Writer-director Mel Shaverson dies at 90

Writer-director Mel Shaverson died today at his home in Studio City. Shaverson got his start writing gags for Bob Hope’s radio show in the 1930s; his first movie work came with 1941’s Ice-Capades, with his first screenplay (The Princess and the Pirate) following three years later. He would go on to script or co-script over thirty films, and directed a dozen films as well as several TV productions. Shaverson was nominated twice for an Academy Award, for 1956’s The Seven Little Foys, starring Hope, and 1958’s Houseboat, with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.