E. Percy Heath Dashboard Dashboard

Screenwriter and associate producer Eugene Percy Heath’s credits include Two Flaming Youths (1927), Half a Bride (1928), and Three Weekends (1928). He was best known for his adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), written with Samuel Hoffenstein, which earned them an Academy Award. The film was praised by the Los Angeles Times in 1931 as “a major masterpiece of the screen—a passionate, vibrant document shot through with unparalleled brilliance of writing, performance, and direction.”

He served on The Writers play committee, which presented monthly one-act plays before members and guests. Heath was an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, serving on its conciliation committee in 1928 and 1932, and was nominated for its executive committee in 1929.

Heath was born on January 30, 1884, and began his career as a newspaper man at the Baltimore Herald before he switched to playwriting. He wrote the plays Sari, The Scarlet Man, A Bird in Hand, and Mysterious Ways. Heath started in the film business as a writer and adapter in 1919. He died at age 49 on February 9, 1933, in Hollywood.