Edmund Preston (Biden) Sturges (1898 - 1959)

Born 29 Aug 1898 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

Husband of Estelle De Wolf (Mudge) Beer — married 28 Dec 1923 (to 1 Jul 1928) in New York City, New York, United States

Husband of Eleanor (Close) Barzin — married 12 Apr 1930 (to 3 Nov 1932) in Bedford Hills, Westchester, New York, United States

Husband of Louise Ella (Sargent) Sturges — married 7 Nov 1938 (to 1947) in Reno, Washoe, Nevada, United States

Husband of Ann Margaret (Nagle) Sturges — married 15 Aug 1951 (to 6 Aug 1959) in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States

Died 6 Aug 1959 at age 60 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Preston (Biden) Sturges is Notable.

Cold are the hands of time that creep along relentlessly, destroying slowly, but without pity, that which yesterday was young. Alone our memories resist this disintegration and grow more lovely with the passing years.--Preston Sturgis^[1]

"American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film The Great McGinty, his first of three nominations in the category."^[2]

Preston Sturges (born Edmund Preston Biden) "took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene."^[3] "A tender love scene between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve was enlivened by a horse, which repeatedly poked its nose into Fonda's head."^[4]

"Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts, however Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at a time when those roles were separate. Sturges famously sold the story for The Great McGinty to Paramount Pictures for $1, in return for being allowed to direct the film;" the sum was quietly raised to $10 by the studio for legal reasons.^[5]

"Preston Sturges was born in Chicago in 1898^[6] to a beautiful mother (and fabulist of the first order) named Mary Dempsey and an unreliable father named Edmund Biden, which seems straightforward but wasn’t, at least to Sturges in his early years. Because his father left the scene when he was an infant, his mother led Sturges to believe his stepfather was his biological father."^[7]

He was fluent in English, French and German, due to living in Europe for much of his youth. The culmination of his European childhood involved running her shop in Deauville as a 15-year-old on summer vacation. When WWI broke out in August, he packed up the business and got himself to New York just ahead of the fighting. (His mother had gone to the front to volunteer as a medic, citing her non-existent Chicago medical credentials.)

"Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI."^[8]

He took his surname, Sturges, from one of his stepfathers, Solomon Sturges. During childhood he believed Sturges was his biological father.

"Upon his return to Maison Desti, he invented a kissproof lipstick, Red-Red Rouge, in 1920. Shortly after his first marriage, his mother demanded that he return control of the company to her. Kicked out of Maison Desti, he turned to inventing. A tickertape machine, an intaglio photo-etching process, an automobile and an airplane were among his some of his commercially unsuccessful inventions."^[9]

"He began writing stories and, while recovering from an appendectomy in 1929, wrote his first play, "The Guinea Pig". In financial trouble over producing his plays, he moved to Hollywood in 1932 to make money."^[10]

"By 1938, he was making $2,750 a week; he was one of the highest paid writers in Hollywood. That year, he married his third wife, Louise Sargent Tevis, who would give Sturges his first son in 1941, Solomon Sturges IV. The marriage was a relatively long one for Sturges, ending almost nine years later in 1947." ^[11]

"It wasn't long before he became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his work and wanted to direct the scripts he wrote. Paramount gave him this chance as part of a deal for selling his script for The Great McGinty (1940), at a cheap price. The film's success launched his career as writer/director and he had several hits over the next four years. That success emboldened him to become an independent filmmaker, but that did not last long--he had a string of commercial failures and acquired a reputation as an expensive perfectionist. He moved to France to make what turned out to be his last movie, The French, They Are a Funny Race (1955)."^[12]

He was married four times:

Estelle de Wolfe Mudge. He married Estelle in 28 December 1923 in New York City. "Heiress Remarries, by Universal Service, New York, Dec. 28--Mrs. Estelle Madge Godfrey, 22-year-old heiress who, last June in Paris divorced Jonathan Godfrey, millionaire manufacturer of Bridgeport, Conn., was married here Thursday to Preston Sturgis of Chicago. Godfrey was 77 years old."^[13]

Eleanor Post Close. He married Eleanor 12 April 1930 at Bedford Hills, New York. "Postum Heiress Hides on Honeymoon After Elopement with Playwright. New York, April 14 (AP)--Eleanor Post Hutton, 29, heiress granddaughter of the late C. W. Post, cereal manufacturer, was on a runaway honeymoon today as the bride of Preston Sturgis, playwright. In the face of opposition to the match by her mother, the former Marjorie Post, and her stepfather, Edward F. Hutton, the couple eloped Saturday and were married. Members of the Hutton family have declined to say where the marriage took place or reveal the whereabouts of the honeymooners."^[14] "Elopement Costs Total Sum of $7; Bridegroom's mother makes loan of amount for marriage of playwright and heiress. (AP) New York, April 15--The New York American today says the elopement of Eleanor Hutton, debutante heiress, and Preston Sturges, successful playwright, was stage on a total expenditure of $7, and that was borrowed money. Suddenly deciding on Saturday that they would be married at once, the couple jumped into an automobile and were wed at Bedford Hills, N.Y., by a justice of the peace. They then motored to the home of the bridegroom's mother, Mme. Desti, in the bungalow art colony at Woodstock in the Catskill Mountains."^[15]

Louise Sargent. He married Louise 7 November 1938 in Reno, Nevada. "In 1938 Sturges eloped again, this time to Reno with former actress Louise Sargent Tevis who he had met at the Players Club. At least for a time, it seemed that he had at last found elusive familial happiness which grew with the birth of his son, Solomon Sturges IV in 1941." ^[16]

Ann Margaret "Sandy" Nagle. He married Ann 15 July 1951 in Los Angeles, California. She was 21 and he was 52 at the time of their marriage. Her parents were Thomas E. Nagle and Helen J. Carey.^[17]

He has three sons and is the Grandfather of actress Shannon Sturges.

He died 6 August 1959 in Manhattan, New York, New York at the age of 60.^[18][19] His remains were buried at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York.^[20]

There's a wonderful documentary, Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (Documentary), about his life that's found on YouTube, which can be found here.^[21]

Sources

1. ↑ Preston Sturges Biogaphy on IMDb by Amy Harper.
2. ↑ Preston Sturgis on Wikipedia.
3. ↑ Preston Sturgis on Wikipedia.
4. ↑ Preston Sturgis on Wikipedia.
5. ↑ Preston Sturgis on Wikipedia.
6. ↑ "Illinois Births and Christenings, 1824-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H9RY-THZM : 13 February 2020), Edmund Preston Biden, 1898.
7. ↑ Mary Desti Dempsey: Preston Sturges’s Mother of Invention.
8. ↑ Preston Sturges Biogaphy on IMDb by Amy Harper.
9. ↑ Preston Sturges Biogaphy on IMDb by Amy Harper.
10. ↑ Preston Sturges Biogaphy on IMDb by Amy Harper.
11. ↑ Preston Sturges Facts on Your Dictionary.
12. ↑ Preston Sturges Biogaphy on IMDb by Amy Harper.
13. ↑ Beaumont Journal, Friday, December 28, 1923, Beaumont, TX, page 3.
14. ↑ Daily Times, Chicago, Monday, April 14, 1930.
15. ↑ The Evening Star, Washington, D.C. 15 April 1930, page B-12.
16. ↑ The Screwball Life of Preston Sturges--Part 1 Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout.
17. ↑ "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8D5-7KP : 10 December 2017), Preston Sturges and Anne Margaret Nagle, 15 Jul 1951; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,283,746.
18. ↑ New York, New York, Death Index, 1949-1965
19. ↑ U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
20. ↑ Find a Grave Memorial for Preston Sturges.
21. ↑ Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (Documentary).

• https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/preston-sturges-10-essential-films

• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/18/preston-sturges-biography-hollywood-first-writer-director

• http://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/moguls/preston_sturges.html

• https://books.google.com/books?id=BhufQzc4RWsC&pg=PT24&lpg=PT24&dq=Maison+d%E2%80%99Este&source=bl&ots=WxVMVY4dAi&sig=ACfU3U2mfyJB6XyRubmdcduF1TRsypHZxQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN2Ku0u6TlAhUXHDQIHVxuDysQ6AEwEnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Maison%20d%E2%80%99Este&f=false

• https://www.famousfix.com/topic/preston-sturges-and-louise-sargeant-tevis

• https://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-screwball-life-of-preston-sturges.html