---
name: "Niven Busch"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/niven-busch"
fi1m_id: "niven-busch"
imdb_id: "nm0124002"
tmdb_id: 120312
wikidata_id: "Q3162898"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "26 April 1903"
died: "25 August 1991"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-25T03:56:34.184258+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."
---

# Niven Busch

## Identity

Niven Busch

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/niven-busch
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** niven-busch
- **IMDb ID:** nm0124002
- **TMDB ID:** 120312
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3162898
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niven_Busch, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3162898, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124002/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/120312

Writer. Born 26 April 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. Died 25 August 1991.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 26 April 1903, New York City, New York, USA
- **Died:** 25 August 1991
- **Active:** 1938–1946
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as writer, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 64 (1), 1940s 84 (2)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Crime 1, History 1, Romance 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $8m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niven_Busch, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3162898, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124002/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/120312

## Streaming the US now

- **Tubi:** [*The Postman Always Rings Twice*](https://film.one/film/the-postman-always-rings-twice.md) (82)

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

## Biography

Niven Busch was an American novelist and screenwriter. Born in New York City, he attended Princeton University briefly before joining the staff of Time magazine in the mid-1920s, where he became an associate editor; he also contributed to The New Yorker.

Busch moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s and wrote numerous screenplays. His credits include the story for *In Old Chicago* (1938), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story, and the screenplay for *The Postman Always Rings Twice* (1946). He also wrote the novel *Duel in the Sun* (1944), later filmed, and screenplays for *The Westerner* (1940) and *Pursued* (1947).

He was married to actress Teresa Wright from 1942 to 1952. After leaving Hollywood in the early 1950s, Busch settled in northern California, where he wrote further novels and taught at University of California campuses. He died in San Francisco in 1991.

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

## On Fi1m (3)

- *The Postman Always Rings Twice* (1946), Fi1m 82, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-postman-always-rings-twice.md)
- *The Little Foxes* (1941), Fi1m 85, Storyboard — [page](https://film.one/film/the-little-foxes.md)
- *In Old Chicago* (1938), Fi1m 64, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-chicago.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

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

- *The Unbearable Lightness of Being* (1988), Actor
- *The Treasure of Pancho Villa* (1955), Screenplay
- *The Moonlighter* (1953), Story, Screenplay
- *The Man from the Alamo* (1953), Story
- *Distant Drums* (1951), Screenplay, Story
- *The Furies* (1950), Novel
- *The Capture* (1950), Producer, Novel, Screenplay
- *Moss Rose* (1947), Adaptation
- *Pursued* (1947), Screenplay
- *Duel in the Sun* (1946), Novel
- *Till the End of Time* (1946), Novel
- *The Postman Always Rings Twice* (1946), Screenplay — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-postman-always-rings-twice.md)
- *Belle Starr* (1941), Story
- *The Little Foxes* (1941), Storyboard — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-little-foxes.md)
- *The Westerner* (1940), Screenplay
- *Angels Wash Their Faces* (1939), Screenplay
- *Off the Record* (1939), Screenplay
- *In Old Chicago* (1938), Story — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-chicago.md)
- *Babbitt* (1934), Adaptation
- *The Man with Two Faces* (1934), Screenplay
- *He Was Her Man* (1934), Screenplay
- *The Big Shakedown* (1934), Screenplay, Story
- *College Coach* (1933), Story, Screenplay
- *Scarlet Dawn* (1932), Screenplay
- *Miss Pinkerton* (1932), Writer
- *The Crowd Roars* (1932), Screenplay

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1938: Best Story (nominated), for *In Old Chicago*

*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/niven-busch