I can't pretend I was an avid fan of his acting career, of which I was largely ignorant and uninterested. If I thought of him at all, it would have been as just another, "strong chin first", stilted acting style Hollywood Ham. I might have to somewhat re-think that, but, whatever.
I am posting this here for what I just learned this man did, one of those true "profiles in courage." This man put his career on the line to help break the despicable, right wing Hollywood black list.
Briefly, it goes like this:
"Trumbo had been a member of the Communist Party in the 1940s, so was blacklisted by Hollywood at the end of the decade.
He and nine other writers and directors, collectively known as the Hollywood Ten, were jailed for contempt of Congress in 1950 after refusing to co-operate with authorities, who were on the hunt for communists and sympathisers.
A pamphlet circulated at the time identified 151 professionals in the entertainment industry who were thought to be communists.
Those named could no longer work in Hollywood - at least not using their real names. And if they did keep working under pseudonyms, they had to do so at very cheap rates.
In his 2012 memoir I Am Spartacus!: Making A Film, Breaking The Blacklist, Douglas wrote about hiring Trumbo, who planned to rewrite the script under the name Sam Jackson.
"I gave my new friend 'Sam' a copy of the book and he promised to read it right away," Douglas said. "I had been thinking a lot about the day when the blacklist would end."
It became widely known in Hollywood that Trumbo had written Spartacus. A gossip columnist, Walter Winchell, ran an item in March 1959 outing him as the screenwriter.
That perhaps paved the way for what Douglas did next.
Douglas said he told Trumbo that once the film was finished, "not only am I going to tell them that you've written it, but we're putting your name on it".
In August 1960, the studio Universal-International announced that the writer would receive a full screen credit as Dalton Trumbo.
The blacklist was effectively broken.
"The masquerade was over," Douglas later wrote. "All my friends told me I was being stupid, throwing my career away. It was a tremendous risk. But the blacklist was broken.
"I wasn't thinking of being a hero and breaking the blacklist. It wasn't until later I realised the significance of that impulsive gesture.""
^^^ Kirk Douglas "inhabiting" the role of Vincent Van Gogh.
Mr Douglas, as a MAN who put his career on the line to stand up to the right wing troglodytes, so recently again ascendant in our republic, I salute you!
I am posting this here for what I just learned this man did, one of those true "profiles in courage." This man put his career on the line to help break the despicable, right wing Hollywood black list.
Briefly, it goes like this:
"Trumbo had been a member of the Communist Party in the 1940s, so was blacklisted by Hollywood at the end of the decade.
He and nine other writers and directors, collectively known as the Hollywood Ten, were jailed for contempt of Congress in 1950 after refusing to co-operate with authorities, who were on the hunt for communists and sympathisers.
A pamphlet circulated at the time identified 151 professionals in the entertainment industry who were thought to be communists.
Those named could no longer work in Hollywood - at least not using their real names. And if they did keep working under pseudonyms, they had to do so at very cheap rates.
In his 2012 memoir I Am Spartacus!: Making A Film, Breaking The Blacklist, Douglas wrote about hiring Trumbo, who planned to rewrite the script under the name Sam Jackson.
"I gave my new friend 'Sam' a copy of the book and he promised to read it right away," Douglas said. "I had been thinking a lot about the day when the blacklist would end."
It became widely known in Hollywood that Trumbo had written Spartacus. A gossip columnist, Walter Winchell, ran an item in March 1959 outing him as the screenwriter.
That perhaps paved the way for what Douglas did next.
Douglas said he told Trumbo that once the film was finished, "not only am I going to tell them that you've written it, but we're putting your name on it".
In August 1960, the studio Universal-International announced that the writer would receive a full screen credit as Dalton Trumbo.
The blacklist was effectively broken.
"The masquerade was over," Douglas later wrote. "All my friends told me I was being stupid, throwing my career away. It was a tremendous risk. But the blacklist was broken.
"I wasn't thinking of being a hero and breaking the blacklist. It wasn't until later I realised the significance of that impulsive gesture.""
^^^ Kirk Douglas "inhabiting" the role of Vincent Van Gogh.
Mr Douglas, as a MAN who put his career on the line to stand up to the right wing troglodytes, so recently again ascendant in our republic, I salute you!
