---
name: "John Monk Saunders"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-monk-saunders"
fi1m_id: "john-monk-saunders"
imdb_id: "nm0766850"
tmdb_id: 102503
wikidata_id: "Q1298183"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "22 November 1895"
died: "11 March 1940"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-25T06:30:08.461402+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."
---

# John Monk Saunders

## Identity

John Monk Saunders

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/john-monk-saunders
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** john-monk-saunders
- **IMDb ID:** nm0766850
- **TMDB ID:** 102503
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1298183
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monk_Saunders, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1298183, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0766850/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/102503

Writer. Born 22 November 1895 in Hinckley, Minnesota, USA. Died 11 March 1940.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 22 November 1895, Hinckley, Minnesota, USA
- **Died:** 11 March 1940
- **Active:** 1927–1928
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 1 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as writer, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monk_Saunders, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1298183, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0766850/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/102503

## Biography

John Monk Saunders was an American screenwriter, novelist and film director. He began his career as a journalist with the Los Angeles Times and New York Tribune before becoming an associate editor at American Magazine. His first screen credit came in 1925 with Too Many Kisses.

Saunders supplied the original story for Wings (1927), the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. His story 'The Dock Walloper' was adapted as The Docks of New York (1928), directed by Josef von Sternberg. He also wrote the story for The Dawn Patrol (1930), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Story; a later version appeared in 1938.

Other credits include The Legion of the Condemned (1928), The Last Flight (1931) and Ace of Aces (1933). He adapted his own novel Single Lady for the screen and contributed to the documentary Conquest of the Air (1936), which he co-directed. Saunders was married to the actress Fay Wray from 1928 until their divorce in 1939; they had one daughter.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, catalog.afi.com, encyclopedia.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *The Docks of New York* (1928), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-docks-of-new-york.md)
- *Wings* (1927), Fi1m 78, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/wings-1927.md)

## Complete filmography (17)

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

- *The Dawn Patrol* (1938), Story
- *A Yank at Oxford* (1938), Story
- *I Found Stella Parish* (1935), Story
- *West Point of the Air* (1935), Story
- *Devil Dogs of the Air* (1935), Story
- *Ace of Aces* (1933), Story, Screenplay
- *The Eagle and the Hawk* (1933), Story
- *The Conquest of the Air* (1931), Director, Writer
- *The Last Flight* (1931), Novel, Screenplay
- *The Finger Points* (1931), Dialogue, Writer
- *The Dawn Patrol* (1930), Story
- *She Goes to War* (1929), Writer
- *The Docks of New York* (1928), Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-docks-of-new-york.md)
- *The Legion of the Condemned* (1928), Writer
- *Wings* (1927), Story — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/wings-1927.md)
- *The Shock Punch* (1925), Theatre Play
- *Too Many Kisses* (1925), Story

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 1 nominated

- 1931: Best Story (won), for *The Dawn Patrol*
- 1930: Best Story (nominated), for *The Dawn Patrol*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Rhodes Scholarship 1918: Rhodes Scholarship (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/john-monk-saunders