Oliver H. P. Garrett (May 6, 1894 – February 22, 1952) was an American film director, writer, newspaperman, and rifleman.

Oliver H. P. Garrett was born in Laurens County, South Carolina.^[1]

By the fall of 1917 he was a rifleman who fought against the Germans, but he was wounded and won the Distinguished Service Cross.^[2] He interviewed Al Capone and Adolf Hitler in 1923 after the failed Pusch and in the early 1930s.^[2] He was a newspaperman for The Sun in the 1920s,^[2] and he was the only on board of the SS Morro Castle until his burning and sinking^{[clarification needed]}.^[2] He was hired by David O. Selznick after writing the final script of Gone with the Wind (1939) because Scott Fitzgerald wanted a film^{[clarification needed]} of conventional length.^[3]

Garrett was a close friend and next-door neighbour to Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg.^[3] When Thalberg married movie star Norma Shearer, Oliver was the usher of the wedding.^[3]

He directed and wrote the screenplay for Careful, Soft Shoulder (1942).^[4] The script employs a first-person narrative and his direction is not imaginative and uses a first-person camera.^[5]

He wrote the story and dialogue for Street of Chance (1942),^[6] based on the life of the gangster Arthur Rothstein and it is a remake of the 1930 film.^[7] According to Louella O. Parsons, "Oliver H. P. Garrett has written a thriling story, but even so, much of the credit must go to John Cromwell, who directed the story with finesse and with a fine regard for detail.^[8]

He wrote the story for the crime drama Her Husband Lies (1937), which was adapted and was also a remake of Street of Chance, starring William Powell and Kay Francis.^[7] He wrote the screenplay and the dialogue of For the Defense (1930),^[6] and Scandal Sheet (1931).^[9] The Texan (1930) was based on an adaption of the story The Double-Eyed Deceiver.^[10] City Streets (1931), directed by Rouben Mamoulian, was adapted by Max Marcin and Garrett wrote the script.^[11][12] He wrote the screenplay for The Man I Married (1940).^[13]