Julius J. Epstein
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Julius J. Epstein (born August 22, 1909, New York, New York; died December 30, 2000, Los Angeles, California) was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, most noted for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others —- of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the film Casablanca (1942), for which its team of writers won an Academy Award. Following his brother's death in 1952, he continued writing, garnering two more Oscar nominations and, in 1998, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association career achievement award.
Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, had a love-hate relationship with the writing duo of the Epstein brothers. He could not argue with their commercial success, but he deplored their pranks, their work habits and the hours they kept. He consistently butted heads with the two. In 1952, Warner gave the brothers' names to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). They never testified before the committee, but on a HUAC questionaire, when asked if they ever were members of a "subversive organization," they wrote-in, "Yes. Warner Brothers."
Julius is the uncle of Leslie Epstein, director of the creative writing program at Boston University and accomplished novelist.
He is the great-uncle of Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein.