Aeneas MacKenzie, or Æneas MacKenzie (August 15, 1889 in Stornoway, Scotland – June 2, 1962 in Los Angeles), was a Scottish-American screenwriter. MacKenzie wrote many notable Hollywood films, including: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Ivanhoe (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Maackenzie came from England to work on a film of East Lynne.[1]
In January 1938, he was under contract to Warner Bros. to write what would become Juarez.[2] In February 1939, he was working on a biopic of John Paul Jones for James Cagney.[3] He also wrote a biopic of Disraeli for Claude Rains.[4] Neither were made, but by July 1940, he was working on a biopic of George Custer which became They Died with Their Boots On.[5] MacKenzie wrote The Widow of Devil's Island for Bette Davis.[6] In March 1942, he was working on a movie about "Sing Sing" prison.[7]
In October 1943, RKO announced they would make a film from his original story, The Spanish Main.[8]
In July 1946, he wrote a script of Ivanhoe for Paramount.[9] The project was postponed due to the Palestine Cris and instead MacKenzie was assigned to do a biopic on Ludwig II for producer Robert Fellows.[10] A year later, his Ivanhoe script was sold to RKO.[11] They sold it to MGM who filmed it several years later.
He worked on the script for The Black Book (1949).
In January 1950, he sold a script to Douglas Fairbanks Jr which became Against All Flags.[12] Several months later, MacKenzie sold this story to Universal, who hired him to write the script.[13] Also at Universal, he did The Prince Who Was a Thief.[14]
MacKenzie later headed the script team on The Ten Commandments.[15]
In July 1957, he was writing Peter and Catherine about Russia in the 18th century for Ross Hunter at Universal.[16]
In late 1958, MacKenzie was reported to be working on a biopic of William the Conqueror for Evyan Perfumes.[17] [18]