Douglas McMullen

Born June 1912 in Schenectady, New York to Judge John McMullen and Leah McMullen, nee Campbell. Attended University of Alabama but did not graduate. Eventually made his way to New York City where he acted in character roles on and off-broadway. McMullen was probably best known in New York theatre circles as a teacher at the long defunct but apparently once reputable Fagan (or Fagin?) School of Theatre in Manhattan. Later in life he claimed to his son that both Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller had passed through his classroom as students. McMullen's theatre carreer was interrupted by World War II. He was drafted late in the war and went to the European theatre as a combat engineer but did not see action. A short film Mr. McMullen worked on while in the Army led to a change of direction in his progessional life. He became a script-writer. One of his projects "Toward Independence" the story of a one-legged Army Veteran won the Oscar for best short-subject documentary in 1948. Mr. McMullen wrote the script and was the principal creative force on the project from its inception. He did not receive a co-directing credit on the film. As a result he did not receive an Oscar statuette for his contribution to the film. He sued the Academy in 1949 seeking to be awarded a statuette. He lost, the court essentially finding that the Academy was free to give its awards to whomever it pleased for whatever reasons it pleased. McMullen stayed with scriptwriting, eventually landing a job with Granducci Scripts Inc., in Washington D.C.. He went on to write dozens of film scripts for corporate clients on non-fiction subjects. After 15 years with Granducci he briefly became a freelance script-writer before being hired to head General Electric co.'s film unit, relocating to his beloved hometown of Schenectady. But he held his new position for only a few months when his health began failing. A heart attack in 1968 let to his retirement. In January of 1974 he died while undergoing heart surgery in Ellis hospital. He was survived by a son, then 12 years old, Douglas Jr., and his wife of 14 years, Giovanna Belforti McMullen. He was also survived by an older son from an earlier marriage, John, with whom his second family lost contact.