# The hills may be alive, but Ernest Lehman is not **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274 "2005-07-06T13:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/1 "2005-07-06T13:02:25Z")
[CNN story](http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/06/film.lehman.reut/index.html) Famed screenwriter Ernest Lehman has died. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/2 "2005-07-06T14:56:29Z")
> [@](#): > > LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) – Ernest Lehman, the screenwriter whose adaptations of such high-profile Broadway productions as “West Side Story,” “The Sound of Music” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” dominated movie screens during the 1960s, died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center after a lengthy illness. He was 89. “Don’t talk about our dead screenwriter, **Mr. Blue Sky**.” ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/3 "2005-07-06T15:08:00Z")
Roger Thornhill: “Apparently the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead.” Phillip Vandamm: “Your very next role, and you’ll be quite convincing, I assure you.” RIP ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/4 "2005-07-06T16:14:32Z")
From _The Sweet Smell of Success_: “You’re blind, Mr. Magoo. This is the crossroads for me. I won’t get Kello. Not for a lifetime pass to the Polo Grounds. Not if you serve me Cleopatra on a plate.” Truth to tell, I don’t know if that line came from Lehman or from Clifford Odets, but it’s one of my favorite lines in all of film. What a great writer! RIP ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/5 "2005-07-06T16:42:10Z")
His book, _Screening Sickness and Other Tales of Tinsel Town_, is a very fine look at screenwriting and other Hollywood diseases. A great writer. His work lives on. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/6 "2005-07-06T17:30:27Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > From _The Sweet Smell of Success_: “You’re blind, Mr. Magoo. This is the crossroads for me. I won’t get Kello. Not for a lifetime pass to the Polo Grounds. Not if you serve me Cleopatra on a plate.” > > Truth to tell, I don’t know if that line came from Lehman or from Clifford Odets, but it’s one of my favorite lines in all of film. > > What a great writer! RIP “That’s fish four days old. I won’t buy it!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hills-may-be-alive-but-ernest-lehman-is-not/311274/7 "2005-07-12T04:29:43Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > A great writer. His work lives on. So does his family. Mr. Lehman was 89 and his youngest son was 3.