Waldemar Young

Biography

American screenwriter, of Mormon parentage. Young's first job was on the editorial staff of the Salt Lake Herald. He subsequently studied at Stanford University, but did not manage to attain a degree. Before entering the motion picture industry, he was engaged as a story writer and drama editor, respectively by the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner. After a stint as a publicist for various theatrical personalities, he began his film career under contract to Universal, from 1917 to 1919. He subsequently moved on to Famous Players/Lasky, commuting between Hollywood and Paramount's Astoria studios in Long Island. Young wrote some of his most highly regarded screenplays for MGM (1924-29) and Paramount (1930 and 1932-36). The latter included notable collaborations on Cecil B. DeMille epics (The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934)), as well as several of Gary Cooper's biggest box-office hits of the period (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), The Plainsman (1936)).