Some of his films include Murder, My Sweet in 1944, Cornered in 1945, Crossfire in 1947 (an adaptation of the controversial novel The Brick Foxhole that earned him his only Oscar nomination).
Paxton's work twice received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, for Murder, My Sweet and Crossfire.
A cousin of Paxton's father did publicity for Katherine Cornell and got him a job organising a play-writing contest for the Theatre Guild.
When Stage magazine folded in 1943 Paxton moved to Hollywood and did a variety of jobs, including ghost writing.
Paxton gained critical praise for his adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely, Murder, My Sweet (1944).
He worked on another noir, Crack-Up (1946) with Pat O'Brien, then made a third film with Scott and Dmytryk, So Well Remembered (1947).
[3] The three men combined for a fourth time on Crossfire (1947), a thriller about anti-Semitism that was a huge critical and commercial success.
However he won a Golden Globe and an award from the Writers Guild of America in 1971 for his screenplay to the Walter Matthau film Kotch.