As reported VarietyOscar-nominated screenwriter Walter Bernstein died, who was blacklisted in the 1950s but kept his career alive by writing pseudonymous screenplays. The news was confirmed by former Writers Guild Of America West president Howard Rodman, who referred to Bernstein as 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 criticism in college. He later worked as a correspondent for the Army newspaper when he was assigned to the Army during World War II, publishing 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 was only a few years later, in 1950, that his support for left-wing political organizations led to his name being printed in a magazine. right called Red channels. Because of this and his status as an alleged communist sympathizer, Bernstein appeared on the blacklist of the entertainment industry only a few years after he first stepped on the doorstep.
However, by writing under false names and working with non-blacklisted writers, Bernstein was able to continue working secretly on television during the 1950s. In the late 1950s, director Sidney Lumet ended the Bernstein’s blacklisted status by hiring him to write the Sophia Loren film This kind of woman, giving rise to more concerts on projects like Paris Blues, Fault proof, the 1960 version of The magnificent seven, The train, even Something must be given (Last film by Marilyn Monroe).
In 1976, Bernstein wrote The forehead, a film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Woody Allen as an unfortunate restaurant employee who agrees to act as a “front” for blacklisted screenwriters who can’t get a job. Bernstein received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay, which obviously came out of his own life, and Allen later gave him a cameo Annie Hall.