Login
Login

Paul Perez (screenwriter)

{{short description|American screenwriter}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Paul Perez

| birth_name = Paul Edward Friedenberg

| birth_date = July 18, 1894

| birth_place = New York, New York, USA

| death_date = March 13, 1984 (aged 89)

| death_place = Chelsea, Maine, USA

| occupation = Screenwriter, journalist

| spouse = Molly O'Sullivan

| relatives =

}}

Paul Perez (born Paul Friedenberg) was an American screenwriter active primarily during the 1920s and 1930s; he wrote for both English- and Spanish-language films over the course of his career, and often worked on Westerns. He also had several credits as an actor and editor.

Biography

Paul was born in New York City to art dealer Robert Fridenberg and his wife, Mariam Barnett. He grew up in Manhattan near his extended family of German extraction; as a boy, he accidentally shot a nurse who was attending to his mother in their home while playing with his uncle's gun.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/79112348/?terms=%22Paul+Fridenberg%22|title=7 Dec 1908, Page 3 - The Evening World at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}

He married England-born actress Molly O'Sullivan in the early 1920s; the pair had one son, Paul Powers Perez.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/103824052/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+scenario|title=7 Jul 1939, Page 14 - The Wilkes-Barre Record at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}} While living in New York City and London, after appearing in a few acting roles{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/422499586/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+universal+writer|title=19 Dec 1918, 2 - The Garnett Review at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}} and working as a newspaperman, he worked in the publicity department at Universal.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/104983201/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+scenario|title=9 Dec 1928, Page 77 - The Indianapolis Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/509438766/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+universal+writer|title=12 Sep 1926, 30 - Sioux City Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/466218895/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22|title=14 Apr 1921, 27 - The Evening World at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}} By the late 1920s, the family had moved to Los Angeles; by 1926, Perez was employed at Universal as a scenarist, where he was known for writing titles.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/380536911/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+scenarist|title=22 Apr 1926, 31 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/49738607/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+scenario|title=20 Jan 1928, Page 24 - The Scranton Republican at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}} He later worked as a screenwriter at First National.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/274742905/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+universal+writer|title=9 Feb 1930, 36 - The Morning Call at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/414196057/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+universal+writer|title=15 Jun 1931, 270 - Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}

Perez was more or less retired by the early 1950s, when he moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, and pursued his passion for photography. He reportedly traveled extensively through southern Mexico, where her purchased masks and other artifacts at local markets.{{Cite web|url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlac/00355/lac-00355.html|title=Paul Perez Collection of Masks from Oaxaca, Mexico|last=Perez|first=Paul|website=legacy.lib.utexas.edu|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}

Selected filmography

As screenwriter:

As actor:

  • Just a Woman (1918)
  • The Apple-Tree Girl (1917){{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/252813636/?terms=%22Paul+Perez%22+scenario|title=25 Nov 1917, Page 11 - Natchez Democrat at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=April 3, 2019}}

As editor:

References

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Paul}}

Category:American male journalists

Category:1894 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:20th-century American screenwriters

Category:Writers from Manhattan

Category:Screenwriters from New York City

Category:Silent film screenwriters