Adrian Scott | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Adrian Scott (1911-02-06)February 6, 1911[1] |
| Died | December 25, 1972(1972-12-25) (aged 61) |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, film producer |
| Spouses | |
| Relatives | Allan Scott (brother) Pippa Scott (niece) |
Robert Adrian Scott (February 6, 1911 – December 25, 1972) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was one of theHollywood Ten and later blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses.
Scott was born inArlington, New Jersey, the son of successful Irish Catholic parents — his father worked in middle management for the New York Telephone Company. Arlington was one of the centers of the American textile industry, a key site in the history of industrial capitalism and a hotbed of radical labor agitation. Arlington is 12 miles south of Paterson, where the 1913 strike of 25,000 silk workers brought together socialists,Wobblies, and Greenwich Village intellectuals. In 1926, when Scott was 15, 20,000 textile workers in nearby Passaic, New Jersey, closed down the mills.
Scott's older brotherAllan was a playwright (and later screenwriter), whose comedyGoodbye Again ran on Broadway for most of 1933.
Adrian's college yearbook inAmherst College described him: "Hat cocked back at a rakish angle, cigar in the corner of his mouth, his fingers playing nimbly over the typewriter keys, the inimitable R.A.L. Scott."[2]Scott graduated from Amherst in 1934. He was a film critic and associate editor ofStage magazine from 1936 through 1938. He moved to Hollywood, California, in 1939.
Scott broke into Hollywood as a screenwriter. He worked on the script forKeeping Company (1940) atMGM,We Go Fast (1941) at20th Century Fox, andThe Parson of Panamint (1941) atParamount. Scott wroteMr. Lucky (1943) atRKO, which was a hit.
RKO signed Scott to work as a producer. His first credit in that capacity wasMy Pal Wolf (1944). He went on to produceMurder, My Sweet (1944), an adaptation ofFarewell My Lovely byRaymond Chandler byJohn Paxton that was directed byEdward Dmytryk. It was a critical and commercial success. The cast includedDick Powell, who revitalized his career in the role ofPhilip Marlowe, andAnne Shirley, whom Scott married.,Scott, Dmytryk, Powell, and Paxton reunited onCornered (1945). Scott then producedDeadline at Dawn (1946), the only feature film directed byHarold Clurman. Dmytryk, Paxton, and he reunited onSo Well Remembered (1947) shot in England. More successful wasCrossfire (1947), another collaboration among the three men.Crossfire was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Picture and was a popular success.[3]
Scott producedThe Boy with Green Hair (1948), directed byJoseph Losey, which was a box-office flop.[4] He is credited on the script forMiss Susie Slagle's (1946) at Paramount.
Scott joined theCommunist Party USA in 1944.[5] In October 1947, Scott was called to testify during theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities hearings on Hollywood, but as did nine others, refused to testify. RKO fired him on October 29, 1947, for refusing to answer questions.
For the first year of the blacklist, he returned to journalism, contributing to the London journalCine-Technician. He was sentenced to prison along with the other members of theHollywood Ten. Edward Dmytryk, another of the Hollywood Ten, chose to become a 'friendly' witness and testified before the HUAC in 1951 that Scott pressured him to put communist propaganda in his films.
In 1955, Scott published an essay titled "Blacklist: The Liberal's Straightjacket and Its Effect on Content" inHollywood Review.
From 1954 to 1961, Scott made a living writing for television.[6] These shows includedThe Adventures of Robin Hood andThe Adventures of Sir Lancelot.[7] He provided the story forConspiracy of Hearts (1960) under a pseudonym.He moved to England in 1961.
In 1963,MGM-British hired Scott as a production executive, effectively ending his blacklisting.
Scott attempted to make a return to feature-film production in 1967 by producing a new adaptation ofMonsieur Lecoq;[8] the film was never finished.[8] Film stills featuring the movie's actressJulie Newmar were featured in the September 1969 edition ofPlayboy.
Shortly before his death, Scott made a television adaptation ofThe Great Man's Whiskers and was credited with his legal name.
Scott was married to actressAnne Shirley, who subsequently married another screenwriter,Charles Lederer, nephew ofMarion Davies. He later marriedJoan Scott (née LaCour), fellow screenwriter and producer. Joan sometimes served as Adrian's front when he was unable to publish under his own name, and later the surname LaCour was used by both when writing in Hollywood.
Adrian was the brother of screenwriterAllan Scott, who is the father of actressPippa Scott.Adrian Scott died fromlung cancer in 1972 inSherman Oaks, California.
Joan and Adrian Scott's papers can be found at the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming.
