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Aeneas MacKenzie, or Æneas MacKenzie (August 15, 1889 in Stornoway, Scotland – June 2, 1962 in Los Angeles), was a Scottish-American screenwriter. MacKenzie wrote many notable Hollywood films, including: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Ivanhoe (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956).

Career

MacKenzie came from England to work on a film of East Lynne.^[1]

In January 1938, he was under contract to Warner Bros. to write what would become Juarez.^[2] In February 1939, he was working on a biopic of John Paul Jones for James Cagney.^[3] He also wrote a biopic of Disraeli for Claude Rains.^[4] Neither were made, but by July 1940, he was working on a biopic of George Custer which became They Died with Their Boots On.^[5] MacKenzie wrote The Widow of Devil's Island for Bette Davis.^[6] In March 1942, he was working on a movie about "Sing Sing" prison.^[7]

In October 1943, RKO announced they would make a film from his original story, The Spanish Main.^[8]

In July 1946, he wrote a script of Ivanhoe for Paramount.^[9] The project was postponed due to the Palestine Cris^{[clarification needed]} and instead MacKenzie was assigned to do a biopic on Ludwig II for producer Robert Fellows.^[10] A year later, his Ivanhoe script was sold to RKO.^[11] They sold it to MGM who filmed it several years later.

He worked on the script for The Black Book (1949).

In January 1950, he sold a script to Douglas Fairbanks Jr which became Against All Flags.^[12] Several months later, MacKenzie sold this story to Universal, who hired him to write the script.^[13] Also at Universal, he did The Prince Who Was a Thief.^[14]

MacKenzie later headed the script team on The Ten Commandments.^[15]

In July 1957, he was writing Peter and Catherine about Russia in the 18th century for Ross Hunter at Universal.^[16]

In late 1958, MacKenzie was reported to be working on a biopic of William the Conqueror for Evyan Perfumes.^[17][18]

Filmography

• Juarez (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
• The Navy Comes Through (1942)
• The Woman of the Town (1943)
• The Fighting Seabees (1944)
• Buffalo Bill (1944)
• Back to Bataan (1945)
• The Spanish Main (1945)
• Reign of Terror (1949)
• The Avengers (1950)
• Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)
• The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951)
• Ivanhoe (1952)
• Face to Face (1952)
• Against All Flags (1952)
• L'amante di Paride (Loves of Three Queens) (1954)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• The King's Pirate (1967)

References

External links

• Aeneas MacKenzie at IMDb