Editing Dalton Trumbo

{{short description|American screenwriter (1905–1976)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = Dalton Trumbo
| image       = Trumbo 1947.jpg
| caption     = Trumbo at the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] hearings in 1947
| birth_name  = James Dalton Trumbo
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1905|12|9}}
| birth_place = [[Montrose, Colorado]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1976|9|10|1905|12|9}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| spouse      = {{marriage|Cleo Beth Fincher|1938}}
| occupation  = {{hlist|Screenwriter|film director|playwright|essayist|novelist}}
| children    = 3, including [[Christopher Trumbo|Christopher]]
}}

'''James Dalton Trumbo''' (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American [[screenwriter]] who scripted many award-winning films, including ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' (1953), ''[[Exodus (1960 film)|Exodus]]''<!-- 1960 -->, ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (both 1960), and ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'' (1944). One of the [[Hollywood Ten]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/hollywood-ten|title=Hollywood Ten – Cold War |website=History.com|access-date=2018-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224042943/http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/hollywood-ten|archive-date=February 24, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> he refused to testify before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of alleged [[Communist Party USA|Communist]] influences in the motion picture industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/dalton-trumbo-9511141|title=Dalton Trumbo|website=Biography|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615055510/https://www.biography.com/people/dalton-trumbo-9511141|archive-date=June 15, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0874308/bio|title=Dalton Trumbo|website=IMDb|access-date=2018-06-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/16/dalton-trumbo-hollywood-blacklist-mitzi-trumbo-bryan-cranston|title=Hollywood blacklisted my father Dalton Trumbo: now I'm proud they've put him on screen|last=Day|first=Elizabeth|date=2016-01-16|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://biography.yourdictionary.com/dalton-trumbo|title=Dalton Trumbo Facts|website=biography.yourdictionary.com |access-date=2018-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615032422/http://biography.yourdictionary.com/dalton-trumbo|archive-date=June 15, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Trumbo, the other members of the Hollywood Ten, and hundreds of other professionals in the industry were [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted by Hollywood]]. He continued working clandestinely on major films, writing under pseudonyms or other authors' names. His uncredited work won two [[Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]]: for ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), which was presented to a [[Front (identity)|front]] writer, and for ''[[The Brave One (1956 film)|The Brave One]]'' (1956), which was awarded to a [[pseudonym]] used by Trumbo.<ref>{{cite web |title=AMPAS Press Release |url=http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.07.18.html |access-date=March 20, 2008 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008054115/http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.07.18.html |archive-date=October 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/trivia.html AMPAS Oscar Trivia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216113055/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/trivia.html |date=December 16, 2009}}</ref> When he was given public screen credit for both ''Exodus'' and ''Spartacus'' in 1960, it marked the beginning of the end of the Hollywood Blacklist for Trumbo and other affected screenwriters.<ref name="rapold">{{cite news |last=Rapold |first=Nicolas |title='Trumbo' Recalls the Hunters and the Hunted of Hollywood|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/movies/trumbo-recalls-the-hunters-and-the-hunted-of-hollywood.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/movies/trumbo-recalls-the-hunters-and-the-hunted-of-hollywood.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|access-date=22 December 2015|date=4 November 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He finally was given full credit by the Writers' Guild for ''Roman Holiday'' in 2011, nearly 60 years after the fact, and 35 years after his death.<ref name="kpcc">{{cite news|last=Cheryl Devall|first=Paige Osburn|title=Blacklisted writer gets credit restored after 60 years for Oscar-winning film|url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/12/19/30417/blacklisted-writer-gets-credit-restored-oscar-winn/|access-date=December 20, 2011|newspaper=89.3 KPCC|date=December 19, 2011}}</ref><ref name="latimes-verrier">{{cite news|last=Verrier|first=Richard|title=Writers Guild restores screenplay credit to Trumbo for 'Roman Holiday'|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/12/writers-guild-restores-screenplay-credit-to-trumbo-for-roman-holiday.html|access-date=December 20, 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 19, 2011}}</ref>

==Origins==
Trumbo was born in [[Montrose, Colorado]], on December 9, 1905, the son of Orus Bonham Trumbo and Maud (née Tillery) Trumbo. His family moved to [[Grand Junction, Colorado]], in 1908.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5VdFqKChbUEC&pg=PA12 12] |first=Peter |last=Hanson |title=Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel: A Critical Survey and Filmography |publisher=McFarland |year=2007 |isbn= |via=Google Books}}</ref>

His paternal immigrant ancestor, a Protestant of Swiss origin named Jacob Trumbo, settled in the [[colony of Virginia]] in 1736.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FnZBAAAAIAAJ&q=jacob+trumbo+1736+swiss ''Additional Dialogue; Letters of Dalton Trumbo, 1942–1962''], edited by M. Evans, Lippincott, 1970, footnote #10, p. 26</ref> Orus Trumbo worked variously as a shoe clerk and collection agent, never earning enough to keep the family far from poverty.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web| last=Smith |first=Jeff |year=2015 |title=Dalton Trumbo |url=https://wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/exhibits/dalton-trumbo|access-date=2022-02-21|website= wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu| publisher= Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research|archive-date=February 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221235702/https://wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/exhibits/dalton-trumbo|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Trumbo graduated from [[Grand Junction High School]]. While still in high school, he worked for [[Walter Walker (politician)|Walter Walker]] as a cub [[reporter]] for the ''[[Grand Junction Daily Sentinel]],'' covering courts, the high school, the mortuary and civic organizations.<ref>{{cite news |last=McIntyre |first=Erin |date=October 31, 2015 |title=Book, Movie Reminders of Dalton Trumbo's Ties to Grand Junction Leading Man |url= http://www.gjsentinel.com/lifestyle/articles/book-movie-reminders-of-dalton-trumbos-ties-to-gra |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104010203/http://www.gjsentinel.com/lifestyle/articles/book-movie-reminders-of-dalton-trumbos-ties-to-gra |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2015 |newspaper=Daily Sentinel |location=Grand Junction, CO}}</ref>  He attended the [[University of Colorado at Boulder]] in 1924 and 1925, working as a reporter for the ''[[Boulder Daily Camera]]'' and contributing to the school's humor magazine, yearbook, and newspaper. He was a member of [[Delta Tau Delta]] International Fraternity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Delt Returns to University of Colorado Boulder |url=https://www.delts.org/delt-returns-to-university-of-colorado-boulder |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=www.delts.org}}</ref>

In 1924, Orus Trumbo relocated the family to California. Shortly after, he fell ill and died, leaving Dalton to support his mother and siblings.<ref name=":1" /> For nine years after his father died, Trumbo worked the night shift wrapping bread at a Los Angeles bakery and attended the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (1926) and the [[University of Southern California]] (1928–1930).<ref>{{cite book |last= Bloom |first=Harold |date=1988 |title= Twentieth-Century American Literature |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=e7pZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22dalton+trumbo%22+%22university+of+southern+california%22 |location=Langhorne, PA |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |page=3993|isbn=978-0877548072 }}</ref> During this time, he wrote movie reviews, 88 short stories, and six novels, all of which were rejected for publication.<ref name="well">{{cite news |last=Well |first=Martin |title= Dalton Trumbo, 70, Dies: Blacklisted Screenwriter |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 9, 1976 }}</ref>

==Career==
===Early career===
Trumbo began his professional writing career in the early 1930s, when several of his articles and stories were published in mainstream magazines, including ''[[McCall's]]'', ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', the ''Hollywood Spectator'' and ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://spartacus-educational.com/USAtrumbo.htm#source
 |title        = Dalton Trumbo
 |website      = Spartacus Educational
 |access-date   = November 16, 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140702071801/http://spartacus-educational.com/USAtrumbo.htm#source
 |archive-date = July 2, 2014
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> Trumbo was hired as managing editor of the ''Hollywood Spectator'' in 1934. Later he left the magazine to become a reader in the story department at [[Warner Bros.]] studio.<ref name=well/>

His first published novel, ''[[Eclipse (Trumbo novel)|Eclipse]]'' (1935), was released during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. Writing in the [[Social realism|social realist]] style, Trumbo drew on his years in Grand Junction to portray a town and its people. The book was controversial in his hometown, where many people took issue with his fictional portrayal.<ref name="CLMThomas">{{cite news
 |last        =Thomas
 |first        =Irene Middleman
 |url        =http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/Dalton-Trumbo-Grand-Junctions-blacklisted-hometown-hero/
 |title        =Dalton Trumbo: Grand Junction's blacklisted hometown hero
 |website        =Colorado Life Magazine
 |access-date        =February 23, 2020
 |archive-url        =https://web.archive.org/web/20160314165946/http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/Dalton-Trumbo-Grand-Junctions-blacklisted-hometown-hero/
 |archive-date        =March 14, 2016
 |url-status        =dead
 }}</ref>

Trumbo started working in movies in 1937 but continued writing prose. His [[anti-war]] novel ''[[Johnny Got His Gun]]'' won one of the [[List of National Book Award winners#1935 to 1941|early National Book Awards]]: the Most Original Book of 1939.<ref name=nyt1940>"1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked ...", ''The New York Times'', 1940-02-14, p. 25. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).</ref> It was inspired by an article Trumbo had read several years earlier: an account of a hospital visit by the [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]] to a Canadian soldier who had lost all his limbs in [[World War I]].<ref>[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/context.html Sparknotes.com.] Retrieved December 4, 2010.</ref>

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Trumbo became one of Hollywood's highest-paid screenwriters, at about $4,000 per week while on assignment,<ref name=nordheimer>Nordheimer 1976.</ref> and earning as much as $80,000 in one year.<ref name=well/> He worked on such films as ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'' (1944), ''[[Our Vines Have Tender Grapes]]'' (1945), and ''[[Kitty Foyle (film)|Kitty Foyle]]'' (1940), for which he was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]].

===Political advocacy and blacklisting===
{{main|Hollywood blacklist}}
Aligned with the [[Communist Party USA]] before the 1940s, Trumbo was an [[isolationist]]. He joined the Communist Party in 1943, and remained active until 1947. He reaffiliated himself with the party in 1954.<ref name=nordheimer/><ref name="humanevents">{{cite web|url=http://www.humanevents.com/2003/09/02/coulter-and-her-critics/|title=Coulter and Her Critics &#124; Human Events|publisher=humanevents.com|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930210027/http://humanevents.com/2003/09/02/coulter-and-her-critics/|archive-date=September 30, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[[Victor Navasky]], ''Naming Names'', New York: Viking, 2003</ref> His novel ''The Remarkable Andrew'' featured the ghost of President [[Andrew Jackson]] appearing to caution the United States against getting involved in [[World War II]] and in support of the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]].<ref name=":0" />

Shortly after [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Trumbo and his publisher decided to suspend reprinting ''Johnny Got His Gun'' until the end of the war. During the war, Trumbo received letters from individuals "denouncing Jews" and using ''Johnny'' to support their arguments for "an immediate negotiated peace" with [[Nazi Germany]]; Trumbo reported these correspondents to the [[FBI]].<ref name="pg 5">Dalton Trumbo. ''Johnny Got His Gun''. Citadel Press, 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LnnMLLk2uU4C&pg=PA5&output=html pg 5], introduction</ref> Trumbo regretted this decision, which he called "foolish". After two FBI agents showed up at his home, he understood that "their interest lay not in the letters but in me".<ref name="pg 5"/>

In a 1946 article titled "The Russian Menace" published in Rob Wagner's ''Script Magazine'', Trumbo wrote from the perspective of a post-World War II Russian citizen.<ref name="oldmagazinearticles.com">{{cite web|url=http://oldmagazinearticles.com/Blacklisted-Hollywood_screenwriter_Dalton_Trumbo_information|title=The Russian Menace|last=Trumbo|first=Dalton|date=May 26, 1946|website=Old Magazine Articles|publisher=Script Magazine|access-date=November 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214121041/http://oldmagazinearticles.com/Blacklisted-Hollywood_screenwriter_Dalton_Trumbo_information|archive-date=December 14, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> He argued that Russians were likely fearful of the mass of U.S. military power that surrounded them, at a time when any sympathetic view toward Communist countries was viewed with suspicion.<ref name="oldmagazinearticles.com"/> He ended the article by stating, "If I were a Russian ... I would be alarmed, and I would petition my government to take measures at once against what would seem an almost certain blow aimed at my existence. This is how it must appear in Russia today".<ref name="oldmagazinearticles.com"/> He argued that the U.S. was a "menace" to Russia, rather than the more popular American view of Russia as the "red menace". According to author Kenneth Billingsley, Trumbo had bragged in ''[[The Daily Worker]]'' that Communist influence in Hollywood had prevented films from being made from anti-Communist books, such as [[Arthur Koestler]]'s ''[[Darkness at Noon]]'' and ''[[The Yogi and the Commissar]]''.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/27732.html |date=June 1, 2000|title=Hollywood's Missing Movies: Why American films have ignored life under Communism|first=Kenneth|last=Billingsley|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312064605/http://reason.com/news/show/27732.html|archive-date=March 12, 2008|url-status=dead|website=Reason Magazine}}</ref>

[[File:Dalton Trumbo prison 1950.jpg|thumb|Trumbo mugshot, Ashland penitentiary]]

[[William Wilkerson|William R. Wilkerson]], publisher and founder of ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'', published a July 29, 1946, "TradeView" column entitled "A Vote For [[Stalin|Joe Stalin]]". It named Trumbo and several others as Communist sympathizers, the first persons identified on what became known as "Billy's Blacklist".<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilkerson |first=William |author-link=William Wilkerson |date=July 29, 1946 |title=A Vote For Joe Stalin |periodical=The Hollywood Reporter |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Baum">{{cite news |last1=Baum |first1=Gary |last2=Miller |first2=Daniel |title=Blacklist: THR Addresses Role After 65 Years |date=November 30, 2012 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/blacklist-thr-addresses-role-65-391931 |access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> In October 1947, drawing upon these names, the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) summoned Trumbo and nine others to testify for their investigation as to whether Communist agents and sympathizers had surreptitiously planted propaganda in U.S. films. The writers refused to give information about their own or any other person's involvement and were convicted for [[contempt of Congress]]. They appealed the conviction to the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] on [[First Amendment]] grounds and lost. Trumbo served eleven months in the [[federal penitentiary]] in [[Ashland, Kentucky]], in 1950. In the 1976 documentary ''Hollywood On Trial'', Trumbo said: "As far as I was concerned, it was a completely just verdict. I had contempt for that Congress and have had contempt for it ever since. And on the basis of guilt or innocence, I could never really complain very much. That this was a crime or misdemeanor was the complaint, my complaint."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ceplair|first=Larry|title=Dalton Trumbo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SbJBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA648 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|page=228|access-date=December 15, 2015|isbn=978-0813146829|date=2014}}</ref>

The [[Motion Picture Association of America|MPAA]] [[Waldorf Statement|issued a statement]] that Trumbo and his compatriots would not be permitted to work in the industry unless they disavowed Communism under oath. After completing his sentence, Trumbo sold his ranch and moved his family to [[Mexico City]] with [[Hugo Butler]] and his wife [[Jean Rouverol]], who had also been blacklisted.<ref name=nordheimer/> In Mexico, Trumbo wrote 30 scripts (under pseudonyms) for [[B-movie]] studios such as [[King Brothers Productions]]. In the case of ''[[Gun Crazy]]'' (1950), adapted from a short story by [[MacKinlay Kantor]], Kantor agreed to be the front for Trumbo's screenplay. Trumbo's role in the screenplay was not revealed until 1992.<ref name=Apostolou>[http://www.mysteryfile.com/Kantor/Crime_Fiction.html John Apostolou, "MacKinlay Kantor"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601003618/http://www.mysteryfile.com/Kantor/Crime_Fiction.html |date=June 1, 2011}}, ''The Armchair Detective'', Spring 1997, republished on ''Mystery File'', accessed October 17, 2010.</ref>

During this blacklist period, Trumbo also wrote ''[[The Brave One (1956 film)|The Brave One]]'' (1956) for the King Brothers. Like ''[[Roman Holiday]]'', it received an [[Academy Award for Best Story]] he could not claim. The script was credited to Robert Rich, a name borrowed from a nephew of the producers. Trumbo recalled earning an average fee of $1,750 per film for 18 screenplays written in two years and said, "None was very good".<ref name=nordheimer/>

He published ''The Devil in the Book'', an analysis of the conviction of 14 California [[Smith Act]] defendants, in 1956.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/trumbo.htm |title=Dalton Trumbo |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024163811/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/trumbo.htm |archive-date=October 24, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The statute set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government.

===Later career===
[[Ingo Preminger]], the brother of producer-director [[Otto Preminger]], was Dalton Trumbo's agent. Otto Preminger hired Trumbo to write a screenplay for the [[Exodus (1960 film)|film]] he intended to adapt from [[Leon Uris]]' 1958 novel ''[[Exodus (Uris novel)|Exodus]]'' when the script he had commissioned from Uris was deemed unusable. The producer-director decided to give Trumbo the screen credit.<ref name="Preminger">{{cite book |last1=Frischauer |first1=Willi |title=Behind the Scenes of Otto Preminger |date=1974 |publisher=William Morrow & Co. |location=New York |isbn=0688002625 |pages=181–2}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, actor [[Kirk Douglas]] announced Trumbo had written the screenplay for [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s film ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (also 1960), adapted from the [[Spartacus (Fast novel)|1951 novel]] by [[Howard Fast]].<ref name="Trumbo">{{IMDb title|0889671|Trumbo (2007)}} Retrieved April 25, 2010.</ref> With these actions, Preminger and Douglas helped end the power of the blacklist.

Trumbo was reinstated into the [[Writers Guild of America, West]] and was credited on all subsequent scripts.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}} The guild finally gave him full credit for the script of the 1953 film ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' in 2011. Trumbo directed the 1971 [[Johnny Got His Gun (film)|film adaptation of his novel]] ''Johnny Got His Gun'', starring [[Timothy Bottoms]], [[Diane Varsi]], [[Jason Robards]] and [[Donald Sutherland]]. One of the last films Trumbo wrote, ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'' (1973), was based on the [[John F. Kennedy assassination]].<ref>Steve Jaffe, technical adviser|Warner Bros. publications |"Executive Action" (1973)</ref> The Academy officially recognized Trumbo as the winner of the Oscar for the 1956 film ''[[The Brave One (1956 film)|The Brave One]]'' in 1975, presenting him with a statuette.<ref>{{cite news|title=Writer Collects Oscar for 1956 Film|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 16, 1975|page=D2}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Dalton and Cleo Trumbo (1947 HUAC hearings).png|thumb|Dalton Trumbo with wife Cleo at House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, 1947. German poet and Marxist [[Bertolt Brecht]] is visible in the background.]]
In 1938, Trumbo married Cleo Fincher, who was born in [[Fresno, California]], on July 17, 1916, and had moved with her divorced mother and her brother and sister to Los Angeles. The Trumbos had three children: Nikola Trumbo (1939–2018), who became a psychotherapist; [[Christopher Trumbo]] (1940–2011), a filmmaker and screenwriter who became an expert on the Hollywood blacklist; and Melissa Trumbo (1945), known as Mitzi, a photographer.<ref name=latimes1 /><ref>{{cite news | title = A Voice From the Blacklist: Documentary Lets Dalton Trumbo Speak| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/movies/11trumbo.html| work = [[The New York Times]]| location = New York| date = September 11, 2007| access-date = January 4, 2008| author = Michael Cieply| author-link = Michael Cieply}}</ref> Mitzi Trumbo dated comedian [[Steve Martin]] when they were both in their early 20s, which is recounted in Martin's 2007 book ''[[Born Standing Up]]''. Martin wrote of her: "Mitzi became my official photographer, and she snapped dozens of rolls of film, all to find the perfect publicity photo."<ref>Born Standing Up, Ch. 5, 46:11 (Audible audiobook edition)</ref>

Cleo Trumbo died of natural causes at the age of 93 on October 9, 2009, at the home she shared with Mitzi Trumbo in [[Los Altos, California]].<ref>Personal friend</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Cleo Trumbo dies at 93; wife of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo| url=http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/18/local/me-cleo-trumbo18/2| work=Los Angeles Times| first=Dennis| last=McLellan| date=October 18, 2009| access-date=December 7, 2010| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128040307/http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/18/local/me-cleo-trumbo18/2| archive-date=January 28, 2013| url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Trumbo died in 1976, in [[Los Angeles]] of a [[heart attack]] at the age of 70. He donated his body to scientific research.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Dalton Trumbo, Film Writer, Dies. Oscar Winner Had Been Blacklisted |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/11/archives/dalton-trumbo-film-writer-dies-oscar-winner-had-been-blacklisted.html|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 11, 1976 |access-date=June 18, 2008 | first=Jon | last=Nordheimer}}</ref>

In 1993, Trumbo was posthumously awarded the Academy Award for writing ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' (1953). The screen credit and award were previously given to [[Ian McLellan Hunter]], who had been a front for Trumbo.<ref>[http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.07.18.html "Great To Be Nominated" Enjoys a "Roman Holiday"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008054115/http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.07.18.html |date=October 8, 2007 }} AMPAS</ref> A new statue was made for this award because Hunter's son refused to hand over the one his father had received.<ref>''The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker and Other Productions, 1966–2006''; Jeff Thompson; [[McFarland Publishing]], 2009; p. 90</ref>

In 2003, Christopher Trumbo mounted an Off-Broadway play based on his father's letters, called ''Trumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted'', in which a wide variety of actors played his father during the run, including [[Nathan Lane]], [[Tim Robbins]], [[Brian Dennehy]], [[Ed Harris]], [[Chris Cooper]] and [[Gore Vidal]]. He adapted it as the documentary ''[[Trumbo (2007 film)|Trumbo]]'' (2007),<ref name=latimes1>{{cite news|last=McLellan|first=Dennis|title=Christopher Trumbo dies at 70; screen and TV writer whose father was blacklisted|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-christopher-trumbo-20110112-story.html|access-date=December 15, 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 12, 2011}}</ref><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|last=Cieply|first=Michael|title=A Voice From the Blacklist: Documentary Lets Dalton Trumbo Speak (Through Surrogates)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/movies/11trumbo.html|access-date=December 15, 2011|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 11, 2007}}</ref> which added archival footage and new interviews.<ref>[http://www.ktvu.com/entertainment/26464434/detail.html "Son Of Blacklisted Hollywood Writer Trumbo Dies"]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (January 12, 2011) KTVU.com. Retrieved December 1, 2011.</ref>

A dramatization of Trumbo's life, also called ''[[Trumbo (2015 film)|Trumbo]]'', was released in November 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thegemsbok.com/art-reviews-and-articles/thursday-theater-trumbo-jay-roach/|title=History Less Exaggerated: The Excellent Subtlety of the Acting and History in Jay Roach's ''Trumbo''|last=Podgorski|first=Daniel|date=December 10, 2015|website=The Gemsbok|access-date=November 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130044252/http://thegemsbok.com/art-reviews-and-articles/thursday-theater-trumbo-jay-roach/|archive-date=November 30, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> It starred [[Bryan Cranston]] in the title role and was directed by [[Jay Roach]].<ref>[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-sneaks-trumbo-dean-ogorman-20151101-story.html "'Trumbo's' Dean O'Gorman plays Kirk Douglas and earns praise from the legend"], ''Los Angeles Times'', October 30, 2015</ref> For his portrayal of Trumbo, Cranston was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] at the [[88th Academy Awards]].

The moving image collection of Trumbo is held at the Academy Film Archive and consists primarily of extensive 35&nbsp;mm production materials relating to the 1971 anti-war film ''Johnny Got His Gun''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dalton Trumbo Collection|url=http://www.oscars.org/film-archive/collections/dalton-trumbo-collection|website=Academy Film Archive|date=August 20, 2015}}</ref> In 2016, more than a hundred years after his birth, Trumbo was honored by the installation of a statue of him in front of the Avalon Theater on Main Street in Grand Junction, Colorado, his home town. He was depicted writing a screenplay in a bathtub.<ref name="CLMThomas" />

Trumbo is featured in the 2024 [[biographical film|biographical]] [[historical drama]] ''[[Reagan (2024 film)|Reagan]]'' about [[U.S. president]] [[Ronald Reagan]]. He is portrayed by [[Sean Hankinson]].<ref name="Reagan">{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/reagan-review-dennis-quaid-1235985648/ |title=‘Reagan’ Review: Dennis Quaid Headlines an Overly Reverential Tribute to a Controversial Politician | work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |accessdate=1 September 2024 |first=Stephen |last=Farber |date=29 August 2024}}</ref>

==Works==
'''Selected film works'''
{{div col}}
* ''[[Road Gang]]'', 1936
* ''[[Love Begins at 20]]'', 1936
* ''[[The Devil's Playground (1937 film)|Devil's Playground]]'', 1937
* ''[[Fugitives for a Night]]'', 1938
* ''[[A Man to Remember]]'', 1938
* ''[[Five Came Back]]'', 1939 (with [[Nathanael West]] and J. Cody)
* ''[[Sorority House (film)|Sorority House]]'', 1939
* ''[[Curtain Call (1940 film)|Curtain Call]]'', 1940
* ''[[A Bill of Divorcement (1940 film)|A Bill of Divorcement]]'', 1940
* ''[[Kitty Foyle (film)|Kitty Foyle]]'', 1940
* ''[[The Lone Wolf Strikes]]'', 1940
* ''[[You Belong to Me (1941 film)|You Belong to Me]],'' 1941 (story by)
* ''[[The Remarkable Andrew]]'', 1942
* ''[[Tender Comrade]]'', 1944
* ''[[A Guy Named Joe]]'', 1944
* ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'', 1944
* ''[[Our Vines Have Tender Grapes]]'', 1945
* ''[[Gun Crazy]]'', 1950 (co-writer, front: [[Millard Kaufman]])
* ''[[He Ran All the Way]]'', 1951 (co-writer, front: [[Guy Endore]])
* ''[[Rocketship X-M]]'', 1951 (martian sequence, uncredited)
* ''[[The Prowler (1951 film)|The Prowler]]'', 1951 (uncredited with [[Hugo Butler]])
* ''[[Roman Holiday]]'', 1953 (front: [[Ian McLellan Hunter]])
* ''[[They Were So Young]]'' 1954, (under pseudonym Felix Lutzkendorf)
* ''[[The Boss (1956 film)|The Boss]]'', 1956 (front: Ben L. Perry)
* ''[[The Brave One (1956 film)|The Brave One]]'', 1956 (under pseudonym Robert Rich)
* ''[[The Green-Eyed Blonde]]'', 1957 (front: Sally Stubblefield)
* ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (film)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'', 1958 (co-writer, front: James Leicester)
* ''[[Cowboy (1958 film)|Cowboy]]'', 1958 (front: [[Edmund H. North]])
* ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'', 1960, dir. by [[Stanley Kubrick]] (based on [[Howard Fast]]'s 1951 [[Spartacus (Fast novel)|novel of the same name]])
* ''[[Exodus (1960 film)|Exodus]]'', 1960, dir. by [[Otto Preminger]] (based on [[Leon Uris]]' 1958 [[Exodus (Uris novel)|novel of the same name]])
* ''[[The Last Sunset (film)|The Last Sunset]]'', 1961
* ''[[Town Without Pity]]'', 1961
* ''[[Lonely are the Brave]]'', 1962
* ''[[The Sandpiper]]'', 1965
* ''[[Hawaii (1966 film)|Hawaii]]'', 1966 (based on the novel by [[James Michener]], 1959)
* ''[[The Fixer (1968 film)|The Fixer]]'', 1968
* ''[[Johnny Got His Gun (film)|Johnny Got His Gun]]'', 1971 (also directed)
* ''[[The Horsemen (1971 film)|The Horsemen]]'', 1971
* ''[[F.T.A.]]'', 1972
* ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'', 1973
* ''[[Papillon (1973 film)|Papillon]]'', 1973 (based on the novel by [[Henri Charrière]], 1969)
* ''[[Cortes (miniseries)|Cortes]]'', 2020 (based on his screenplay ''Montezuma'')
{{div col end}}

'''Novels, plays and essays'''
{{div col}}
* ''[[Eclipse (Trumbo novel)|Eclipse]]'', 1935
* ''Washington Jitters'', 1936
* ''[[Johnny Got His Gun]]'', 1939
* ''[[The Remarkable Andrew]]'', 1940 (also known as ''Chronicle of a Literal Man'')
* ''The Biggest Thief in Town'', 1949 (play)
* ''The Time Out of the Toad'', 1972 (essays)
* ''[[Night of the Aurochs]]'', 1979 (unfinished, ed. R. Kirsch)
{{div col end}}
* ''film "Half A Sinner" (1940, Universal Pictures) based on original story by Dalton Trumbo

'''Non-fiction'''
* ''[[Harry Bridges]]'', 1941
* ''The Time of the Toad'', 1949
* ''The Devil in the Book'', 1956
* ''Additional Dialogue: Letters of Dalton Trumbo'', 1942–62, 1970 (ed. by H. Manfull)

==See also==
{{portal bar|Film|Literature|United States|Biography}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Hanson |first=Peter |title=Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel: A Critical Survey and Filmography |publisher=McFarland |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7864-3246-2}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/12/holl-d10.html |title=Hollywood on Trial: a timely reminder |first=Charles |last=Bogle |work=[[World Socialist Web Site]] |date=December 10, 2009 |access-date=October 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006134532/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/12/holl-d10.html |archive-date=October 6, 2015 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Ceplair |first=Larry |title=Dalton Trumbo, Blacklisted Hollywood Radical |year=2015 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-4680-5}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|auto=yes}}
* {{IMDb name|874308}}
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/n79060578 Dalton Trumbo] at [[Library of Congress]] Authorities – with 20 catalog records
* [https://archive.today/20131209190603/http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1140/ Dalton Trumbo Papers] at the [[Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research]].
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?327253-1/life-career-dalton-trumbo "Life and Career of Dalton Trumbo"], [[C-SPAN]], July 9, 2015

{{Dalton Trumbo}}
{{AcademyAwardBestStory 1940–1956}}
{{Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement}}
{{Hollywood Ten}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbo, Dalton}}
[[Category:Dalton Trumbo| ]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American anti-Francoists]]
[[Category:American Marxists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American people of Swiss-Italian descent]]
[[Category:Best Story Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:California socialists]]
[[Category:Colorado socialists]]
[[Category:Hollywood Ten]]
[[Category:Members of the Communist Party USA]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:People from Grand Junction, Colorado]]
[[Category:People from Montrose, Colorado]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni]]
[[Category:Victims of McCarthyism]]
[[Category:Writers from Colorado]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]