- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLukas Herman Heller
- Lukas Heller was born on July 21, 1930 in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was a writer, known for Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Flight of the Phoenix (2004) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). He died on November 2, 1988 in Camden, London, England, UK.
- Parents
- Father of Zoe Heller and Bruno Heller.
- German screenwriter who began in British films in 1959. He became best known for his work with the director Robert Aldrich in the 1960's.
- He first attracted attention with a 1961 British TV play, "Cross Of Iron", which caused the German embassy in London to make a formal complaint to the BBC. Robert Aldrich wanted to turn it into a movie - he never did, but he did use Heller as a screenwriter several times thereafter.
- [on Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] There were problems with the script. Bob Aldrich [Robert Aldrich] had originally hired Henry Farrell to write the story and script of Charlotte. They had a disagreement over protocol. Aldrich had kept Farrell waiting, and he walked out. I was called in to rework the script. Aldrich was a great director, but story was not his strongest point. He wanted a bit of Diabolique (1955), a bit of this, a bit of that. We didn't have the time we had on Baby Jane [What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)], which was reworked over a period of six months.
- [remembering Joan Crawford during a rehearsal of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] She would query lines with absolutely no concept of the emotional or dramatic content - but purely on the grammatical or logical element. She argued for hours, being very literal in her interpretation, and always putting it in this beautiful, modulated voice. She was giving a performance. She wanted to establish her authority on the picture and everyone had to go along with her.
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