---
name: "William Wister Haines"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/william-wister-haines"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "17 September 1908"
died: "18 November 1989"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-19T21:24:24.632886+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 Wister Haines

Writer. Born 17 September 1908 in Des Moines. Died 18 November 1989.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 17 September 1908, Des Moines
- **Died:** 18 November 1989
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wister_Haines, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8020495, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0354317/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/94297

## Biography

William Wister Haines (1908–1989) was an American author, screenwriter and playwright. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1931 with a degree in engineering. During the Great Depression he worked as an electric lineman, an experience that informed his early novels.

Haines's first novel, *Slim* (1934), was adapted into a 1937 film for which he wrote the screenplay. He served as an intelligence officer in the US Army Air Forces during the Second World War. His most notable work, *Command Decision*, appeared as a novel, a Broadway play in 1948 and a film the same year.

His screenwriting credits include *Black Legion* (1937), *The Racket* (1951), *One Minute to Zero* (1952), *The Wings of Eagles* (1957) and *Torpedo Run* (1958). He also published the non-fiction book *Ultra* (1980) based on his wartime work.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Racket* (1951), Fi1m 60, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-racket.md)

## Complete filmography (13)

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

- *Torpedo Run* (1958), Screenplay
- *The Wings of Eagles* (1957), Screenplay
- *The Eternal Sea* (1955), Story
- *One Minute to Zero* (1952), Screenplay
- *The Racket* (1951), Screenplay — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/the-racket.md)
- *Command Decision* (1948), Theatre Play
- *Beyond Glory* (1948), Screenplay
- *The Texans* (1938), Screenplay
- *Mr. Dodd Takes the Air* (1937), Screenplay
- *Slim* (1937), Screenplay
- *Black Legion* (1937), Screenplay
- *Man of Iron* (1935), Screenplay
- *Alibi Ike* (1935), Screenplay

---
© 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-wister-haines