Malvin Wald, a prolific writer for film and television best known for co-writing the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the 1948 film “The Naked City,” died Thursday of age-related causes at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his son, Alan. He was 90.It’s only in occasional repeats that I have ever watched the 1958-1963 TV series Naked City, and I’m not sure I have ever sat through the original movie. But there’s a hole in my Netflicks queue, and maybe it needs filling with Wald’s famous film.
Wald wrote the story for the archetypal police drama, which ended with the now-famous line, “There are 8 million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” He and writer Albert Maltz, one of the blacklisted Hollywood 10 who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, were credited with the screenplay, which was also nominated for a Writers Guild Award.
The gritty black-and-white film noir, produced and narrated by Mark Hellinger and directed by Jules Dassin, follows a police investigation of a model's murder. Filmed on location on the streets of New York City, it spawned a television series by the same name and, ultimately, a genre of film and TV dramas that includes “Dragnet,” “Hill Street Blues” and the “CSI” series.
(Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)
HEAR MORE: “Oscar-Nominated Writer Malvin Wald Dies,” by Melissa Block and Michele Norris (National Public Radio, All Things Considered).
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