麻豆影院

Hollywood screenwriter and First Amendment champion Dalton Trumbo died nearly 40 years ago. In 2015 he's making a comeback 鈥� and looking a lot like Bryan Cranston.

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The man from hollywood minced no words.

鈥淵our job is to ask questions and mine is to answer them,鈥� screenwriter听Dalton Trumbo听(A&S ex鈥�28) lectured a congressional interrogator from the witness table. 鈥淚 shall answer 鈥榊es鈥� or 鈥楴o,鈥� if I please to answer. I shall answer in my own words.鈥�

It was Oct. 28, 1947. The Cold War was heating up and the U.S. Congress had summoned Trumbo and nine other film industry workers, mostly screenwriters, to testify in Washington about their political affiliations.

Above all, the House Un-American Activities Committee wanted to know if they were Communists.

Trumbo, the most prominent of the group, the Hollywood Ten, refused to say.

鈥淚 believe I have the right to be confronted with any evidence which supports this question,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see what you have.鈥�

Dismissed as uncooperative, Trumbo scoffed: 鈥淭his is the beginning of an American concentration camp.鈥�

That prophesy did not come to pass, but Trumbo, a married father of three young children, paid for his act of conscience.

It derailed a flourishing, prosperous career, led to prison, prompted a two-year exile in Mexico and forced him into a black-market livelihood for more than a decade.

It also helped make him a civil liberties icon and secured him an exalted place in the history of Hollywood and of Cold War America.

鈥淭rumbo has become a hero to many people,鈥� says Larry Ceplair, a scholar of Hollywood鈥檚 blacklist era, during which Trumbo and hundreds of others in the film industry were fired or professionally exiled for their suspected political affiliations.

For Trumbo, who died in 1976, 2015 marks a revival: He鈥檚 the subject not only of a major new biography co-authored by Ceplair (it details the congressional appearance) but also of a star-studded feature film scheduled for release in November.

In听Trumbo, Bryan Cranston of the AMC hit听Breaking Bad听plays the title role. The cast also includes Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Diane Lane and Louis C.K. Bleecker Street, the film鈥檚 distributor, bills it as 鈥淭rumbo鈥檚 story and his fight against gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Mirren) in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like it鈥檚 the Year of Trumbo,鈥� says Ceplair, who co-wrote the new biography,听Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical听(University Press of Kentucky) with the late Christopher Trumbo, Dalton Trumbo鈥檚 son.

In the decades after Trumbo鈥檚 1947 defiance of Congress he would write the film classics听Exodus听(1960) and听Spartacus听(1960), cement his place in Hollywood history and hasten the end of the blacklist. Ultimately he would win two Academy Awards, for听The Brave One听(1957) and, posthumously, for 1954鈥檚听Roman Holiday.

But the road back from exile was long and hard.

Born in Montrose, Colo., in 1905 and raised in Grand Junction, Trumbo entered CU-麻豆影院 in 1924. He edited his high school paper and worked as a professional reporter. At CU he wrote for听Silver and Gold, the student newspaper of the day, as well as a campus humor magazine called听Dodo.

It was a tough year. With little financial support from home, he constantly labored for money 鈥� sweeping the floor of a newspaper office, stoking the furnace of the Delta Tau Delta house, serving meals. He wrote greeting cards on commission.

When Trumbo鈥檚 father lost his job as a shoe salesman, the family moved to Los Angeles. Trumbo followed at the end of his freshman year.

Soon his father was dead and the future screenwriter was working nights at an industrial bakery.

鈥淚 felt the job was only a temporary one against my return to college in the autumn,鈥� Trumbo wrote in personal papers quoted in the new biography. 鈥淎s matters turned out鈥�I worked a nine-hour night shift at that bakery for eight straight years.鈥�

During the day, Trumbo wrote furiously. In 1931 he got a start in Hollywood as a magazine writer and film reviewer. This led to a job at Warner Brothers, first as a script reader, then as screenwriter. He subsequently worked at Columbia, MGM and RKO. On the side, he wrote novels and in 1939 won an early National Book Award for his anti-war novel听Johnny Got His Gun.

A pacifist and underdog champion, Trumbo actively supported organized labor, civil rights and freedom of speech and association. He joined (and left) the Communist Party twice, decisions that, according to Ceplair, reflected a general affinity for leftist causes and solidarity with close friends who were party members, but not support of the Soviet Union.

鈥淭o me it was not a matter of great consequence,鈥� Trumbo said of party membership, according to the book. 鈥淚t represented no significant change in my thought or life.鈥�

Still, Trumbo was outspoken, and it was little surprise that he became a target for Communist-hunting congressmen. His public defiance of them altered the course of his life and legacy.

A pacifist and underdog champion, Trumbo actively supported organized labor, civil rights and freedom of speech and association.

Convicted of contempt of Congress, he spent nearly a year in prison. Afterward, he moved his family to Mexico and wrote black-market film scripts. When he returned to California, he sought to destroy the industry-enforced blacklist.

The core strategy was the steady production 鈥� by Trumbo and other blacklisted writers 鈥� of high-quality scripts under pseudonyms. As 鈥淩obert Rich,鈥� Trumbo wrote听The Brave One, which won the 1957 Academy Award for best screen story.

As some of the scripts became popular films and won big awards, rumors emerged about the true authors, undermining the blacklist and emboldening movie studios to hire some of them openly.

Exactly how and when the blacklist ended remains a matter of debate, but for Trumbo 1960 was a watershed year: Director Otto Preminger and actor/producer Kirk Douglas acknowledged and credited Trumbo as chief screenwriter of two of the year鈥檚 biggest films,听Exodus听and听Spartacus.

鈥淭his was an enormous breakthrough and drove a stake in the heart of the blacklist,鈥� says Jim Palmer, who retired from CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 film studies faculty last year.

Before long, Trumbo was again working openly and under his own name, with more work than he could handle.

Still, says Palmer, 鈥淭he repercussions of the blacklist were long-lasting. They went beyond 1960. Proof of that is that Trumbo didn鈥檛 receive his Academy Awards [for years].鈥�

In the early 1990s, a group of CU-麻豆影院 students organized a campaign to honor Trumbo on campus.

With guidance from English professor Bruce Kawin and endorsements from Hollywood heavyweights听Robert Redford听(A&S ex鈥�58, HonDocHum鈥�87), Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Hepburn and others, as well as then-Colorado Gov.听Roy Romer听(Law鈥�52, HonDocHum鈥�06), the group persuaded the Board of Regents to rename the fountain outside the UMC the Dalton Trumbo Fountain Court.

鈥淚t was for a good cause and wasn鈥檛 about money,鈥� says听Kristina Baumli听(MEngl ex鈥�92), a leading member of the student group and now a literature and film scholar. 鈥淚t was about the First Amendment 鈥� It was about integrity.鈥�

On Oct. 17, 1993, a cadre of Trumbo鈥檚 friends and fans assembled on campus. Actor Kirk Douglas, screenwriters Ring Lardner Jr. and Paul Jarrico,听The Nation听magazine editor Victor Navasky and members of Trumbo鈥檚 family all were present.

The plaque reads:

Dalton Trumbo: 1905-1976
CU Student
Distinguished Film Writer
Lifelong Advocate of the First Amendment.

Filmmaker Alex Cox, who teaches film studies at CU, hopes the new book and film inspire students to pause at the plaque and consider the weight of their principles.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good question for them to ask themselves,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ecause Trumbo put principle ahead of money, at great personal cost.鈥�

Photography by Cleo Trumbo (portrait, Dalton and Christopher);听Mitzi Trumbo (bathtub)