The Hollywood Ten: Brief Biographies

Alvah Bessie

·      -Born in July 4^th, 1904

·      -Attended Columbia University

·      -Fought in the Spanish Civil War as part of the pro-Republican International Brigade

·      -1945 film, Objective Burma, nominated for an Academy Award

Herbert J. Biberman

·      Born on March 4^th, 1900

·      Directed Soviet plays  (Red Rust, Roar China) as member of the Theater Guild from 1928-1930

·      Post-blacklist movie, Salt of the Earth, released in 1954, was not shown in the U.S. until 1965

Lester Cole

·      Born on June 19^th, 1904

·      Originally an actor, wrote his first screenplay, If I Had a Million, in 1930

·      Co-Founded the Screen Writers guild in 1933

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Edward Dmytryk

·      Born on September 4^th, 1908

·      Film editor and director

·      Involved in the production of several anti-Fascist films during WWII, including the powerful Hitler’s Children 

·      Returned to the HUAC in 1951 as a “friendly witness,” identifying twenty-six former Party members, and claiming John Howard Lawson, Adrian Scott and Albert Maltz forced him to included the Communist dogma found within his films

Ring Lardner Jr.

·      Born August 5^th, 1915

·      Worked as an unaccredited script doctor before become the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, earning $2,000 dollars a week by early 1947

·      Worked on two Academy Award winning films, Woman of the Year (Best Screenplay, 1942) and MASH (Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, 1971)

John Howard Lawson

·      Born September 25^th, 1894

·      Red Cross ambulance driver during WWI

·      Worked in New York City as a playwright (with obvious Marxists ideas) until he moved to Hollywood in 1928

·      Nominated for Best Writing, Original Story in 1939 for his Spanish Civil War film, Blockade

·      Co-Founder and first president of Screen Writers Guild
 ·   First to appear in front of HUAC

Albert Maltz

·      Born October 8^th, 1908

·      Attended Columbia University

·      Novelist and playwright in New York City before becoming a Hollywood screenwriter

·      Scripted numerous propaganda films during WWII, including Academy Award winning Moscow Strikes Back (Best Documentary, 1943)

Samuel Ornitz

·      Born November 15^th, 1890

·      Against the capitalist system of which his father, as a New York City merchant, was a part, Ornitz made his first public speech against it at the age of twelve

·      Wrote for small Hollywood studios

·      Organized and severed as a board member of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933

Adrian Scott

·      Born February 6^th, 1912

·      Produced numerous Edward Dmytryk films, including Academy Award nominee Crossfire

·      Eventually exposed by Dmytryk upon the director’s hearings

Dalton Trumbo

·      Born December 9^th, 1905

·      Wrote for various publications (Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Spectator) before screenwriting in the 1930s

·      Nominated at the 1941 Academy Awards for Best Writing, Screenplay for the film Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman

·      As a blacklistee, continued to work under various pseudonyms, writing films such as Roman Holiday (credited as Ian McLellan Hunter) and The Brave One (credited as Robert Rich)


Sources: 
http://www.mcpld.org/


http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/