Paul Edward Dehn (/ˈdeɪn/ DAYN; 5 November 1912 – 30 September 1976) was a British screenwriter, best known for Goldfinger, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Planet of the Apes sequels and Murder on the Orient Express.
Dehn and his life partner, James Bernard, won the Academy Award for Best Story for Seven Days to Noon.
According to the British writer and former spy John le Carré, Dehn worked in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as an assassin during World War II.
Through the 1960s, Dehn concentrated on screenwriting for espionage films, including Goldfinger (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and The Deadly Affair (1967).
[5] Dehn resurrected or reinvented at least three genres given up for dead at the time; the British mystery, the Shakespeare adaptation, and the spy film.