Career
Fort made his screenwriting debut with the silent film, One of the Finest (1917). Early in his career, Fort co-wrote the Broadway play Jarnegan (1928), based on the novel by Jim Tully. Fort"s first talkie effort was the ground-breaking Rouben Mamoulian production Applause (1929).
In 2006 Applause was recognized as a culturally, historically and aesthetically significant film by the National Film Registry.
Fort was adept at alternating horrific highlights with bits of unexpected humor. As a screenwriter he is best remembered for his work on the original screen adaptations of such horror/melodramas as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Dracula"s Daughter (1936), and The Mark of Zorro (1940).
He worked with Mercedes de Acosta to develop a screenplay based on Baba"s philosophy. Fort eventually traveled to India in 1937 to continue the screenplay.
However, he became depressed and returned to America.
Upon returning he found it difficult to find profitable work and died penniless in a Hollywood hotel room in 1945 of an overdose of sleeping pills.