Dalton Trumbo beats the Blacklist, yo.

It all began in 1938 when Martin Dies Jr, claimed that communisum was prevalent in Hollywood. The blacklisting started when forty three actors, directors, screen writers, and producers were alleged to be part of the Communist Party. However, out of the forty three people put on that list, nineteen refused to give evidence. They claimed that this was against their first amendment right to freedom of speech and assembly. In addition to the blacklist, Eric Johnson, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, issued a statement known as the "Waldorf Statement" which declared that the ten witnesses would be fired and suspended from acting until their charges were clear and had sworn they were,in fact, not Communists. Although this statement seemed unbreakable, one person outsmarted it, and his name was Dalton Trumbo.

Dalton Trumbo was born in Colorado in 1905. He originally started his career as an editor, writer, and critic for a magazine called the "Hollywood Spectator". He eventually landed a deal as a junior writer for Warner Brothers and started writing movies in 1937 and three years later, he was one of the highest paid writers in Hollywood. His most popular movies include, "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes", and "Kitty Foyle". Although he was very successful in movies, he went back to writing in 1939 and wrote an anti-war novel titled "Johnny Got his Gun". Throughout World War II, Trumbo received letters from Americans using this book to support their argument to make peace with the nazi's in Germany. Naively and foolishly, he reported these letters to the FBI. One afternoon they showed up at his doorstep and he had an epiphany. He realized that the FBI's interest was not in what was written in the letters but in himself. He eventually spent 11 months in a Kentucky prison.

Even after his sentence, Trumbo was not shaken by the U.S. government; he wrote thirty scripts under various pseudonyms. Later, Trumbo was credited for writing screenplays for successful movies such as "Exodus", "Sparticus", "The Brave One", and "Roman Holiday" which featured Academy Award Winner, Audrey Hepburn. In 1956, "The Brave One" was awarded an Oscar under one of his pseodonym's Robert Rich. Also, Ian McLellan Hunter, won an Oscar as a front for Trumbo, for "Roman Holiday" in 1953. Years later, in 1975 and 1993, the Academy publicly recognized Trumbo for his success. And ironically, the film was preserved in the US Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Although other members of the blacklist stopped working altogether, Dalton Trumbo proved that he could do whatever he wanted to do.






Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Holiday
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0874308/bio
http://www.mcpld.org/trumbo/WebPages/biography.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607210/Dalton-Trumbo

Pictures: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/dalton_trumbo/pictures/9731225.php?type=flixster
http://www.mcpld.org/trumbo/WebPages/photogallery.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAredC.htm
http://www.listal.com/viewimage/36155