According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia Nunnally Johnson, after an early career as a journalist and short-story writer, became one of Hollywood's most accomplished screenwriters and producers from the 1930s through the 1950s, when he began to direct motion pictures as well. He was born on December 5, 1897, in Columbus, Georgia to Johnnie Pearl Patrick and James Nunnally Johnson. His father worked as a superintendent for the Central of Georgia Railway, and his mother was an activist on the local school board. An avid reader with an acute sense of humor, Johnson grew up and attended school in Columbus, his mother's hometown. He died in Hollywood on March 25, 1977.