Photo: New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (Library of Congress); Acme Photographs / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I'm a sucker for pioneers, and Joan Harrison is a glorious one. Born in Guildford in 1907 and educated at Oxford's St Hugh's College, she became Alfred Hitchcock's trusted collaborator, writing screenplays before climbing to producer in an industry that gave women almost no room at the top. She was the first woman nominated for the newly created Best Original Screenplay award, and earned two Oscar nominations in separate categories in a single year. To pry open doors like that with nothing but intellect and nerve, in 1940s Hollywood no less, is extraordinary. She passed in 1994, but every woman shaping film today is walking a path she helped clear.
Overview
Joan Harrison (20 June 1907 – 14 August 1994) was an English screenwriter and producer. She was the first female screenwriter to be nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Award following the introduction of the category in 1940, and was the first screenwriter to receive two Academy Award nominations in the same year in separate categories: for co-writing the screenplay for Foreign Correspondent (1940) (original)…
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Joan Harrison
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョーン・ハリソン
- Reading
- じょーん・はりそん
- Born
- June 26, 1907 – August 14, 1994
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Goat
- Origin
- Guildford, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film producer / screenwriter / manufacturer / film actor / television producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- St Hugh's College
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film producer — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.