Walter Bernstein(1919-2021)
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Blacklisted writer in the 1950s, a victim of the 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.
