Dalton Trumbo

Dalton Trumbo

James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist. As one of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo won two Academy Awards while blacklisted; one was originally given to a front writer, and one was awarded to "Robert Rich," Trumbo's pseudonym.

Blacklisting effectively ended in 1960 when it lost credibility. Trumbo was publicly given credit for two blockbuster films: Otto Preminger made public that Trumbo wrote the screenplay for the smash hit, Exodus, and Kirk Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus. Further, President-elect John F. Kennedy crossed picket lines to see the movie.

His son Christopher Trumbo wrote a play based on his letters during the period of the blacklist, entitled Red, White and Blacklisted (2003), produced in New York in 2003. He adapted it as a film, adding material from documentary footage, Trumbo (2007).

On December 19, 2011, The Writers Guild of America announced that Trumbo will get full credit for his work on the screenplay of the 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday, sixty years after the fact.

Read more about Dalton Trumbo:  Early Life, Career, Involvement With Communism, Later Life, Academy Awards, Personal Life, Death, Works

Famous quotes by dalton trumbo:

    Y’see it’s sort of a game with me. Its whole object is to prove that two plus two equals four. That seems to make sense, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who try to stretch it to five.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)

    What does headquarters think these guys came over here for, a sewing circle? They go up playing for keeps. Cops and robbers with rocks in the snowballs. Brass knuckles and lead pipes and a roughneck conviction they can lick any man in the world.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)

    One of the disadvantages of being a patrician is that occasionally you’re obliged to act like one.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)

    The chief internal enemies of any state are those public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)

    A good businessman never makes a contract unless he’s sure he can carry it through, yet every fool on earth is perfectly willing to sign a marriage contract without considering whether he can live up to it or not.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)