Screenplay
- *Journey Out Of Darkness* (1967), Writer
- *3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt* (1964), as Dr. Otis Salverson
- *633 Squadron* (1964), Screenplay
- *The War Lover* (1962), Screenplay
- *Smog* (1962), Actor
- *The Greengage Summer* (1961), Writer
- *Pharaoh's Curse* (1957), Producer
- *The Intimate Stranger* (1956), Writer
- *The 13th Letter* (1951), Screenplay
- *No Sad Songs for Me* (1950), Screenplay
- *Letter from an Unknown Woman* (1948), Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman.md)
- *Three Strangers* (1946), Screenplay
- *Rhapsody in Blue* (1945), Screenplay
- *In Our Time* (1944), Screenplay
- *Mission to Moscow* (1943), Screenplay
- *Casablanca* (1943), Screenplay — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/casablanca.md)
- *In This Our Life* (1942), Screenplay
- *Sergeant York* (1941), Screenplay — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/sergeant-york.md)
- *The Letter* (1940), Screenplay — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-letter.md)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 1 nominated

- 1944: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Casablanca*
- 1942: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Sergeant York*

*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/howard-e-koch