Harry Ruskin Biography

Arriving on the Hollywood scene when sound came in, American screenwriter Harry Ruskin's earliest known credit was the 1930 musical King of Jazz. After a sojourn at low-budget Grand National Pictures, where he co-scripted such films as Jimmy Cagney's Great Guy (1936), Ruskin signed with MGM, where he would remain until 1950. While associated with this studio, he wrote for such comic talents as Abbott and Costello and Red Skelton, and also contributed heavily to MGM's Andy Hardy and Dr. Kildare series. In 1950, he earned a producer's credit on the Skelton vehicle Watch the Birdie (1950). Harry Ruskin's final scriptwork was for Universal-International's Lady Godiva (1955). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi