Dalton Trumbo

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, a two-time Academy Award winner who was equally famous for being one of the Hollywood figures blacklisted during the late 1940s and '50s, will be saluted by the American Cinematheque this month. Screening over the three-night tribute will be "Spartacus" (1960), "Exodus" (1960), "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962) and "Johnny Got His Gun" (1971), which Trumbo also directed, based on his antiwar novel of the same name.

In his career, the legendary Kirk Douglas earned three Oscar nominations, received an honorary Oscar, survived a stroke, did a one-man stage show at 92 and helped break the blacklist. Douglas and his famously cleft chin are still going strong at 95. The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre is honoring him Sept. 19 through 23 with the retrospective "Paths of Glory: An In-Person Tribute to Kirk Douglas. " The Times' Geoff Boucher will be interviewing the actor-producer Sept.

Cleo Trumbo, the widow of Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for more than a decade as a member of the Hollywood 10, has died. She was 93. Trumbo died of age-related causes Friday at home in the Bay Area city of Los Altos, said her daughter Mitzi, with whom she was living. "She wasn't a person to be in the limelight at all," Mitzi Trumbo said of her mother. "She really devoted herself to the kids, in making sure that we were all OK, and in really keeping the family together."

It's classic McCartney Following in the footsteps of other baby boomer crooners dipping into the classics, Paul McCartney said Monday he'll be releasing a new album of cover songs, along with two new compositions, on Feb. 7. The as-yet-untitled album will feature American songs that McCartney said were key early influences on him and fellow former Beatle John Lennon. The titles are being kept under wraps for now, but there will be guest appearances by Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton.

Your report that the Writers Guild of America is investigating Dalton Trumbo's contribution to the classic 1953 film "Roman Holiday" (Calendar, Aug. 13) allows me to discuss a subject I have kept confidential for more than two decades. As a Ph.D student and then junior faculty member at UCLA, I spent the last half of the '60s producing a scholarly study of the Hollywood blacklist.

The Writers Guild of America is currently investigating whether Dalton Trumbo was wrongfully deprived of credit for the original story and the Academy Award for best story that Ian McLellan Hunter received for the 1953 movie "Roman Holiday," starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. There have been recent reports that Hunter "fronted" the script for his friend Trumbo, who was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusal to cooperate with the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Christopher Trumbo, the screen and television writer son of Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted and imprisoned during the Red Scare as a member of the Hollywood 10, has died. He was 70. Trumbo died Saturday from complications of kidney cancer while in hospice care at his home in Ojai, said his sister, Mitzi Trumbo. During a more than 40-year writing career launched in 1967, Trumbo wrote episodes of TV series such as "Ironside," "Quincy, M.E.," and "Falcon Crest" ?

Dalton Trumbo: An article in Tuesday's Calendar about a tribute to the late screenwriter Dalton Trumbo said that his two children, Christopher and Mitzi, were scheduled to attend a May 21 screening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Trumbo had a third child, Nikola, who lives in Seattle and will not be attending.

Nathan Lane is going back to the New York stage -- as Hollywood screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo. The actor, last seen on Broadway as Max Bialystock in "The Producers," will star in "Trumbo," a theater piece based on the screenwriter's letters and written by his son, Christopher Trumbo. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplays for movie classics such as "The Brave One," "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," "Lonely Are the Brave" and "Roman Holiday."

Making Things Right: The late Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten screenwriters blacklisted in the 1940s, was given official writing credit Tuesday by the Writers Guild of America for the screenplay to the 1949 film "Gun Crazy." Trumbo shares the credit with MacKinlay Kantor, whose story for the Saturday Evening Post was the basis for the film.

Christopher Trumbo, the screen and television writer son of Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted and imprisoned during the Red Scare as a member of the Hollywood 10, has died. He was 70. Trumbo died Saturday from complications of kidney cancer while in hospice care at his home in Ojai, said his sister, Mitzi Trumbo. During a more than 40-year writing career launched in 1967, Trumbo wrote episodes of TV series such as "Ironside," "Quincy, M.E.," and "Falcon Crest" ?

Cleo Trumbo, the widow of Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for more than a decade as a member of the Hollywood 10, has died. She was 93. Trumbo died of age-related causes Friday at home in the Bay Area city of Los Altos, said her daughter Mitzi, with whom she was living. "She wasn't a person to be in the limelight at all," Mitzi Trumbo said of her mother. "She really devoted herself to the kids, in making sure that we were all OK, and in really keeping the family together."

I was happy to read the article on "Lonely Are the Brave," ["Trampling Boundaries in 'Lonely,' " July 5]. It is a film I have always admired. In the piece, Sam Adams describes the "orchestrating" of the film by Kirk Douglas. Although Douglas' Bryna Productions was involved in the making of the film, you may not be aware of the role Edward Lewis played in the breaking of the blacklist. Lewis was the producer of "Spartacus" and "Lonely Are the Brave." He was partnered with Douglas in a number of other films and was instrumental in the hiring of Dalton Trumbo.

Dalton Trumbo: An article in Tuesday's Calendar about a tribute to the late screenwriter Dalton Trumbo said that his two children, Christopher and Mitzi, were scheduled to attend a May 21 screening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Trumbo had a third child, Nikola, who lives in Seattle and will not be attending.

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, a two-time Academy Award winner who was equally famous for being one of the Hollywood figures blacklisted during the late 1940s and '50s, will be saluted by the American Cinematheque this month. Screening over the three-night tribute will be "Spartacus" (1960), "Exodus" (1960), "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962) and "Johnny Got His Gun" (1971), which Trumbo also directed, based on his antiwar novel of the same name.

The casting of "The O.C.'s" Ben McKenzie as a horrifically wounded World War I soldier in "Johnny Got His Gun" might be a nightmarish notion for fans of the TV show, but the presence of this all-American-looking teen idol in a skeletal, heartfelt antiwar drama lends a jarring, current resonance. "It's a very small, little passion project for a few people; I just hope it adds to the conversation a little bit," said McKenzie on a Friday evening in a cafe on noisy Sunset Boulevard.

"Trumbo" is an unconventional film about an unconventional man. Part documentary, part expertly staged readings, it focuses on the unquiet life and unforgettable words of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, someone who, as his son puts it, never had to go looking for trouble because it always came to him.

As Hollywood writers ponder the merits of going out on strike when their contract ends later this fall, there's a movie for them to see, one that can be seen as either a heroic fable or a cautionary tale about their chosen trade. Simply titled "Trumbo," it's a compelling portrait of Dalton Trumbo, one of moviedom's larger- than-life characters who battled the blacklist as a member of the Hollywood Ten and played a key role in the formation of the first union for screenwriters.