Joseph McBride

Education

• Marquette University High School (National Merit Scholar)
• University of Wisconsin
• Ph.D. equivalency, San Francisco State University

Experience

• The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), 1969-1973: General assignment reporter, feature writer, and film reviewer
• The Riverside Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Ca.), 1973-1974: General assignment reporter and feature writer
• Daily Variety (Los Angeles) and Variety (New York), 1974-1977; 1980-1981; 1989-1992: Reporter, feature writer, reviewer, and columnist

Areas of Expertise

• Screenwriting
• American Cinema
• American history, politics and literature

Books

• Persistence of Vision: A Collection of Film Criticism (editor), 1968
• Orson Welles, 1972; revised and expanded edition, 1996
• Focus on Howard Hawks (editor), 1972
• John Ford (with Michael Wilmington), 1974
• Kirk Douglas, 1976
• Orson Welles: Actor and Director, 1977
• High and Inside: The Complete Guide to Baseball Slang, 1980; revised and expanded edition, High and Inside: An A-to-Z Guide to the Language of Baseball, 1997
• Hawks on Hawks, 1982
• Filmmakers on Filmmaking, Vols. I and II (editor), 1983
• Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, 1992; revised edition, 2000
• Steven Spielberg: A Biography, 1997
• The Book of Movie Lists: An Offbeat, Provocative Collection of the Best and Worst of Everything in Movies, 1998
• Searching for John Ford, 2001
• What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career, 2006
• Thinking in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless (forthcoming)

Contributions to Books

• Billy Wilder: Interviews, 2002
• A Palace of Silver: A Memoir of Maggie Roberts by John Sanford, 2003
• George Stevens: Interviews, 2004
• Howard Hawks: Interviews, 2006
• Ford at Fox, 2007
• François Truffaut: Interviews, 2008
• A New Literary History of America (the essay on screenwriting), 2009

Feature Film Scripts (in collaboration)

• Blood and Guts, 1978
• Rock 'n' Roll High School, 1979

Television Scripts (some in collaboration)

• The American Film Institute Salute to James Stewart, 1980
• The American Film Institute Salute to Fred Astaire, 1981
• Let Poland Be Poland, 1982
• The American Film Institute Salute to Frank Capra, 1982
• The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston, 1983
• The American Film Institute Salute to Lillian Gish, 1984
• 100 Years...100 Movies: War and Peace, 1998

Documentaries (co-producer)

• Obsessed with “Vertigo”: New Life for Hitchcock’s Masterpiece, 1997
• John Ford Goes to War, 2002

Consultant on Documentary

• Becoming John Ford, 2007 (part of the Ford at Fox boxed set, chosen Best DVD of 2007 by Time magazine)

DVD Commentaries

• “How Green Was My Valley,” with Anna Lee, 2002
• “An Affair to Remember,” with Marni Nixon, 2002
• “The Grapes of Wrath,” with Susan Shillinglaw, 2004
• “Cheyenne Autumn,” 2006
• “The Complete Buster Keaton Short Films, 1917-1923,” 2006
• “Jane Eyre,” with Margaret O'Brien, 2007
• "Pilgrimage," 2007

Awards/Honors

• Wisconsin Council for Creative Writers Award (Best Non-Fiction Book): Orson Welles, 1972
• Writers Guild of America Award (Best TV Variety, Musical, or Comedy Script): The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston, 1983
• RTE Guide (Ireland) selection as Film Book of the Year: Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, 1992
• Chosen as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans of 1993 by Irish America magazine
• Wisconsin Library Association Literary Awards Committee, Outstanding Achievement Recognition: Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, 1993
• The Book Collectors of Los Angeles’ selection as one of the 100 Best Books on Hollywood and the Movies: Hawks on Hawks, 1993
• The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made selection as one of the 100 best movie musicals: Rock 'n' Roll High School, 1994
• Brandeis University National Women’s Committee (Los Angeles Chapter) Award for “Achievements in the field of biography of many Hollywood luminaries,” 1997
• Emmy nominations from Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: The American Film Institute Salute to Fred Astaire, 1981, and The American Film Institute Salute to Lillian Gish, 1984
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association (founding member), 1975-2002; vice-president, 1995-1997
• Writers Guild of America Awards nominations for
  • “The American Film Institute Salute to James Stewart,” 1980
  • “The American Film Institute Salute to Fred Astaire,” 1981
  • "The American Film Institute Salute to Frank Capra,” 1982
  • and “The American Film Institute Salute to Lillian Gish,” 1984
• Best Foreign Film Book of the Year (Prix de Meilleur Livre Etranger), le Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma, for A la recherche de John Ford, the French translation of Searching for John Ford, 2007