The Scottish forward played for Dundee United in the 1930s before becoming a screenwriter and winning the 1959 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Football and film have rarely formed a potent double act. Depicting the drama of the sport without crossing the boundaries of absurdity or cliché has proven a difficult challenge for directors, which is perhaps in part why no professional footballer has ever won an Oscar.
But Neil Paterson, who picked up the prize in 1959 for Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium – now known by the rather snappier title of Best Adapted Screenplay – might have enjoyed a career in the game had he chosen another route.