---
name: "William Slavens McNutt"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/william-slavens-mcnutt"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "12 September 1885"
died: "25 January 1938"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-19T23:04:02.717424+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."
---

# William Slavens McNutt

Writer. Born 12 September 1885 in Urbana. Died 25 January 1938.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 12 September 1885, Urbana
- **Died:** 25 January 1938
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Slavens_McNutt, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2580564, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0574112/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/223115

## Biography

William Slavens McNutt (12 September 1885 – 25 January 1938) was an American screenwriter, short-story writer and journalist. Born in Urbana, Illinois, he began his career on the stage before writing fiction for magazines such as the *Saturday Evening Post* and working as a war correspondent during the First World War.

McNutt moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and became a prolific screenwriter. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Story for *Lady and Gent* (1932) and for Best Adapted Screenplay, shared with Grover Jones and others, for *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935). Other credits include *If I Had a Million* (1932), *Tom Sawyer* (1930) and *Huckleberry Finn* (1931). He frequently collaborated with Jones and contributed to several Paramount productions.

McNutt died of bronchial pneumonia at his home in La Cañada, California, aged 52. His brother Patterson McNutt was also a screenwriter and producer.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935), Fi1m 74, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-a-bengal-lancer.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

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

- *Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch* (1942), Screenplay
- *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935), Writer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-a-bengal-lancer.md)
- *Ready for Love* (1934), Writer
- *Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch* (1934), Screenplay
- *You Belong to Me* (1934), Screenplay
- *Hell and High Water* (1933), Director, Writer
- *One Sunday Afternoon* (1933), Screenplay
- *If I Had a Million* (1932), Writer, Adaptation
- *The Night of June 13* (1932), Screenplay
- *Lady and Gent* (1932), Writer
- *The Broken Wing* (1932), Screenplay
- *Strangers in Love* (1932), Screenplay
- *Touchdown!* (1931), Screenplay
- *Huckleberry Finn* (1931), Writer
- *Gun Smoke* (1931), Story, Adaptation
- *The Conquering Horde* (1931), Adaptation, Screenplay
- *Tom Sawyer* (1930), Writer
- *The Light of Western Stars* (1930), Adaptation
- *Young Eagles* (1930), Writer
- *Dangerous Paradise* (1930), Writer
- *Burning Up* (1930), Story
- *The Mighty* (1929), Adaptation
- *The Quarterback* (1926), Story
- *Trifling with Honor* (1923), Story
- *The Wise Kid* (1922), Story
- *Burglar Proof* (1920), Writer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1936: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer*
- 1932: Best Story (nominated), for *Lady and Gent*

*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/william-slavens-mcnutt