Lawrence P. Bachmann, 92; Film Writer and Executive at Studios

Lawrence P. Bachmann, a film writer and studio executive at RKO, MGM and Paramount, has died. He was 92.

Bachmann died Sept. 7 at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family said. The cause of death was not announced.

Bachmann was born in New York City, where his father, J.G. Bachmann, worked at Paramount with B.P. Schulberg in the 1920s. Young Lawrence started in pictures at the age of 16 as an assistant film cutter at Universal before going off to college.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at USC and a master’s degree at Oxford, he became an assistant to Pando S. Berman, head of production at RKO.

Later he moved to MGM working for J.J. Cohn, the head of the B-unit, which produced small films that were part of the double feature bill in theaters.

As a writer, Bachmann’s first big success was the 1936 film “Speed,” starring James Stewart. He also wrote many of the scripts in the Dr. Kildare film series.

Bachmann served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and was the main overseas correspondent for Air Force magazine.

After the war, he worked in Berlin as head of films for the U.S. State Department.

He lived in Italy and France before moving to England where he was the head of production first for Paramount and then for MGM.

Films he produced for MGM included “Village of the Damned,” the “Miss Marple” series with Margaret Rutherford and “Follow the Boys.”

His final film was “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” starring Richard Dreyfuss.

A tennis enthusiast, Bachmann was the first person outside the British Commonwealth to be elected a member of the All England Club at Wimbledon.

Bachmann is survived by his sister, Lucy Cormack of San Francisco, and his stepdaughter and stepson, Linda and David Gordon of Newport, R.I.