Was credited with the screenplay for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), even though it was
actually written by the blacklisted duo of Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (credit
was changed posthumously in the 1980s). He was not present at the
awards ceremony. Kim Novak accepted the award on his
behalf.
In the mid-1930s he was a rubber planter for a British company in Malaya. During WWII he was an undercover agent for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in southeast Asia.