Film & Television Credits

Acting: Television
Directing & Writing: Documentary, Feature Film
Screenwriting: Film and Television

Actor – Television

In addition to personal appearances on talk shows and in documentaries, Mr. Kanin appeared in single episodes in the following series:

Title Garson Kanin Credit Date(s) Additional Details Location
H.E.L.P. Actor 1990
Tattinger’s Actor 1988

Director – Documentary Films

Title Garson Kanin Credit Date(s) Additional Details Synopsis
The True Glory Director with Carol Reed 1945
  • Columbia Pictures
  • Cast: Dwight Eisenhower, Peter Ustinov, Robert Harris (voice over)
  • Academy Award: Best Documentary
  • National Board of Review: Best Film
  • New York Film Critics Circle: Special Award
 The Allied invasion of Europe, from planning stages to the fall of Berlin, with extensive actual war footage.
Night Shift Director 1944
  • Writer: Mark Blitzstein
 Documentary short film opera about women working the night shift at a British armaments factory. (11 minutes)World War II Documentary short
Night Stripes Director 1944 World War II Documentary short
Battle Stations Director 1944
  • Cast: Ginger Rogers, James Cagney
 Short film with documentary footage of US Coast Guard during World War II, including SPARS, the Coast Guard’s women’s detachment.
Salute to France Director with Jean Renoir 1944
  • United Artists
  • Producer: Office of War Information
  • Cast: Burgess Meredith, Claude Dauphin, Jose Ferrer (narrator)
  • Writers: Philip Dunne, Burgess Meredith, Jean Renoir
 Short film with documentary footage of the German occupation of France in World War II.
Ring of Steel Director 1942
  • Producer: Office of Emergency Management
  • Cast: Spencer Tracy (narrator)
  • Writer: Robert W. Russell
 Documentary short film about American ideals and the individual American soldier’s historical role in preserving them. (10 minutes)
Fellow Americans Director 1942
  • Producer: Office of Emergency Management
  • Cast: James Stewart (narrator)
  • Writer: Robert W. Russell
  • Music: Oscar Levant
 Documentary short film depicting the impact of the deaths of four United States servicemen in their home towns: a seaman from Grand Rapids, an airman from Tampa, a soldier from New York, and a marine from Port Arthur (Texas). (11 minutes)

Director – Feature Films

Title Garson Kanin Credit Date(s) Writer(s) Additional Details Company
Where It’s At Director, Writer 1969 Garson Kanin
  • Notable Cast: David Janssen, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Drivas
 UA
Some Kind of a Nut Director, Writer 1969 Garson Kanin
  • Notable Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Angie Dickinson
 UA
Tom, Dick and Harry Director 1941 Paul Jarrico
  • Notable Cast: Ginger Rogers, Burgess Meredith, George Murphy
  • Paul Jarrico received an Academy Award nomination
 RKO
My Favorite Wife Director (uncredited as writer) 1940 Sam and Bella Spewack and Leo McCarey
  • Notable Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick
  • Leo McCarey received an Academy Award nomination
  • Unfinished remake: Something’s Got to Give with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin (1962)
  • Remade as Move Over Darling with Doris Day and James Garner (1962)
 RKO
They Knew What They Wanted Director 1940 Robert Ardrey (screenplay), Sidney Howard (play)
  • Notable Cast: Charles Laughton, Carole Lombard, William Gargan
  • William Gargan received an Academy Award nomination
  • Broadway musical version: The Most Happy Fella (1957, 1979 & 1992)
 RKO
Bachelor Mother Director 1939 Felix Jackson (story), Norman Krasna (screenplay)
  • Notable Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn
  • Writer Felix Jackson received an Academy Award nomination
  • Remade as Bundle of Joy (1956)
 RKO
The Great Man Votes Director 1939 Gordon Malherbe Hillman(story), John Twist (screenplay)
  • Notable Cast: John Barrymore, Virginia Weidler
  • Remade as Swing Vote (2008)
 RKO
The Next Time I Marry Director 1938 Thames Williamson (Story), John Twist and Helen Meinardi (Screenplay)
  • Notable Cast: Lucille Ball, James Ellison
 RKO
A Man to Remember Director 1938 Dalton Trumbo (screenplay), Katharine Haviland-Taylor (story)
  • Notable Cast: Edward Ellis, Anne Shirley
  • Garson Kanin Directorial Debut
  • Remake of One Man’s Journey (1933)
 RKO

Screenwriter – Feature Films & Television

Title Garson Kanin Credit Date(s) Director Additional Details
Hardhat & Legs (Television) Writer 1980 Lee Philips
  • CBS-TV
  • Co-written with Ruth Gordon
Some Kind of Nut Writer 1969 Garson Kanin
  • United Artists
  • Cast: Dick Van Dyke
Where It’s At Writer 1969 Garson Kanin
  • United Artists
  • Cast: David Janssen, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Drivas
Mr. Broadway Creator 1964 Garson Kanin (pilot)
  • 1964 Series
  • Garson Kanin directed pilot
The Rat Race Writer (from his play) 1960 Richard Mulligan
  • Paramount
  • Writer: Garson Kanin (from his play), John Michael Hayes (uncredited)
  • Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Tony Curtis
High Time Writer (from his short story) 1960 Blake Edwards
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • Co-written with Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman
  • Cast: Bing Crosby, Fabian, Tuesday Weld
The Right Approach Writer 1960 David Butler
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • Based on Garson Kanin’s play The Live Wire
  • Co-written with Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin
The Girl Can’t Help It Writer (uncredited) 1956 Frank Tashlin
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • Based on Garson Kanin’s novella Do Re Mi
  • Co-written with Frank Tashlin and Herbert Baker
  • Cast: Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell
Born Yesterday Writer, Director 1956 Garson Kanin
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC
  • Cast: Mary Martin, Paul Douglas
It Should Happen to You Writer 1954 George Cukor
  • Columbia
  • Academy Award Nomination – Best Costume Design
  • Cast: Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Peter Lawford
Pat and Mike Writer 1952 George Cukor
  • MGM
  • Co-written with Ruth Gordon
  • Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray
The Marrying Kind Writer 1952 George Cukor
  • Columbia
  • Co-written with Ruth Gordon
  • Cast: Judy Holliday, Aldo Ray
Born Yesterday Writer (from his play) 1950 George Cukor
  • Columbia
  • Writer: Garson Kanin (from his play, revised screenplay uncredited), Albert Mannheimer (screenplay)
  • Academy Award Nominations – Best Costume Design, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay
Adam’s Rib Writer 1949 George Cukor
  • MGM
  • Co-written with Ruth Gordon
  • Academy Award Nomination – Best Screenplay
  • Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell
A Double Life Writer 1947 George Cukor
  • Universal
  • Co-written with Ruth Gordon
  • Academy Award Nomination – Best Director, Best Screenplay
From This Day Forward Writer (in collaboration) 1946 John Berry
  • RKO
  • In collaboration with: Hugo Butler (screenplay), Clifford Odets (uncredited), Charles Schnee (uncredited), Edith R. Sommer (uncredited)
  • Based on Thomas Bell’s novel All Brides are Beautiful
  • Cast: John Fontaine, Mark Stevens
The More the Merrier Writer (in collaboration) 1943 George Stevens
  • Columbia
  • In collaboration with: Robert Russell (story and screenplay), Frank Ross (story and screenplay), Richard Flournoy (screenplay), Lewis R. Foster (screenplay)
    • Cast: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn (Academy Award – Best Supporting Actor)