Mamet to write Anne Frank movie

Anne Frank died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945

Playwright David Mamet is to write a film about Holocaust victim Anne Frank, Walt Disney has announced.

Mamet will base his screenplay on Frank's diary and a Pulitzer-winning 1950s play by husband and wife team Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich.

Frank's diary documented the horrors of being a Jew in Nazi-occupied Holland.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of when she was snatched from her hiding place in Amsterdam and taken to the death camp where she died, aged 15.

Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1984 play Glengarry Glen Ross, a foul-mouthed depiction of four real estate agents involved in a cut-throat battle to avoid redundancy.

It was turned into an acclaimed film, starring Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino, in 1992. His other film credits include scripts for The Untouchables, Hannibal and Wag The Dog.

More recently, he created military action drama The Unit on the CBS network.

A 1959 movie version of Hackett and Goodrich's play won actress Shelley Winters a best supporting actress Oscar for her role as one of the figures in Frank's diary.