---
name: "Maxwell Anderson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/maxwell-anderson"
fi1m_id: "maxwell-anderson"
imdb_id: "nm0027173"
tmdb_id: 67807
wikidata_id: "Q432919"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "15 December 1888"
died: "28 February 1959"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 72
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-25T07:51:50.423175+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."
---

# Maxwell Anderson

## Identity

Maxwell Anderson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/maxwell-anderson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** maxwell-anderson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0027173
- **TMDB ID:** 67807
- **Wikidata ID:** Q432919
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Anderson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q432919, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67807

Writer. Born 15 December 1888 in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, U.S.. Died 28 February 1959.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 15 December 1888, Atlantic, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- **Died:** 28 February 1959
- **Active:** 1956–1969
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as writer, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 83 (1), 1960s 60 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Anderson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q432919, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67807

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Wrong Man*](https://film.one/film/the-wrong-man.md) (83)

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

## Biography

Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist. Born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, in 1888, he wrote verse dramas and plays on social and moral themes. His work *Both Your Houses* won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1933, and he received New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for *Winterset* and *High Tor*.

Many of Anderson's stage plays were adapted for the screen, including *Key Largo* (1948), *Joan of Arc* (1948) and *The Bad Seed* (1956). He also wrote screenplays and contributed the story and screenplay, with Angus MacPhail, for Alfred Hitchcock's *The Wrong Man* (1956), drawn from his own book on the real events.

Anderson died in 1959.

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

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Anne of the Thousand Days* (1969), Fi1m 60, Theatre Play — [page](https://film.one/film/anne-of-the-thousand-days.md)
- *The Wrong Man* (1956), Fi1m 83, Screenplay, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/the-wrong-man.md)

## Complete filmography (47)

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

- *The Boots on the Western Front* (2026), Adaptation
- *The Bad Seed Returns* (2022), Theatre Play
- *The Bad Seed* (2018), Theatre Play
- *The Royal Games* (2005), Author
- *Meet Joe Black* (1998), Original Film Writer
- *Yalınayak Sokrates* (1998), Scenario Writer
- *I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Kurt Weill in America* (1992), Actor
- *The Bad Seed* (1985), Theatre Play
- *The Gentlemen from Congress* (1982), Theatre Play
- *Valley Forge* (1975), Writer
- *Lost in the Stars* (1974), Lyricist, Theatre Play
- *Anne of the Thousand Days* (1969), Theatre Play — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/anne-of-the-thousand-days.md)
- *Elizabeth the Queen* (1968), Theatre Play
- *Barefoot in Athens* (1966), Writer
- *The Star Wagon* (1966), Writer
- *NET Playhouse* (1966), series, Writer
- *The Bad Seed* (1963), Story
- *Midnight Lace* (1960), as Songs
- *Winterset* (1959), Writer
- *Never Steal Anything Small* (1959), Theatre Play, Lyricist
- *The Star Wagon* (1957), Writer
- *The Wrong Man* (1956), Screenplay, Story — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/the-wrong-man.md)
- *The Bad Seed* (1956), Theatre Play
- *High Tor* (1956), Theatre Play, Lyricist, Writer
- *A Christmas Carol* (1954), Teleplay, Lyricist
- *What Price Glory* (1952), Theatre Play
- *Joan of Arc* (1948), Theatre Play, Screenplay
- *Key Largo* (1948), Theatre Play
- *In the Shadow of the Bridge* (1948), Story
- *The Eve of St. Mark* (1944), Writer
- *Knickerbocker Holiday* (1944), Theatre Play, Writer, Lyricist
- *Saturday's Children* (1940), Theatre Play
- *The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex* (1939), Theatre Play
- *Winterset* (1936), Author
- *Mary of Scotland* (1936), Theatre Play
- *So Red the Rose* (1935), Writer
- *Maybe It's Love* (1935), Theatre Play
- *We Live Again* (1934), Adaptation
- *Death Takes a Holiday* (1934), Screenplay
- *Washington Merry-Go-Round* (1932), Story
- *Rain* (1932), Screenplay
- *Women of All Nations* (1931), Characters
- *One Romantic Night* (1930), Adaptation
- *All Quiet on the Western Front* (1930), Adaptation
- *The Cock-Eyed World* (1929), Writer
- *Saturday's Children* (1929), Theatre Play
- *What Price Glory* (1926), Theatre Play

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1930: Best Writing (nominated), for *All Quiet on the Western Front*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1933: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (won), for *Both Your Houses*

*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/maxwell-anderson