[3] Again, Hollywood lifted this idea whole cloth without giving the authors credit, and subsequently released the film version, Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney.
After serving in World War II, where he continued creating as a writer and radio producer for the Army Recruitment Service, Brady returned to civilian life as a drama teacher at his alma mater.
The Hecht-Brackett rewrites, spurred on after the initial screening by the producer's fear that the movie was too bleak, attempted to turn a dark tale of a pathetic murder into some kind of hopeful Hollywood inspirational story.
As a director, Brady tended toward classics and comedies, with a special affinity for the works of Shakespeare, Shaw, Molière, Chekhov, Ibsen, Anouilh, O’Casey, Synge and Arthur Miller.
Three of his former playwriting students - Jason Miller (That Championship Season), Michael Cristofer (The Shadow Box), and Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) — have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.