Trivia

Hecht wrote Scarface (1932), a thinly disguised biography of Chicago gangster Al Capone. After the script had been finished, but before shooting had begun, Hecht was in his Hollywood hotel room when he was "visited" by two of Capone's gunmen, who had somehow managed to obtain a copy of the script and wanted to "discuss" its portrayal of their boss. A nervous Hecht told them that the only thing it had in common with Capone was the title "Scarface", which was Capone's nickname (which he hated and was known to beat severely those unfortunate enough to use it in his presence). That was because they were using it to lure in audiences who would think that the film was about Capone which, Hecht told them, it really wasn't (although it really was). His story convinced them and they left him in one piece.

Wrote the complete script for Scarface (1932) in 11 days.

If uncredited work is included, he is the best represented screenwriter in the fifth edition of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" (edited by 'Steven Jay Schneider'). The films credited to Hecht on the list are Scarface (1932), Gunga Din (1939), Wuthering Heights (1939), His Girl Friday (1940) (his credit is for writing the original "The Front Page"), Spellbound (1945) and Notorious (1946). Additionally, Hecht worked without credit on Queen Christina (1933), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Stagecoach (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939), Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Angel Face (1952), Guys and Dolls (1955) and the remake of his script, Scarface (1983).

At a party in Hollywood one night in the 1950s, he had a bit too much to drink and, as he was wont to do when "in his cups", began spinning a story. This particular night his story was about a group of astronauts who crash-land on a planet populated entirely by beautiful, horny women who capture the astronauts and plan to use them to repopulate their planet. A year or so after that he heard about a low-budget sci-fi movie that had just been finished with that same plot line. He got hold of a script for the film, called Queen of Outer Space (1958), saw that it was the exact same story he spun the night of the party, got a lawyer and sued the production company. He received a settlement and a "story" credit on the film.

Before working as a script writer, he was a crime reporter and columnist in Chicago.

Had his own TV talk show in the New York City area in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Brian De Palma dedicated Scarface (1983), his remake of the film Scarface (1932) that Hecht wrote, to him.

Hecht's incendiary, anti-British statements in the late 1940s (due to their involvement with Israel) so angered the nation that the UK prints of the film Whirlpool replaced his name with a pseudonym, Lester Barstow.

A prolific writer. 5 years before he died he totaled his at 65 films, 25 books, 20 plays, 250 short stories and at least 300 magazine articles.

Father of actresses Jenny Hecht and Edwina Armstrong.

Hecht was portrayed by Mark Kiely in an episode of Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues (1993).

Died soon after finishing the script for 'The Magnificent Showman'.

His best known play was 'The Front Page' co written with Charles MacArthur.

He wrote the best-selling "Gaily Gaily" in 1963, an autobiographical book concerning his years as a Chicago cub reporter, A fuller account of his life, "A Child of the Century", had been previously published, in 1954. The 1969 film "Gaily Gaily" featured Beau Bridges as a character based, very loosely indeed, on Hecht (renamed "Harvey").