Walter Bernstein

Walter Bernstein(August 20, 1919 – January 23, 2021) was an American screenwriter and film producer who wasblacklistedby the Hollywoodmovie studiosin the 1950s because of his views oncommunism.Some of his notable works includedThe Front(1976),Yanks(1979), andLittle Miss Marker(1980). He was a recipient ofWriters Guild of America Awardsincluding the Ian McLellan Hunter Award and theEvelyn F. Burkey Award.

Walter Bernstein
Bernstein following a 2016 screening of The Frontat theSVA Theaterin Manhattan
Born	(1919-08-20)August 20, 1919 Brooklyn,New York,U.S.
Died	January 23, 2021(2021-01-23)(aged 101) Manhattan,New York, U.S.
Occupations	Screenwriter film producer
Years active	1947–2017
Spouses	Marva Spelman Barbara Lane Judith Braun Gloria Loomis
Children	5; includingAndrewandJake

Early life

Bernstein was born on August 20, 1919, inBrooklyn,New York, to Eastern European Jewish immigrants Hannah (née Bistrong) and Louis Bernstein, a teacher.He studied at the Erasmus High School inFlatbush, Brooklyn.After graduating from high school, he went on to study a six-month immersive language course atUniversity of Grenoble,where he lived with a French family who were acquaintances of his father. It was here that he was exposed first to communist ideas.He returned to the United States and attendedDartmouth College,where he gained his first writing job, as a film reviewer for the campus newspaper, and where he joined theYoung Communist League.He graduated from Dartmouth in 1940.

In February 1941, Bernstein was drafted into theU.S. Army.Eventually attaining the rank of Sergeant, he spent most ofWorld War IIas a correspondent on the staff of the Army newspaperYank,filing dispatches from Iran, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Sicily, and Yugoslavia.He wrote of his experiences inPalestinein an article titled "War and Palestine".

Bernstein wrote a number of articles and stories based on his experiences in the Army, some of which originally appeared inThe New Yorker.These were collected inKeep Your Head Down,his first book, published in 1945.

Career

Bernstein first came toHollywoodin 1947, under a ten-week contract with writer-producer-directorRobert RossenatColumbia Pictures,working uncredited forAll the King's Men.After that he worked for producerHarold Hecht,which resulted in his first screen credit, shared withBen Maddow,for their adaptation of theGerald Butlernovel for the filmKiss the Blood Off My Hands(1948) forUniversal.He subsequently returned to New York, where he continued writing forThe New Yorkerand other magazines, and eventually found work as a scriptwriter in the early days of live television.

Blacklist

In 1950, because of his numerous left-wing political affiliations and related activities, his name appeared in the publicationRed Channels,resulting in hisblacklistingby Hollywood studios as a part of theMcCarthy eraactions against individuals with communist affiliations.Throughout the 1950s, however, he managed to continue writing for television, both under pseudonyms and through the use of "fronts" (non-blacklisted individuals who would permit their names to appear on his work). In this manner, he contributed to television programs of the era, includingDanger,theCBS Newsdocudrama seriesYou Are There,and the mystery seriesColonel March of Scotland Yard.(It has been incorrectly stated in some sources that Bernstein's blacklisting resulted from "unfriendly" testimony given toHUACin 1951, but, in fact, he was not subpoenaed by the committee until the late 1950s, and never actually testified.)

Rebound

Bernstein's screenwriting career began to rebound from the blacklist when directorSidney Lumethired him to write the screenplay for theSophia LorenmovieThat Kind of Woman(1959).From then on Bernstein was able to work openly on films such asParis Blues(1961) andFail-Safe(1964).He worked uncredited on the screenplays ofThe Magnificent Seven(1960) andThe Train(1964), and was one of several writers who worked on the script for the ill-fatedSomething's Got to Give,which was left uncompleted at the time of the death of its star,Marilyn Monroe,in 1962.

Bernstein (right), during a June 2016 Q&A withSony Pictures Classicsco-founder Michael Barker at theSVA Theaterin Manhattan, which followed a screening ofThe Front

Paris Blueswas his first feature film collaboration with directorMartin Ritt,a friend since the 1940s (and himself a victim of the Hollywood blacklist); they subsequently worked together onThe Molly Maguires(1970), which Bernstein also co-produced with Ritt, andThe Front(1976).The latter film is a drama about a restaurant cashier (played byWoody Allen) with no real talent or political convictions who is hired to act as a "front" for blacklisted television writers during the 1950s. It earned Bernstein anAcademy Awardnomination for Best Original Screenplay and theWGA Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen.Bernstein made a cameo appearance in Allen's filmAnnie Hall(1977).

Bernstein was nominated for theWGA for Best Comedy Adapted from Another MediumforSemi-Tough(1977) and for aBAFTA Award for Best ScreenplayforYanks(1979).He stepped behind the camera as director of his only feature film,Little Miss Marker(1980), a remake of the1934 filmbased on theDamon Runyonstory of the same name.He also wrote and directed one segment of the made-for-TV movieWomen & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules(1991).

Teaching

Bernstein served until his death in 2021 as an adjunct visiting instructorand screenwriting thesis adviser at New York University'sTisch School of the Artsin theDepartment of Dramatic Writing.

Bernstein also served as a visiting screenwriting instructor at Columbia University School of the Arts in the 1990s.

Publication

Bernstein's book,Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist,was published in 1996. In his memoirs, he recounts joining the Young Communist League at Dartmouth College in 1937, and the Communist Party itself the year after he left the U.S. Army.

Personal life

Bernstein was married four times, with the first three marriages to Marva Spelman, Barbara Lane, andJudith Braun,ending up in divorces. He married literary agent Gloria Loomis in 1988.In the 1950s, he was also in a relationship with actressMaggie McNamara.He had two children with his first wife Marva Spelman, Joan Bernstein and Peter Spelman; three children with his third wife Judith Braun, Nicholas Bernstein,Andrew Bernstein,andJake Bernstein.He died ofpneumoniaon January 23, 2021, at the age of 101.

Other awards

• In 1994, he received the Ian McLellan Hunter Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing from theWriters Guild of America, East(WGAE).
• In 2008, the WGAE presented Bernstein with theirEvelyn F. Burkey Award,given "in recognition of contributions that have brought honor and dignity to writers everywhere."

References

General references

• Klehr, Harvey; Earl Haynes, John (1999).Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America.New Haven:Yale University Press.pp. 238–240, 343, 430.ISBN0-300-07771-8.

External links

• Walter BernsteinatIMDb
• Walter BernsteinatThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Ávila, Molly Rose; Zucker, Gregory (July 11, 2011)."In Conversation: Red Memories".The Brooklyn Rail.