Alfred Hayes 18 April 1911 14 August 1985 was a British screenwriter, television writer, novelist, and poet, who worked in Italy and the United States He is perhaps best known for his poem Joe Hill I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night , later set to music by Earl Robinson.Born in London, Hayes graduated from New York s City College now part of City University of New York , worked briefly as a newspaper reporter, and began writing fiction and poetry in the 1930s During World War II he served in Europe in the U.S Army Special Services the morale division Afterwards, he stayed in Rome and became a screenwriter of Italian neorealist films As a co writer on Roberto Rossellini s Paisan 1946 , he was nominated for an Academy Award he received another Academy Award nomination for Teresa 1951 He adapted his own novel The Girl on the Via Flaminia into a play in 1953 it was adapted into a French language film Un acte d amour.He was an uncredited co writer of Vittorio De Sica s neorealist film Bicycle Thieves 1948 for which he also wrote the English language subtitles.Among his U.S filmwriting credits are The Lusty Men 1952, directed by Nicholas Ray and the film adaptation of the Maxwell Anderson Kurt Weill musical Lost in the Stars 1974 His credits as a television scriptwriter included scripts for American series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Nero Wolfe and Mannix.