Nelson Gidding

Screenwriter co-wrote Oscar-nominated ' I Want to Live! ' ; 84

Nelson Gidding, who co-wrote the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the 1958 movie " I Want to Live! " has died. He was 84.

Mr. Gidding died April 2 at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, hospital spokesman Ted Brown said.

" I Want to Live! " was based on the story of Barbara Graham, who was executed in 1955 for the murder of a wealthy, disabled Burbank widow. Mr. Gidding and Don Mankiewicz won Oscar nominations for best adapted screenplay. Susan Hayward won the Academy Award for best actress for her starring role.

Robert Wise was nominated for best director. Mr. Gidding went on to work on four other screenplays for Wise: " Odds Against Tomorrow " (1959), " The Haunting " (1963), " The Andromeda Strain " (1971) and " The Hindenburg " (1975).

" Those are five of my favorite films of the 40 I ' ve done, " Wise told the Los Angeles Times. " He was a lovely man, a fine talent, and had a wonderful sense of humor. "

Mr. Gidding, who lived in Pacific Palisades, just south of Malibu, was born in New York City in 1919. He once said his interest in writing began as a child when he had a poem published in the Boy Scouts magazine.

His father co-owned a department store and Mr. Gidding was sent to the exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College.

During World War II, Mr. Gidding was a navigator on a bomber that was shot down. During 18 months as a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany, he began writing a novel based on his POW experiences, using smuggled pencils and paper that he hid from guards, his son, Josh, told the Times.

He finished the novel, " End Over End, " after the war and it was published in 1946.

After the war, Mr. Gidding wrote for radio shows such as " Sergeant Preston of the Yukon " and later for television and then for motion pictures.

For more than a decade, he taught a University of Southern California course on screen adaptations.

In addition to his son, Mr. Gidding is survived by his second wife, Chun-ling, whom he married in 1998, and a grandson.