Joan Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joan Harrison (June 26, 1907 - August 14, 1994) was a film producer and screenwriter. In 1933, at the age of 26, she became the secretary of Alfred Hitchcock. Eventually, she began reading books and scripts for him and became one of Hitchcock's most trusted associates. When Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in March 1939 to begin his contract with David O. Selznick to direct films, Harrison went with him as an assistant and writer.
She gained the title of screenwriter when she wrote the film Jamaica Inn (1939) based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Harrison continued writing screenplays for films Rebecca (1940), also adapted from a du Maurier novel, Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941) (screenplay), Saboteur (1942), Dark Waters (1944) and Nocturne (1946).
Harrison was an uncredited screenwriter for Ride the Pink Horse (1947) and Your Witness (1950). She also became a film producer, producing such films as Nocturne, Ride the Pink Horse (1947), and They Won't Believe Me (1947). Harrison worked in television with Hitchcock when she produced his TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Harrison was educated at the Sorbonne and Oxford.