Edward Bernds(1905-2000)

In 1956 Bernds was nominated for an Academy Award by accident. The Academy wished to recognize the script for the Bing Crosby/Grace Kelly film Alta società (1956), but accidentally gave the nod to a Bowery Boys epic of the same name, High Society (1955), written by Bernds and Elwood Ullman. To the end of his life, Bernds loved to show visitors his framed Academy nomination certificate, on the back of which was taped a subsequent letter from the Academy, thanking him profusely for acknowledging the error and refusing the nomination.

[on working with Zsa Zsa Gabor in La regina di Venere (1958)] [She] was very difficult all through the picture. The producer, Ben Schwalb, went to the hospital with ulcers halfway through the picture. I was left to cope with her alone, and she damn near gave me ulcers! It always bothered me that here on this planet Venus, she was the only one who spoke with a foreign accent.