ArtsBeat

Dalton Trumbo's Screenwriting Credit Restored to `Roman
Holiday'

By Dave Itzkoff
New York Times Blog 
December 21, 2011

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/dalton-trumbos-screenwriting-credit-restored-to-roman-holiday/?scp=1&sq=Trumbo&st=cse

The whimsical secret of Audrey Hepburn's royal status
may be the heart of William Wyler`s "Roman Holiday,"
but for years the romantic comedy concealed another
more troubling truth: the film was missing the
screenwriting credit of Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted
writer and its original author, and instead attributed
his work to Ian McLellan Hunter. Now, nearly 60 years
after the 1953 release of "Roman Holiday," the Writers
Guild of America, West said it had restored Trumbo's
credit following the efforts of Trumbo's and Hunter's
sons.

Trumbo, who died in 1976, was one of 10 filmmakers -
the so-called Hollywood Ten - who were cited for
contempt of Congress in 1947 when they refused to
testify about their political beliefs before the House
Un-American Activities Committee; he served 11 months
in prison and was effectively unable to continue
working in the film industry. After Trumbo wrote the
screenplay for "Roman Holiday" in exile in Mexico,
Hunter, who was later blacklisted himself, served as a
front writer, receiving the payment for the work (which
he passed along to Trumbo) as well as the writing
credit (which he shared with another writer, John
Dighton).

In 1992 the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences voted to credit Trumbo for
the screenwriting Oscar won by "Roman Holiday," and
presented his widow, Cleo, with a statuette the
following year.

Trumbo's son, Christopher, and Hunter's son, Tim, who
had been friends since childhood, decided in 2010 to
contact the Writers Guild to seek the official
restoration of Dalton Trumbo's writing credit for the
film. (Christopher Trumbo died in January.)

In a letter quoted by the Guild at its Web site, Tim
Hunter wrote: "Obviously, it was important for Chris
Trumbo to know before he died that his father's credit
would be restored. Under the circumstances I readily
agreed to see if we can get it done." He added: "`Roman
Holiday' was tangible proof of a friendship, a symbol
on celluloid of many friendships, and the manifestation
of a pact between friends during a time of political
persecution."

Chris Keyser, the president of the Writers Guild of
America, West, responded: "It is not in our power to
erase the mistakes or the suffering of the past. But we
can make amends, we can pledge not to fall prey again
to the dangerous power of fear or to the impulse to
censor, even if that pledge is really only a hope. And,
in the end, we can give credit where credit is due."

Mr. Keyser continued: "In acknowledging the
contributions of Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter and
John Dighton to the writing of Roman Holiday, the WGA
has not undone the hurt, but it has, at last and at
least, told the truth. That fact is a tribute to the
friendship of two fathers and then two sons and to a
thing we can hold on to, which is that the friendship
was stronger than and outlived the hate."

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate