Never the Screenwriter
Despite it being the Golden Age of Hollywood, Hemingway – unlike most authors – adamantly refused to write for the silver screen. He did not, however, object to his works being put on film. And it’s a good job; otherwise, we’d never have seen For Whom the Bell Tolls. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Killers, A Farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, and many more.
He hated the screen version of 1958’s The Old Man and the Sea; he was incredibly disappointed after seeing it. He expressed disdain for Spencer Tracy’s performance, saying Tracy looked less like a Cuban fisherman and more like the rich, old actor he was. Tracey had the last laugh, though, as he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in May 1952.
