Ring Lardner Jr.

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Ringgold Wilmer Ring Lardner Jr August 19 1915 October 31 2000 was an American journalist and screenwriter blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s Ring Lardner Jr moved to Hollywood where he worked as a publicist and script doctor before writing his own material This included Woman of the Year a film that won him an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay in 1942 He also worked on the scripts for the films Laura 1944 Brotherhood of Man 1946 Forever Amber 1947 and MASH 1970 The script of the latter earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Lardner held strong leftwing views and during the Spanish Civil War he helped raise funds for the Republican cause He was also involved in organizing antifascist demonstrations His brother James Lardner was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and was killed in action in Spain in 1938 Although his political involvement upset the owners of the film studios he continued to be given work and in 1947 became one of the highest paid scriptwriters in Hollywood when he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox at 2000 a week