Ring Lardner Jr. Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the Laurel Award for Screen Writing Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 1989
• His first Hollywood jobs were as a publicist and script doctor
• Worked as a reporter on the "New York Daily Mirror․"
• Quote: "[to the HUAC] "I could answer exactly the way you want, Mr․ Chairman… I could answer it, but if I did, I would hate myself in the morning․""
• Was offered a $2,000 a week contract to write screenplays for 20th Century Fox in 1947
• Wrote many adventure series and screenplays under pseudonyms or other author's names during the period of Hollywood blacklisting, but made a return to the spotlight when he adapted the novel "M*A*S*H" for film
• Was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of filmmaker who refused to answer any questions when they appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee