Edmund H. North

Edmund Hall North (March 12, 1911 – August 28, 1990) was an American screenwriter who shared an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Francis Ford Coppola in 1970 for their script for Patton.[1][2][3]

North wrote the screenplay for the 1951 science-fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still and is credited with creating the famous line from the film, "Klaatu barada nikto".[4]

He was a son of Bobby North and Stella Maury who performed in vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies.[1] North began writing plays while attending Culver Military Academy in Indiana and at Stanford University. As a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, he made training and educational films.

North was a president of the screen branch of the Writers Guild of America in which he served on more than 40 committees, including the contract-bargaining panel.

North and his wife, Collette had two daughters. He lived in Brentwood, Los Angeles, and was 79 when he died.