Claude Howard Binyon, writer and director, was born in Chicago on October 17, 1905. He attended the University of Missouri where he was editor of the school paper, The Outlaw. In 1924 Binyon returned to Chicago where he became a newspaper reporter. The following year he began working for Variety and eventually became their Hollywood city editor. Among his writings for Variety were his “Inaccurate Biographies” which spoofed such Hollywood notables as Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, Will Rogers, Raoul Walsh, Adolph Zukor, and others.
Once in Hollywood Binyon sold his first script (Blonde Pressure) to a studio and in 1931 joined Paramount Pictures Corporation as a screenwriter. Several of his early scripts were written with Frank Butler and Joseph Mankiewicz. Later he teamed with director Wesley Ruggles and wrote many of the Carole Lombard and early Claudette Colbert-Fred MacMurray comedies. With the exception of a brief period (1940) when Columbia Pictures Corporation engaged him for some of their films, Binyon remained under contract to Paramount until he entered the service in 1942.
While in the Army, Binyon worked on several projects in Frank Capra's unit and as an officer in the Signal Corps. He produced, wrote, and directed several of the service short subjects for the Army-Navy Screen Magazine and later headed the western division of that organization. He also supervised a photographic crew, participated in the writing of the orientation film series Why We Fight, and co-authored the screenplay for the musical This Is the Army.
In 1945 he returned to Paramount as a writer-producer; two years later he signed a contract with Universal-International as a writer-director. During the 1950s, Binyon worked for several major studios including Columbia Pictures, Paramount, and Twentieth Century Fox. He also occasionally wrote for private producers and for television.
Binyon actively participated in several professional organizations. As a member of the Screen Writers Guild, he was elected to the executive board, was chairman of the public relations and bulletin committees, and was a member of the grievance and finance committees. In addition he was a secretary and board member of the Screen Directors Guild. Later he became the first national secretary of the Directors Guild of America and served on its board of directors. Binyon also held membership in the Dramatists Guild and in the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Binyon is married; he and his wife Florence have a son, Claude (“Tardy”), and a daughter, Barbara.
