Editing Cliff Robertson (section)

==Columbia Pictures embezzlement scandal==
In 1977, Robertson discovered that his signature had been forged on a $10,000 check payable to him, although it was for work he had not performed. He also learned that the forgery had been carried out by then-[[Columbia Pictures]] head [[David Begelman]], and on reporting it he inadvertently triggered one of the biggest Hollywood scandals of the 1970s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Cliff Robertson|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8756059/Cliff-Robertson.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=London|date=September 11, 2011|access-date=April 2, 2018|archive-date=May 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526205503/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8756059/Cliff-Robertson.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Begelman was charged with [[embezzlement]], convicted, and later fired from Columbia. Despite pressure to remain quiet, Robertson and his wife [[Dina Merrill]] spoke to the press. As a result of coming forward with the scandal, the studio blacklisted him and refused to make another film with him in it until 2002's ''[[Spider-Man (2002 film)|Spider-Man]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Lee, G.|title=The Lonely Ordeal of Cliff Robertson.|date=March 28, 1980|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|162762482}}}}</ref>

He finally returned to studio film five years later, starring in ''[[Brainstorm (1983 film)|Brainstorm]]'' (1983).<ref name="yahoo"/><ref>McClintick, David. ''Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street'', [[William Morrow and Company]], 1982.</ref> The story of the scandal is told in David McClintick's 1982 bestseller, ''Indecent Exposure''.