James Hilton (9 September 1900 - 20 December 1954) was an English novelist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his novels Lost Horizon, Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Random Harvest, as well as co-writing screenplays for the films Camille (1936) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), the latter earning him an Academy Award.
Hilton was born in Leigh, Lancashire, the son of John Hilton, the headmaster of Chapel End School in Walthamstow. He was educated at the Monoux School Walthamstow till 1914, then The Leys School, Cambridge, and then at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he wrote his first novel and was awarded an honours degree in English literature. He started work as a journalist, first for the Manchester Guardian, then reviewing fiction for The Daily Telegraph.
He married Alice Brown, a secretary at the BBC, just before they left for the United States in 1935, but they divorced in 1937. The same year, he married actress Galina Kopernak, but they divorced eight years later. He became an American citizen in 1948. He died in 1954.