Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Cornell Woolrich(1903-1968)

  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Cornell Woolrich
Prolific mystery writer Cornell Woolrich was born in New York City, but his parents separated when he was young and he spent much of his childhood in Latin America with his father. Then he was sent back to New York to live with his rich, domineering mother, Claire. He attended Columbia University where he wrote his first novel, a Jazz Age piece published in 1926 titled "Cover Charge". Another book, "Children of the Ritz", followed in 1927. Hollywood beckoned but his time there as an (uncredited) screenwriter proved to be unhappy. A disastrous marriage to a producer's daughter failed quickly and he headed back to New York -- and Claire. He found his niche writing suspense stories for magazines such as "Argosy", "Black Mask" and "Thrilling Mystery". Sales were made to Hollywood, his reputation grew, and his bank account increased. Some called him "the Poe of the 20th century". Then his mother sank into a lengthy illness and his output fell as he devoted more and more of his time to her care. By the time she died in 1957, he was "burned out". From then until his death in 1968, he lived a lonely life marked by alcoholism and poor health (he delayed visiting a doctor when his leg started bothering him; he eventually lost it to gangrene). When he died his funeral went unattended.

He bequeathed money to Columbia to set up a creative writing course which was not named after him but after who else?-Claire.
BornDecember 4, 1903
DiedSeptember 25, 1968(64)
BornDecember 4, 1903
DiedSeptember 25, 1968(64)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Known for

The Window (1949)
The Window
7.4
  • Writer
  • 1949
Grace Kelly, James Stewart, and Georgine Darcy in Rear Window (1954)
Rear Window
8.5
  • Writer
  • 1954
Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie in Original Sin (2001)
Original Sin
6.0
  • Writer
  • 2001
Fallen Angels (1993)
Fallen Angels
6.5
TV Series
  • Writer

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Writer

  • Hit List (2009)
    Hit List
  • Tracey Gold in She's No Angel (2002)
    She's No Angel
    • (uncredited)
  • Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie in Original Sin (2001)
    Original Sin
  • The Hunger (1997)
    The Hunger
  • Rear Window (1998)
    Rear Window
  • Die Unschuld der Krähen
  • Brendan Fraser, Shirley MacLaine, and Ricki Lake in Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
    Mrs. Winterbourne
  • Fallen Angels (1993)
    Fallen Angels
  • Vikno navproti (1991)
    Vikno navproti
  • Anthony Perkins and Mädchen Amick in I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990)
    I'm Dangerous Tonight
  • Corsa in discesa (1989)
    Corsa in discesa
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985)
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  • You'll Never See Me Again
    • (as George Hopley)
  • Intrigues
  • Cloak & Dagger (1984)
    Cloak & Dagger
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

Edit
    • December 4, 1903
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • September 25, 1968
    • New York City, New York, USA(undisclosed)
    • Violet Virginia BlacktonDecember 6, 1930 - April 21, 1933 (annulled)
  • Other works
    Novel: "The Black Path of Fear". NOTE: Filmed as The Chase (1946), The Chase (1954).
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Print Biographies
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Ws a loner with so few friends he rarely put dedications on his novels. He dedicated "The Bride Wore Black," which he wrote under the pseudonym William Irish, to his Remington Portable typewriter.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.