Ring Lardner, Jr.

Ring Lardner, Jr.

Born: August 19, 1915
Died: October 31, 2000
in Chicago, Illinois, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ringgold Wilmer "Ring" Lardner Jr. (August 19, 1915 – October 31, 2000) was an American journalist and screenwriter blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s.

Ring Lardner Jr. moved to Hollywood where he worked as a publicist and "script doctor" before writing his own material. This included Woman of the Year, a film that won him an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay in 1942. He also worked on the scripts for the films Laura (1944), Brotherhood of Man (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and M*A*S*H (1970). The script of the latter earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Lardner held strong left-wing views and during the Spanish Civil War he helped raise funds for the Republican cause. He was also involved in organizing anti-fascist demonstrations. His brother, James Lardner, was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and was killed in action in Spain in 1938. Although his political involvement upset the owners of the film studios, he continued to be given work and in 1947 became one of the highest paid scriptwriters in Hollywood when he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox at $2,000 a week.

Movies for Ring Lardner, Jr....

Enlisted: The Story of 'M*A*S*H'
Title: Enlisted: The Story of 'M*A*S*H'
Character: Self
Released: January 8, 2000
Type: Movie
A behind the scenes look at the making of the movie M*A*S*H. The documentary reveals all of the chaos, politics, and conflict that was going on behind the scenes during production of the movie through new interviews done with director Robert Altman as well as Richard Zanuck, who was head of production for 20th Century Fox at the time, and others.
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Red Hollywood
Title: Red Hollywood
Character: Self
Released: August 16, 1996
Type: Movie
A documentary that examines the films made by the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist and offers a radically different perspective on a key period in the history of American cinema.
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Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Title: Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Character: Self
Released: January 19, 1990
Type: Movie
Documentary is about the life and work of American screenwriter Waldo Salt who won two Academy Awards and was put on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. The story is told through interviews with collaborators and friends such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and with clips from Salt's films, chiefly Midnight Cowboy.
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The Hollywood Ten
Title: The Hollywood Ten
Character: Self
Released: January 15, 1950
Type: Movie
A brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House Un-American Activities Committee and their controversial and self-incriminatory questions during the red scare. With that act of defiance, they were sentenced to one year in prison simply for speaking their minds and exercising their constitutional rights as concerned citizens. This is their story, their version of the facts, and their opinions.