- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- Julie
- Julius J. Epstein was born on August 22, 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Casablanca (1942), Reuben, Reuben (1983) and Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). He was married to Frances Sage and Ann Margot Laszlo. He died on December 30, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- SpousesFrances Sage(1936 - 1949) (divorced, 2 children)Ann Margot Laszlo(? - December 30, 2000) (his death, 1 child)
- RelativesPhilip G. Epstein(Sibling)
- Epstein and brother Philip G. Epstein became the first twins to be awarded Oscars when they won in the writing category for Casablanca (1942).
- After the death of his twin brother in 1952, Epstein found working with a collaborator near impossible. He tried working with Billy Wilder three times, but nothing came of it.
- Great uncle of Anya Epstein and her brother Theo Epstein, general manager of the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox.
- The Epstein twins enjoyed a well-earned reputation, not only for writing witty dialogue, but also for coming up with the best impromptu wisecracks in the movie business.
- Was Penn State boxing team captain
- [on Ronald Reagan being considered for Casablanca (1942)]: "I still have nightmares."
- [)n 'Casablanca', 1984] "Just a routine assignment. Frankly, I can't understand it's staying power. If it were made today, line for line, each performance as good, it'd be laughed off the screen. It's such a phony picture. Not a word of truth in it. It's camp, kitsch. it's just...slick shit!"
- One of the wonderful things about working at Warners was the wealth of character actors a screenwriter could draw on. It was the greatest stock company going. Lots of times we didn't know who the leads were going to be, but often we'd write scripts with specific character actors in mind. We knew who was under contract - Frank McHugh, S.Z. Sakall, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly - and we kept them in mind.
- (On James Cagney) Such a pro! Got up there, knew his lines, did his work.
- (On John Garfield) Garfield was a nice guy, but kind of a sad sack. We'd tease him. There was something called The Writers' Table, where writers sat around at lunch in the commissary, and I remember Garfield coming up once and saying, 'Let's have an intellectual discussion.' I said, 'Sure, who's going to represent you?'
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