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As reported by VarietyOscar-nominated screenwriter Walter Bernstein – who was blacklisted in the 1950s but kept his career alive by writing pseudonymous scripts – has died. The news was confirmed by former Writers Guild Of America West chairman Howard Rodman, who called Bernstein a “legendary screenwriter” and “one of the great humans” in a social media post. Bernstein was 101 years old.
Bernstein was born in Brooklyn in 1919 and began his writing career doing film reviews in college. He then worked as a correspondent for the Army Journal when he was drafted into the Army during World War II, posting stories about his experiences in The New Yorker after the war. He moved to Hollywood in 1947 and began working as a screenwriter, but it wasn’t until a few years later, in 1950, that his support for leftist political organizations led to his name being printed in a right-wing newspaper titled Red chains. Because of this and his status as a supposed Communist sympathizer, Bernstein was blacklisted in the entertainment industry just a few years after stepping in the door.
However, by writing under fake names and working with writers not on the blacklist, Bernstein was able to continue working covertly on television throughout the 1950s. In the late 1950s, director Sidney Lumet took over. ended Bernstein’s blacklisted status by hiring him to write Sophia Loren’s film. That kind of woman, which leads to more gigs on projects like Paris Blues, Fail-Safe, the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven, The train, and even Something must give (Last film by Marilyn Monroe).
In 1976 Bernstein wrote The front, a film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Woody Allen as an hapless restaurant worker who agrees to serve as a “front” to blacklisted writers who can’t find work. Bernstein received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay, which is obviously drawn from his own life, and Allen subsequently gave him an appearance in Annie hall.
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