Ivan Goff Biography

Born in Australia, screenwriter Ivan Goff has spent most of his career in Hollywood, where he set up shop in 1940. Frequently working in collaboration with Ben Roberts, Goff has worked on major films at virtually all the major studios. At Warners, he co-authored the screenplay of the James Cagney melodrama White Heat (1949); at 20th Century-Fox, he penned the "Last Leaf" segment for the 1952 omnibus feature O. Henry's Full House; and at Universal, he worked on the 1957 Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces, earning an Oscar nomination for his efforts. Also at Universal, he adapted his own stage play Portrait in Black to accommodate the talents of Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn. Extremely active in television, Ivan Goff has contributed scripts to such series as The Rogues and Charlie's Angels, and was an executive producer of Mannix (1967-73) and Nero Wolfe (1981). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi