Journalist who turned to screenwriting in the mid-1930s and became one of the "Hollywood Ten" some fifteen years later. Jailed for ten months because of his refusal to cooperate with HUAC and subsequently blacklisted, Trumbo nonetheless turned out a substantial number of screenplays under various pseudonyms, notably "The Brave One" (1956) as Robert Rich, which won an Oscar for Best Writing (Motion Picture Story). Years later, in 1991, it came out that another writer fronted for Trumbo and that he was entitled to another Oscar for his work on "Roman Holiday" (1953).

Though the event was a great embarrassment to the industry and had the potential to undermine the blacklist, it was not until 1960, with the support of producers Kirk Douglas ("Spartacus") and Otto Preminger ("Exodus"), that Trumbo's name again began appearing in film credits. He made an electrifying directing debut (at age 65!) with a harrowing adaptation of his 1939 anti-war novel, "Johnny Got His Gun" (1971).