George Seaton

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Director | Producer | Screenwriter Born George Stenius on April 17, 1911 in South Bend, IN

George Seaton started out in Hollywood as a junior writer at MGM. Brand new and barely settled in, he was sent to David Selznick's office, where Selznick was in conference with six of the top comedy writers on the lot.

"They were having trouble with a comedy for Jack Pearl, 'Meet the Baron.' For five or six weeks they had been sitting there trying to get an opening that would give the proper motivation and justify the character. I was told to think about the problem and come back if I got an idea. I went back after lunch with a notion and told it. Selznick jumped up and said, 'That's it! That's it!' Then he looked at me almost angrily and said, 'I'll tell you why you got the solution. You didn't know how hard it was!' "

Looking back, it's clear that Seaton could only have accomplished all he did because he "didn't know how hard it was." Somehow, he managed to get everything done that he felt ought to be done — for his family, his friends and associates, his career, his community.

Seaton had very few acquaintances; he only had friends. He was willing to overlook and understand the foibles of others — except those who violated the rules of human kindness.

He received two Oscars in addition to the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, three Writers Guild Awards, a Foreign Correspondents Award, a Cannes Festival Award, New York Critics' Award, and many, many other awards and nominations for writing and directing. He was president of the Screen Writers Guild, vice president of the Directors Guild, president of the Academy and the only person in the history of the Writers Guild to be given all three of its most prestigious honors.

— Robert Pirosh in the Los Angeles Times Aug. 5, 1979

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