From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Edmund Hall North (March 12, 1911 – August 28, 1990), was an American screenwriter who shared an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with Francis Ford Coppola in 1970 for their script for Patton. North wrote the screenplay for the 1951 science-fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still and is credited for creating the famous line from the film, "Klaatu barada nikto". He was a son of Bobby North and Stella Maury who performed in vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies. North began writing plays while attending Culver Military Academy in Indiana and at Stanford University. As a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II he made training and educational films. North was a former president of the screen branch of the Writers Guild of America in which he served on more than 40 committees, including the contract-bargaining panel. North and his wife, Collette had two daughters, Susan and Bobbie. He lived in Brentwood, California, and was 79 when he died.