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Finding Aid for the Dalton Trumbo Papers, 1934-1976
1554
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Description
James Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a screenwriter who became one of the Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted by the motion picture
industry (1947). He was one of the first blacklisted writers to emerge from the underground when he received screen credit
for his work on the 1960 releases of
Spartacus and
Exodus. The collection consists of materials related to Trumbo's career as a screen writer and novelist. The majority of material
in the collection includes scripts, correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, and notes.
Background
James Dalton Trumbo was born December 9, 1905, in Montrose, Colorado; attended University of Colorado, UCLA, and USC; worked
as a newpaper reporter and editor; started screenwriting in 1935; became one of the Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted by the
motion picture industry (1947); served a 10-month jail sentence for contempt of Congress when he refused to testify before
the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for his alleged membership in the Communist Party; while serving his sentence
at the Federal Penitentiary in Ashland, Kentucky, he used a pseudonym and smuggled out a script for sale underground; after
his release he moved to Mexico and continued writing scripts under various pseudonyms; his story, The brave one (1956), won an Academy Award under the pseudonym, Robert Rich; Trumbo was one of the first blacklisted writers to emerge
from the underground when he received screen credit for his work on the 1960 releases of Spartacus and Exodus; in the early 1970s, he directed a screen adaption of his novel, Johnny got his gun (1956), which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival; a collection of his letters from 1942-62 was published as, Additional dialogue (1970); underwent surgery for lung cancer and died of a heart attack three years later in 1976.
Extent
235 boxes (117.5 linear ft.)
4 oversize boxes
4 oversize folders
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Availability
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.