Actor / Director Profile

Blacklisted writer in the 50s, a victim of the Republican-led HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), he still continued to write under pseudonyms as did many other blacklisted writers such as Ring Lardner Jr. and Dalton Trumbo, and his biggest contribution during that time was probably his writing work with other blacklisted writers Arnold Manoff & Abraham Polonsky on the "You Are There" (1953) TV segments starring Walter Cronkite. Of large importance is his screenplay for the dark comedy about blacklisted screenwriters, The Front (1976) starring Woody Allen. The blacklisted writers in the deli are based on a composite of him, Manoff & Polonsky. After he graduated from Dartmouth, he wrote for The New Yorker magazine and also the G.I. weekly "Yank" during World War II. He had barely started working in Hollywood when he was blacklisted. He is a recipient of The Writers Guild of America East Lifetime Achievement Award and he also wrote the book "Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist". Though unfairly blacklisted by Hollywood for his political alliances, luckily he recovered to have a long remarkable career.