Christopher Trumbo (September 25, 1940 – January 8, 2011) was an American television writer, screenwriter and playwright. Trumbo was considered an expert on theMcCarthy-eraHollywood blacklist.[1] His father, screenwriterDalton Trumbo, was blacklisted by Hollywood for nearly a decade for refusing to testify to Congress, as one of a group known asThe Hollywood Ten.[1]
Trumbo was born on September 25, 1940, to Dalton and Cleo Trumbo, inLos Angeles, where he was also raised.[2] Trumbo was seven years old when his father was called before theHouse Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.[1] His father spent ten months in prison before being released in 1951.[1] The family moved toMexico City to share a place with the screenwriter Hugo Butler, who was also blacklisted, and his family.[1] The Trumbos returned to California after two years in Mexico and settled inHighland Park.[1]
Trumbo graduated fromFranklin High School in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.[2] He enrolled atColumbia University. He took a year off from Columbia to work as anassistant director on the 1960 filmExodus, adapted from the novel written byLeon Uris; thescreenplay was written by his father, Dalton Trumbo, and the film was directed byOtto Preminger.[2] Trumbo received a bachelor's degree fromColumbia College in 1964.[1][3]
Trumbo began working as a television and film screenwriter in 1967.[1][2] Trumbo co-wrote the filmThe Don Is Dead (1973), starringAnthony Quinn, as well as the John Wayne filmBrannigan (1975). In 1974, he was the co-creator withMichael Butler of the short-livedABC police dramaNakia, and he also wrote for the series. In 1978, Trumbo wrote the television filmIshi: The Last of His Tribe, in which he co-credited his father, who died in 1976.[2] Trumbo's other credits included television episodes ofFalcon Crest,Ironside andQuincy, M.E..[1]
Trumbo wrote a play based on his father's blacklist-era letters, calledTrumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted.[2] The play, which focuses on Dalton Trumbo's blacklist experience through his personal letters, was adapted as an off-Broadway production directed byPeter Askin.[1] Askin'sTrumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted, which starredNathan Lane as Dalton Trumbo and Gordon MacDonald as the narrator, opened at theWestside Theatre inNew York City.[1] The production ran for approximately one year.[1] Lane departed the production and several well-known actors took on the role of Dalton Trumbo, includingChris Cooper,Gore Vidal,Richard Dreyfuss,F. Murray Abraham,Bill Irwin andBrian Dennehy.[1] Dennehy later starred in a national tour of the play.[1]
Christopher Trumbo and Peter Askins collaborated to create the filmTrumbo (2007), which was also based on Dalton Trumbo's letters.[1] The film combined documentary footage with performances by Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy,Liam Neeson,Donald Sutherland andPaul Giamatti.[1]
Trumbo was considered an expert on the Hollywood blacklist era. He was often cited in books and appeared in documentaries concerning the subject, including the seven-partMoguls and Movie Stars, which aired onTurner Classic Movies in 2010.[2] Trumbo was writing a history of the Hollywood blacklist at the time of his death in 2011.[2]
Trumbo died of cancer in hospice care at his home inOjai, California, on January 8, 2011, at the age of 70, the same age at which his father died.[1] He was survived by his wife, Nancy Escher; his sisters, Nikola Trumbo and Mitzi Trumbo.[2] Before he died, he requested that his father receive full credit for his work onRoman Holiday, which won an Oscar. On December 19, 2011, the Writers Guild credited Dalton Trumbo with the screenplay posthumously.[4][5]
