Preston Sturges the same scene. A tender love scene between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve" was enlivened by a horse, which repeatedly poked its nose into Fonda's head. Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts, however Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at a time when those roles were separate. Sturges famously sold the story for "The Great McGinty" to Paramount Pictures for $1, in
Preston Sturges would be surprising if I weren't. Sturges married four times and had three sons: Sturges died of a heart attack at the Algonquin Hotel while writing his autobiography (which, ironically, he'd intended to title "The Events Leading Up to My Death"), and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. His book, "Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words", was published in 1990 by Simon & Schuster. In 1975, he became the first writer to be given the Screen Writers Guild's Laurel Award posthumously. He has a star dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk