Emmet Lavery, 84, Award-Winning Screenwriter and Playwright, Dies
Screenwriter and playwright Emmet Lavery, 84, of Tarzana died Wednesday of a cardiac arrest at the Medical Center of Tarzana.
Lavery served as president of the Screenwriters Guild of Los Angeles from 1945 to 1947 and as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1946, according to Allen Rivkin, spokesman for the Writers Guild of America West Inc.
Lavery’s screenplay, “The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell,” earned him and co-author Milton Sperling an Academy Award nomination in 1955, Rivkin said.
In addition, Lavery’s 1965 television movie, “Magnificent Yankee,” won five Emmys. It debuted as a play on Broadway, Rivkin said.
His stage credits also included “Gentleman From Athens” and “The First Legion.” In addition, Lavery wrote two docudramas, “Hitler’s Children” and “Behind the Rising Sun,” Rivkin said.
Services will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Grace Cathedral in Encino.
Lavery is survived by his wife, Genevieve; a son, Hollywood attorney Emmet Lavery Jr.; daughter Elizabeth Taylor, and several grandchildren.
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