Joseph Fields Biography

Screenwriter/playwright Joseph A. Fields was the son of comedian Lew Fields (of Weber and Fields fame) and the brother of writers Herbert and Dorothy Fields. After attending N.Y.U., Fields served with the AEF in World War I, remaining in Paris to live and work until 1922. He wrote for magazines and musical revues, moving up the ladder to The Ziegfeld Follies in the late '20s. His first screenplay was for the 1931 film The Big Shot. Fields almost always worked in collaboration, most frequently with Jerome Chodorov, with whom he wrote such Broadway hits as My Sister Eileen and Junior Miss. Other collaborators included Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and Oscar Hammerstein II (Flower Drum Song). In 1955, Fields made his Broadway directorial debut with The Desk Set. Joseph Fields' last screen credit was the 1962 cinema version of his 1959 Broadway production Flower Drum Song, which he co-produced. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi