Background
Offner was born in New York on 3 November 1900.
Offner was born in New York on 3 November 1900.
Offner had a university education before he attended the Clarence White School of Photography.
He created portraits of leading film stars before successfully moving to screenwriting. His career ended when he was blacklisted because he was a communist. After trying acting he became a photographer taking portraits on Broadway.
Offner"s career was transformed when he was encouraged to move to Hollywood by the film actress Katharine Hepburn in 1932.
Whilst he was there he discovered that he had a talent for screen-writing and his photography ended in 1934. Offner notably worked on Alice Adams.
A script had been created by Dorothy Yost and Jane Murfin, but the director George Stevens was annoyed that the writers had changed the ending. Stevens" friend, Offner, was called in and they and Hepburn rewrote it writing and performing the lines as they wrote them.
The script was only completed twelve days before then end of the shooting schedule.
His films were frequently adaptations of novels. He wrote ten screenplays for films. Offner was an activist for the communist party and this resulted in him losing work.
At the end of his career he had to work under a pseudonym.
Offner had a daughter Deborah Offner who is (2015) a successful actress. Offner died in New York in September 1965.