John Howard Lawson | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 25, 1894 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | August 11, 1977 (aged 82) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Pen name | Edward Lewis |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter |
| Period | Modernism |
| Spouse | Kathryn Drain (1918–1923) Susan Edmond (1925–) |
| Children | 3 |
| Signature | |
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John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American playwright, screenwriter, arts critic, and cultural historian. After enjoying a relatively successful career writing plays that were staged on and off Broadway in the 1920s and '30s, Lawson relocated to Hollywood and began working in the motion picture industry.[1][2] In 1933, he helped to organize the Screen Writers Guild and became its first president.[3] In the ensuing years, he was credited with a number of notable screenplays including Blockade (1938), Action in the North Atlantic (1943), and Counter-Attack (1945).
In 1947, Lawson was one of the Hollywood Ten, the initial group of American film industry professionals to appear before Congress as part of an investigation into communist influence in Hollywood. Because he and the other nine screenwriters and directors refused to answer questions about their alleged Communist Party affiliation, they were cited for contempt of Congress. In 1948, Lawson was sentenced to a year in prison; he began serving in 1950. When he got out, he like the others found himself blacklisted by the studios.[3] He wrote, uncredited, the screenplay for Cry, the Beloved Country (1951), an adaptation of Alan Paton's anti-apartheid novel about South Africa. With his Hollywood livelihood largely cut off, Lawson turned his attention to scholarship. He taught at several California universities. He authored books about drama, film-making, and cultural history. Unlike other members of the Hollywood Ten, Lawson was never "un-blacklisted". He remained a pariah in the film industry until his death in 1977.[4]
- ^ Hopwood, John C. "John Howard Lawson - Mini Bio". IMDb. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
- ^ "Obituary". Variety. August 17, 1977.
- ^ a b O'Hara, Michael M. (July 2014). "John Howard Lawson" (PDF). The Sticking Place. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
- ^ Horne, Gerald (2006). The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten (1 ed.). University of California Press. p. xxii. ISBN 978-0520243729. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt1pnrw4.