Claudine West Biography

British playwright/novelist Claudine West came to Hollywood in 1929 to adapt the Frederick Lonsdale stage comedy The Last of Mrs. Cheyney for the screen. This resulted in a contract at MGM, where West remained until her retirement in 1944. She usually worked on films either set in England or dominated by English characters: The Guardsman (1931), Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), for instance. In 1943, she was one of several Hollywood-ites who donated her services gratis to the morale-boosting "there'll always be an England" production Forever and a Day. Claudine West shared Academy Award nominations for her work on Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Random Harvest (1942) and an Oscar for her contributions to Mrs. Miniver (1942). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi