Dalton Trumbo was a well-known screenwriter and novelist of the mid-20th century. He was part of the Hollywood Ten, a group of filmmakers who were blacklisted for their political views during the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. Due to the blacklist, Trumbo could not use his real name for his works and was considered a threat to national security due to his perceived communist beliefs.
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Photo Credit: Roger Ebert
To continue working in the film industry, Trumbo used several different names, referred to as “fronts,” in place of his own. These pseudonyms enabled him to maintain his political beliefs and avoid the blacklist. Some of the most well-known pseudonyms Trumbo used include Robert Rich, Millard Kaufman, and Ian McClellan Hunter.
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Trumbo wrote the screenplay for the film “The Brave One” under the pseudonym Robert Rich, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Story. He also used the name Millard Kaufman for the film “Lonely Are the Brave” and Ian McClellan Hunter for “Roman Holiday.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Although Trumbo’s use of pseudonyms allowed him to keep working, it also perpetuated the culture of fear and distrust that characterized the Red Scare. Despite these challenges, Trumbo stayed true to his beliefs and continued to write works that dealt with important social and political issues.


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