How Colorado Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo Landed On Hollywood’s Blacklist

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<p>(Courtesy Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research)</p>
<p>Dalton Trumbo sits at his typewriter.</p>
Photo: Dalton Trumbo Hollywood Ten
Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Ten.

This story first aired on 11/18/2015.

Grand Junction was the childhood home of a fascinating Hollywood figure. Dalton Trumbo was the screenwriter behind Oscar-winning films like "Spartacus" and "Roman Holiday," among other iconic movies of the time.

But at the height of his career, in 1947, he was blacklisted for his ties to the
Communist Party. It forced him to write write screenplays under pseudonyms and from Mexico for a couple of years. Now, he's the subject of a new feature film. "Trumbo" comes out Thursday and stars Bryan Cranston in the title role.

Mary Huelsbeck helps lead the film program at The University of Wisconsin, where some of Trumbo's papers are kept. She spoke with Ryan Warner.