Karl Tunberg

Biography: An American screenwriter (usually in collaboration), Tunberg has also produced some of his films. He began by supplying the plots for musicals featuring such stars as the Ritz Brothers, Betty Grable, Sonja Henie, Glenn Miller's orchestra, Deanna Durbin, Dorothy Lamour, and Shirley Temple (for whom he wrote a comedy called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm which has nothing to do with the classic story of that title and which would have made a fine Temple vehicle.) Tunberg was also adept at costumers: Kitty (1945, in which Paulette Goddard rises from social outcast to society belle in 18th-century England), The Scarlet Coat (1955, about Benedict Arnold), Libel (1959), Taras Bulba (1962), and Beau Brummel (1954). In later years, Tunberg wrote some weak comedies for Doris Day, Jackie Gleason, and Deborah Kerr. He has also shown a serious side; Scandal at Scourie (1953) involves a community's prejudice when Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, playing a Protestant couple, wish to adopt aAn American screenwriter (usually in collaboration), Tunberg has also produced some of his films. He began by supplying the plots for musicals featuring such stars as the Ritz Brothers, Betty Grable, Sonja Henie, Glenn Miller's orchestra, Deanna Durbin, Dorothy Lamour, and Shirley Temple (for whom he wrote a comedy called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm which has nothing to do with the classic story of that title and which would have made a fine Temple vehicle.) Tunberg was also adept at costumers: Kitty (1945, in which Paulette Goddard rises from social outcast to society belle in 18th-century England), The Scarlet Coat (1955, about Benedict Arnold), Libel (1959), Taras Bulba (1962), and Beau Brummel (1954). In later years, Tunberg wrote some weak comedies for Doris Day, Jackie Gleason, and Deborah Kerr. He has also shown a serious side; Scandal at Scourie (1953) involves a community's prejudice when Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, playing a Protestant couple, wish to adopt a Catholic child; The Seventh Dawn (1964) is a war story with William Holden; and Night into Morning (1951) is downright grim, in which Ray Milland loses his family in a fire and turns to drinking. Tunberg's best effort by far is Ben Hur (1959). His worst screenplay is probably Harlow (the Carol Lynley version, 1965) but considering the source material (Irving Shulman's "biography"), it could have been a lot worse.… Expand