Biography

Lukas Heller was born on July 21, 1930 in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was a writer, known for Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Flight of the Phoenix (2004). He was married to Caroline Carter. He died on November 2, 1988 in Camden, London, England, UK.

Father of Zoe Heller and Bruno Heller.

German screenwriter who began in British films in 1959. He became best known for his work with the director Robert Aldrich in the 1960's.

He first attracted attention with a 1961 British TV play, "Cross Of Iron", which caused the German embassy in London to make a formal complaint to the BBC. Robert Aldrich wanted to turn it into a movie - he never did, but he did use Heller as a screenwriter several times thereafter.

[on Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] There were problems with the script. Bob Aldrich [Robert Aldrich] had originally hired Henry Farrell to write the story and script of Charlotte. They had a disagreement over protocol. Aldrich had kept Farrell waiting, and he walked out. I was called in to rework the script. Aldrich was a great director, but story was not his strongest point. He wanted a bit of Diabolique (1955), a bit of this, a bit of that. We didn't have the time we had on Baby Jane [What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)], which was reworked over a period of six months.

[remembering Joan Crawford during a rehearsal of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] She would query lines with absolutely no concept of the emotional or dramatic content - but purely on the grammatical or logical element. She argued for hours, being very literal in her interpretation, and always putting it in this beautiful, modulated voice. She was giving a performance. She wanted to establish her authority on the picture and everyone had to go along with her.