As reported by Variety, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Walter Bernstein – who blacklisted in the 1950s but kept his career alive by writing screenplays with pseudonyms – died. The news was confirmed by former Writers Guild Of America president West 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 by reviewing films while in college. He later worked as a correspondent for the Army newspaper when he was drafted into military service during World War II, publishing stories about his experiences in The New Yorker after the war. He moved to Hollywood in 1947 and started working as a screenwriter, but it was only a few years later, in 1950, when his support for left-wing political organizations got his name published in a right-wing newspaper called Red Channels. Because of this and his status as an alleged communist sympathizer, Bernstein was blacklisted in the entertainment industry a few years after he stepped foot in the door.
However, by writing under false names and working with writers who were not on the black list, Bernstein managed to continue working secretly on television during the 1950s. In the late 1950s, director Sidney Lumet ended Bernstein’s blacklist by hiring him the to write the film by Sophia Loren That kind of woman, leading to more writing work on projects like Paris Blues, Fail-safe, the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven, The train, and even Someone Has to Give (Final film by Marilyn Monroe).
In 1976, Bernstein wrote Forward, a film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Woody Allen as an unfortunate restaurant employee who agrees to act as a “front” for blacklisted writers who can’t get a job. Bernstein received an Oscar nomination for the script, which he obviously took out of his own life, and Allen later gave him a cameo in Annie Hall.