Lionel Chetwynd
Encyclopedia
Lionel Chetwynd is a London
-born Canadian-American
screenwriter
, motion picture and television
film director
and producer
.
, the son of Betty (née Dion) and Peter Chetwynd. His family moved to Canada
when he was eight years old. Problems within his dysfunctional family
led him to quit school at the age of fourteen.
He returned the following year but was promptly expelled. He then enlisted in the Canadian Army. After serving with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
, Chetwynd turned his life around, passed exams that allowed him to enroll in college and excel to the point that he earned a scholarship to Montreal's McGill University Law School
.
After obtaining his degree, he did graduate work in law in the United Kingdom at Trinity College, Oxford
. After completing his studies Chetwynd remained in London, working for Columbia Pictures
' distribution branch where he worked his way up to assistant managing director. Pursuing an interest in writing screenplays, after he met Canadian film director
Ted Kotcheff
, Chetwynd co-wrote the script for the film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz with fellow Montrealer Mordecai Richler
who had written the novel from which it was adapted.
, where the 1974 release of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz saw his career get a big boost when he won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium
and a nomination for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
. In 1977, he was hired by Marlo Thomas
to pen a gender-reversal made-for-television version of It's a Wonderful Life
entitled It Happened One Christmas
, in which Thomas played the lead role portrayed by James Stewart
in the original.
Hired to write scripts for the CBS
(Love of Life
) and PBS
television networks, Chetwynd soon turned to directing his own screenplays, meeting with success for his 1978 film Two Solitudes
. Adapted by Chetwynd from the Hugh MacLennan
book, and starring Jean-Pierre Aumont
, Stacy Keach
, and Claude Jutra
, the film dealt with societal issues relative to Canada's French
and English speaking population and the Conscription Crisis of 1917
. The film marked a turning point for Chetwynd and he would go on to write, direct, and produce numerous issue or event-based American films.
A supporter of Ronald Reagan
, Chetwynd's work, patriotic pronouncements, and endorsement of conservative
ideologies, made him a favorite of the political right
in the United States.
that recounted the U.S. ice hockey
team's dramatic upset victory over the Soviet Union
at the 1980 Winter Olympics
. A member of the National Sponsoring Committee of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
, Chetwynd wrote and directed the 1987 drama The Hanoi Hilton that dealt with the treatment of American P.O.W.s during the Vietnam War
in Hanoi
's notorious Hoa Lo prison. That year he was commissioned to create and write a special tribute to the United States Congress
as part of the Constitutional Bicentennial celebration. In 1988 Chetwynd also wrote the four-hour miniseries for A&E Television
, To Heal a Nation, that dealt with the issue of how Vietnam veterans were treated after returning home.
, and The Man Who Captured Eichmann
. In 1999 he wrote the teleplay for the ABC
miniseries, Tom Clancy's Net Force
.
In 2001 he scripted and produced Varian's War
, the story of Varian Fry
, an American
who helped numerous intellectuals and artists escape from Nazi-occupied France during World War II
. The film earned Chetwynd his fifth Writers Guild of American "Best Screenplay" nomination. He has also made biblical
films, notably Jacob (1994), Joseph (1996) and Moses (1996); the later two were both nominated for Emmys
.
to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
. In 2003, Chetwynd wrote and produced DC 9/11: Time of Crisis
, a docudrama for Showtime Networks
recounting the nine days in the Bush administration
between the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
and The Pentagon
and the president’s televised address to the nation before Congress.
In a surprise to many political observers in the U.S., in 2002 Chetwynd wrote, produced and directed Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents, a PBS
documentary that recounted the life and career of American Communist Party member Carl Foreman
. The story deals with events during McCarthyism
that saw Foreman, a talented film producer
and screenwriter, blacklisted
by the Hollywood movie studio
bosses in the 1950s.
After Darkness at High Noon he subsequently received an Emmy nomination for writing and producing Ike: Countdown to D-Day
starring Tom Selleck
, wrote and produced the political documentary Celsius 41.11 and the historical film We Fight To Be Free.
Chetwynd has more than 40 longform and feature credits and over two dozen documentary credits, which have received numerous citations including six Writers Guild of America nominations (including an award), New York Film festival Gold Medal, two Christophers, six Tellys, two Genie nominations and two George Washington medals from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge.
In 2003 he received the Caucus of Writers, Producers and Directors Lifetime Achievement Award. That same year he was conferred an honorary doctorate by Columbia College-Hollywood. In 2008, he received the John Singleton Copley Medal from the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian.
Lionel Chetwynd stars with Roger L. Simon
, founder of Pajamas Media
, in the internet's Pajamas TV's (PJTV) Poliwood show, discussing topics that cover the intersection of politics and Hollywood.
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-born Canadian-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, motion picture and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Life and career
Chetwynd was born in Hackney, LondonMetropolitan Borough of Hackney
The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. Its area became part of the London Borough of Hackney.-Formation and boundaries:...
, the son of Betty (née Dion) and Peter Chetwynd. His family moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
when he was eight years old. Problems within his dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
led him to quit school at the age of fourteen.
He returned the following year but was promptly expelled. He then enlisted in the Canadian Army. After serving with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
The Black Watch of Canada is a reserve infantry regiment in 34 Brigade Group, Land Force Quebec Area. The regiment is located on rue de Bleury in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is currently commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bruno Plourde...
, Chetwynd turned his life around, passed exams that allowed him to enroll in college and excel to the point that he earned a scholarship to Montreal's McGill University Law School
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
.
After obtaining his degree, he did graduate work in law in the United Kingdom at Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
. After completing his studies Chetwynd remained in London, working for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
' distribution branch where he worked his way up to assistant managing director. Pursuing an interest in writing screenplays, after he met Canadian film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Ted Kotcheff
Ted Kotcheff
Ted Kotcheff , sometimes credited as William Kotcheff or William T. Kotcheff, is a Canadian film and television director, who is well known for his work on several high-profile British television productions and as a director of films such as First Blood.-Early life:Kotcheff was born William...
, Chetwynd co-wrote the script for the film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz with fellow Montrealer Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
who had written the novel from which it was adapted.
1970s
With the script complete, Chetwynd moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where the 1974 release of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz saw his career get a big boost when he won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
and a nomination for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
. In 1977, he was hired by Marlo Thomas
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
to pen a gender-reversal made-for-television version of It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
entitled It Happened One Christmas
It Happened One Christmas
It Happened One Christmas is a 1977 made-for-television movie starring Marlo Thomas and Wayne Rogers.The film, a gender-reversal remake of the classic It's a Wonderful Life, centers on Mary Bailey Hatch, a young woman who dreams of seeing the world but is forced by circumstances to remain in her...
, in which Thomas played the lead role portrayed by James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
in the original.
Hired to write scripts for the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
) and PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television networks, Chetwynd soon turned to directing his own screenplays, meeting with success for his 1978 film Two Solitudes
Two Solitudes
The term Two Solitudes may refer to:* Two Solitudes , a 1945 novel by Hugh MacLennan*Two Solitudes , 1978 motion picture written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd, based on the 1945 novel...
. Adapted by Chetwynd from the Hugh MacLennan
Hugh MacLennan
John Hugh MacLennan, CC, CQ was a Canadian author and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award.-Family and childhood:...
book, and starring Jean-Pierre Aumont
Jean-Pierre Aumont
-Early life:Aumont was born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons in Paris, the son of Suzanne and Alexandre Salomons, owner of La Maison du Blanc . His mother's uncle was well-known stage actor Georges Berr. His father was from a Dutch Jewish family and his mother's family were French Jews...
, Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy and musical...
, and Claude Jutra
Claude Jutra
Claude Jutra was a Canadian actor, film director and writer. The Prix Jutra are named in his honor because of his importance in Quebec cinema history. He was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec....
, the film dealt with societal issues relative to Canada's French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English speaking population and the Conscription Crisis of 1917
Conscription Crisis of 1917
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...
. The film marked a turning point for Chetwynd and he would go on to write, direct, and produce numerous issue or event-based American films.
A supporter of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Chetwynd's work, patriotic pronouncements, and endorsement of conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
ideologies, made him a favorite of the political right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
in the United States.
1980s
Chetwynd's diverse film works include "feel-good" productions such as the 1981 made for television story Miracle on IceMiracle on Ice
The "Miracle on Ice" is the name in American popular culture for a medal-round men's ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, on Friday, February 22...
that recounted the U.S. ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team's dramatic upset victory over the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
at the 1980 Winter Olympics
1980 Winter Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from 13 February through 24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932...
. A member of the National Sponsoring Committee of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for during the War.Its...
, Chetwynd wrote and directed the 1987 drama The Hanoi Hilton that dealt with the treatment of American P.O.W.s during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
's notorious Hoa Lo prison. That year he was commissioned to create and write a special tribute to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as part of the Constitutional Bicentennial celebration. In 1988 Chetwynd also wrote the four-hour miniseries for A&E Television
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, To Heal a Nation, that dealt with the issue of how Vietnam veterans were treated after returning home.
1990s
Among his other issue-based works he wrote the screenplay and produced Kissinger and Nixon (1995), Color of Justice (1997) and wrote the scripts for Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy, a four-hour miniseries for CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and The Man Who Captured Eichmann
The Man Who Captured Eichmann
The Man Who Captured Eichmann is a 1996 movie about the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann by the Israeli secret service Mossad.The film ends with the take-off of the El Al aircraft taking Eichmann to face trial in Jerusalem. In real life, this aircraft was a turboprop-powered Bristol...
. In 1999 he wrote the teleplay for the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
miniseries, Tom Clancy's Net Force
Tom Clancy's Net Force
Tom Clancy's Net Force is a novel series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik and written by Steve Perry. It is set in 2010 and charts the actions of Net Force: a special division of the FBI set up to combat increasing crime on the internet....
.
In 2001 he scripted and produced Varian's War
Varian Fry
Varian Mackey Fry was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Early life:...
, the story of Varian Fry
Varian Fry
Varian Mackey Fry was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Early life:...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who helped numerous intellectuals and artists escape from Nazi-occupied France during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The film earned Chetwynd his fifth Writers Guild of American "Best Screenplay" nomination. He has also made biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
films, notably Jacob (1994), Joseph (1996) and Moses (1996); the later two were both nominated for Emmys
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
.
2000s
In 2001, Lionel Chetwynd was appointed by President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities was established in Washington, DC in 1982 by an Executive Order from President Ronald Reagan and works with each Administration to incorporate the arts and the humanities into White House objectives....
. In 2003, Chetwynd wrote and produced DC 9/11: Time of Crisis
DC 9/11: Time of Crisis
DC 9/11: Time of Crisis is a 2003 television movie which re-enacts the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks as seen from the point of view of the President of the United States and his staff. It was directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starred Timothy Bottoms as President George W...
, a docudrama for Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks, Inc. is the corporate division of media conglomerate CBS Corporation.The company was established in 1983 as Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. after Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel respectively, into one...
recounting the nine days in the Bush administration
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
between the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
and The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and the president’s televised address to the nation before Congress.
In a surprise to many political observers in the U.S., in 2002 Chetwynd wrote, produced and directed Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents, a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
documentary that recounted the life and career of American Communist Party member Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the notable film High Noon. He was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.-Biography:...
. The story deals with events during McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
that saw Foreman, a talented film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and screenwriter, blacklisted
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
by the Hollywood movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
bosses in the 1950s.
After Darkness at High Noon he subsequently received an Emmy nomination for writing and producing Ike: Countdown to D-Day
Ike: Countdown to D-Day
Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American television film originally aired on the American television channel A&E and was directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd....
starring Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
, wrote and produced the political documentary Celsius 41.11 and the historical film We Fight To Be Free.
Chetwynd has more than 40 longform and feature credits and over two dozen documentary credits, which have received numerous citations including six Writers Guild of America nominations (including an award), New York Film festival Gold Medal, two Christophers, six Tellys, two Genie nominations and two George Washington medals from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge.
In 2003 he received the Caucus of Writers, Producers and Directors Lifetime Achievement Award. That same year he was conferred an honorary doctorate by Columbia College-Hollywood. In 2008, he received the John Singleton Copley Medal from the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian.
Lionel Chetwynd stars with Roger L. Simon
Roger L. Simon
Roger Lichtenberg Simon is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is currently CEO of Pajamas Media. He is the author of ten novels, including the Moses Wine detective series, and six screenplays...
, founder of Pajamas Media
Pajamas Media
PJ Media is a media company that uses the Internet to present and comment on the news.Founded in 2004 by a network primarily, but not exclusively, made up of conservatives and libertarians led by mystery writer, screenwriter, and blogger Roger L...
, in the internet's Pajamas TV's (PJTV) Poliwood show, discussing topics that cover the intersection of politics and Hollywood.
Personal life
Chetwynd is married to actress Gloria Carlin, who has appeared in several of his films. They have two sons and reside in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaBeverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
.