Jo Swerling

He grew up on New York City's Lower East Side, where he sold newspapers to help support his family.

He scored a major success with the book and lyrics for the musical revue The New Yorkers (1927) and the play The Kibitzer (1929), the latter co-written with actor Edward G. Robinson.

Swerling was brought to Hollywood by Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn to work on the screenplay for Frank Capra's Ladies of Leisure (1930), the first of several collaborations with the director.

His dozens of screenplays in the 1930s and 1940s include Platinum Blonde, Behind the Mask, Once to Every Woman, The Pride of the Yankees (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), Lifeboat, Leave Her to Heaven, and It's a Wonderful Life.

Swerling maintained a condo in the Golf Club Estates neighborhood of Palm Springs, California.