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Wednesday, September 2, 8-9:30 pm ET
This profile of Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo, who refused to testify before HUAC in 1947 and was imprisoned, is adapted from his son Christopher’s 2003 play and based on Trumbo’s letters.
With credits for Kitty Foyle and Thirty Seconds
Over Tokyo to his name - and the anti-war novel Johnny Got
His Gun - the young Dalton Trumbo was one of Hollywood's
highest-paid writers. Refusing to testify before the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947, he was part of the
group known as the Hollywood Ten; convicted for contempt, he spent
11 months in federal prison and lost all rights to ply his craft.
Writing 30 scripts under pseudonyms - he won an Oscar in 1956 for
The Brave One as Robert Reich - he was not recognized
again publicly until 1960, when Otto Preminger credited him on
Exodus and Kirk Douglas did so on Spartacus -
actions considered to mark the end of the blacklist. As late as
1993, Trumbo was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for Roman
Holiday (1953). This program is adapted from his son
Christopher's 2003 play and based on the remarkable letters Trumbo
wrote during the devastation wrought by the "Red Scare" in mid-20th
century.