Blacklist foe to get Meltzer award

The late Paul Jarrico — renowned for fighting Hollywood’s blacklist and its aftermath — will be the posthumous recipient of the Writers Guild of America’s Lt. Robert Meltzer Award.

Jarrico, who died in a car accident in October 1997 while driving home from an event honoring victims of the blacklist, had worked tirelessly to restore blacklisted writers’ credits to the films on which they worked.

The Meltzer award will be presented to Jarrico’s widow, Lia Benedetti, at the guild’s 51st annual award ceremonies, to be held Feb. 20 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Related Stories

The Hollywood sign with a hand coming out of the "O" holding a megaphone VIP+

Hollywood’s Next Superhero: Purpose-Led Branding  

Ron Howard and Henry Winkler at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards held at Peacock Theater on September 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Henry Winkler Punches the Jukebox Again During 'Happy Days' Emmys Reunion With Ron Howard

Meltzer was a screenwriter — he worked for Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles — who was killed at the battle for Brest following the invasion of Normandy in World War II. Initially, the award honored writers who had died in the war. After Meltzer was posthumously blacklisted in 1951, the Guild stopped giving the award.

Popular on Variety

The WGA revived the award in 1991 to recognize acts of courage in defense of freedom of expression and the rights of writers.

Jarrico became notorious in April 1951 by refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating communism in Hollywood, and was blacklisted from his $2,000-per-week career as a screenwriter at RKO.

Howard Hughes removed Jarrico’s name from “The Las Vegas Story,” an act leading to a highly publicized lawsuit that Hughes eventually won. In 1953 Jarrico produced “Salt of the Earth,” an independent film created by blacklisted writers and performers.

Jarrico wrote films in Europe for Dino De Laurentiis, J. Arthur Rank, Alexander Salkind and others. Later, after returning to the U.S., he wrote a play, “Leonardo,” was a lecturer at UC-Santa Barbara, and served as story editor on the primetime TV series “Call to Glory” and “Fortune Dane.”

At the Writers Guild, Jarrico was instrumental in creating and doing extensive research for the Blacklist Credits Committee, which succeeded in reinstating blacklisted writers’ credits.

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9mhnqEjp%2BgpaVfo7K4v46wnpplpKR6p7HTnmSjmaKntqS7jGpoam9kbYZyfpZo