The oldest of three children of a single mother, Bella Cohen was born in Bucharest, Romania and with her family emigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan when she was a child.

[5] The Spewacks continued to write screenplays throughout the 1930s, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for My Favorite Wife in 1940.

In the summer of 1943, Sam accompanied Lt. Burgess Meredith to England to co-write the U.S. Army training film A Welcome to Britain, which educated arriving troops on cultural differences between Americans and the British.

[6] The Spewacks were separated in 1948 when they were approached to write the book for Kiss Me, Kate, which centered on a once-married couple of thespians who use the stage on which they're performing as a battling ground.

Bella initially began working with composer-lyricist Cole Porter on her own, but eventually turned to Sam to collaborate with her, and the Spewacks completed the project together.

[12] A Letter to Sam from Bella, a one-act play by Broadway director Aaron Frankel, is based on the Spewacks' personal papers from the Theater Arts Collection of Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.