Dwight V. Babcock

Dwight Vincent Babcock was an American novelist and screenwriter born in Iowa on February 19th, 1909. Babcock began his career as an author of pulp fiction short stories and novels before joining up with Universal Pictres in 1943 as a screenwriter. He wrote the scripts for nine films for Universal, often working with writer George Bricker and director Jena Yarbrough. His first professional film work was the 1944 mystery-thriller Dead Man's Eyes, directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Lon Chaney, Jr. That same year, he co-wrote the story treatment for The Mummy's Curse along with Leon Abrams, Bernard Schubert, Oliver Drake and T.H. Richmond. This was Dwight's first major work with the studio and was the fifth film in Universal's Mummy series (the fourth to feature Lon Chaney, Jr. in the role of Kharis). In 1945, he co-wrote the screenplay for The Jungle Captive, the third in a series of films produced by Universal, which also included Captive Wild Woman and Jungle Woman. Dwight provided the story treatment for the film and co-wrote the script along with M. Coates Webster. In 1945, he worked on Universal's House of Dracula, directed by Erle C. Kenton, but was uncredited for his work on the film. George Bricker, also a co-writer was equally uncredited for his work. House of Dracula once again starred Lon Chaney, Jr., who had appeared in Babcock's previous movies. That same year, the team of Babcock and Bricker wrote the story for another Universal B movie, Pillow of Death, directed by Wallace Fox. 1946 proved to be a busy year for Dwight Babcock. He worked on Jean Yarbrough's House of Horrors, again with Bricker, and immediately followed this up with the Yarbrough-helmed non-werewolf thriller She-Wolf of London. Babcock's last film for Universal was The Brute Man a quasi-prequel to House of Horrors. After his stint with Universal, Babcock moved on to Columbia Pictures and got into television. He scripted episodes of The Roy Rogers Show, Ramar of the Jungle, Jungle Jim and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. His last professional television work was writing the script for the "Miss Miami Beach" episode of Miami Undercover in 1961. Dwight Babcock passed away in Studio City, California on April 22nd, 1979 at the age of 70.