Philip Yordan, the man who wrote Houdini (1953)

While working on a recent installment of Deconstructing Houdini '53, I realized that I rarely mention screenwriter Philip Yordan by name, even though the series is basically all about his work on the movie. In fact, I never even looked him up to see what else he may have done. As it turns out, Yordan had a very full career with over 100 credits, including Dillinger, El Cid, King of Kings, and Broken Lance, for which he won an Oscar. But there was one factoid that instantly jumped out at me.

Philip Yordan died on March 24, 2003. Houdini's 129th birthday!

I also found an excellent profile of Yordan in the Nov/Dec 2009 Noir City Sentile. I've shared that on my Patreon.

Check out my series Deconstructing Houdini '53, in which I bring to light the many hidden accuracies of this first and, IMO, still the best Houdini biopic.

Related:

• Oscar's Houdini alumni
• A scene from Ray Stark's 'Houdini'
• 'Houdini' nominated for WGA award