Ring Lardner, Jr.

Ring Lardner, Jr.

Writing

Biography

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 M*A*S*H (1970). The script of the latter earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lardner held strong left-wing views and during the Spanish Civil War he helped raise funds for the Republican cause. He was also involved in organizing anti-fascist 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 $2,000 a week.

Filmography Movies

Acting

Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey movie poster

Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey

Documentary is about the life and work of American screenwriter Waldo Salt who won two Academy Awards and was put on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. The story is told through interviews with collaborators and friends such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and with clips from Salt's films, chiefly Midnight Cowboy.

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Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey

Enlisted: The Story of 'M*A*S*H'MOVIE

Enlisted: The Story of 'MAS*H'

A behind the scenes look at the making of the movie M*A*S*H. The documentary reveals all of the chaos, politics, and conflict that was going on behind the scenes during production of the movie through new interviews done with director Robert Altman as well as Richard Zanuck, who was head of production for 20th Century Fox at the time, and others.

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Enlisted: The Story of 'M*A*S*H'

Red Hollywood movie poster

Red Hollywood

A documentary that examines the films made by the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist and offers a radically different perspective on a key period in the history of American cinema.

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The Hollywood Ten movie poster

The Hollywood Ten

A brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House Un-American Activities Committee and their controversial and self-incriminatory questions during the red scare. With that act of defiance, they were sentenced to one year in prison simply for speaking their minds and exercising their constitutional rights as concerned citizens. This is their story, their version of the facts, and their opinions.

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The Hollywood Ten

The Majestic movie poster

The Majestic

Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.

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Self (Hollywood Ten, arrives, behind Biberman) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Altman on His Own Terms movie poster

Altman on His Own Terms

A look at the life and career of acclaimed independent filmmaker Robert Altman...on his own words. The genius director who shook the cinema industry with countless films examines some of his most important works, along with friends and regular collaborators.

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Altman on His Own Terms

The Real Charlie Chaplin movie poster

The Real Charlie Chaplin

A look at the life and work of Charlie Chaplin in his own words featuring an in-depth interview he gave to Life magazine in 1966.

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The Real Charlie Chaplin

Self (archive footage)

Production

M*A*S*H movie poster

MAS*H

One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.

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The Cincinnati Kid movie poster

The Cincinnati Kid

An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.

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The Cincinnati Kid

Woman of the Year movie poster

Woman of the Year

Rival reporters Sam Craig and Tess Harding fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.

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Woman of the Year

The Big Night movie poster

The Big Night

A young man zigzags through the sordid vortex of downtown Los Angeles while seeking vengeance on the man that beat his father.

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Cloak and Dagger movie poster

Cloak and Dagger

Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.

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Cloak and Dagger

Forever Amber movie poster

Forever Amber

Amber St Clair, orphaned during the English Civil War and raised by a family of farmers, aspires to be a lady of high society; when a group of cavaliers ride into town, she sneaks away with them to London to achieve her dreams.

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The Cross of Lorraine movie poster

The Cross of Lorraine

French soldiers surrender to lying Nazis and are herded into a barbaric prison of war camp. From there they plan an uprising.

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The Cross of Lorraine

The Forbidden Street movie poster

The Forbidden Street

In Victorian London, young Adelaide is born into luxury, but marries starving artist Henry. His alcoholism and their lack of money lead to many quarrels. During one such fight, Henry slips down a flight of stairs and dies. A neighbor, Mrs. Mounsey, is the only witness, and she blackmails the young widow by threatening to tell the cops that Adelaide killed her husband. Luckily, lawyer Gilbert swoops in to help Adelaide.

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The Forbidden Street

Virgin Island movie poster

Virgin Island

A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.

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The Cardinal movie poster

The Cardinal

A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.

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Gallery

Ring Lardner, Jr. portrait