Dean Budd

Oscar-winner Budd Schulberg, whose long screenwriting career included the Hollywood classic "On the Waterfront," has died, aged 95, local media reported Thursday. Schulberg, also a television producer and novelist, died Wednesday on Long Island, outside New York City, the Daily News quoted relatives as saying. In addition to penning the screenplay for "On the Waterfront," starring Marlon Brando as a boxer who confronts corrupt union bosses, Schulberg distinguished himself as chief boxing correspondent for Sports Illustrated. "On the Waterfront" won eight Academy Awards including Schulberg's for screenplay. During World War II he served in a documentary unit led by director John Ford. The two ... Read Full Story

Patrick Goldstein at always excellent LA Times blog "Big Picture" has this interesting account about Ben Stiller and Jerry Stahl, and their ill-fated attempts to make a movie based on Budd Schulberg's book, "What Makes Sammy Run": Stiller spent years working with "Permanent Midnight" writer Jerry Stahl on an update of a Schulberg script, first at Warners -- which had the rights to the book -- and later at DreamWorks (when DW negotiated a first-look deal with Stiller's production company, it paid Warners $2.6 million just for the rights to "Sammy"). At one point, according to producer Billy Gerber, who had acquired the book ... Read Full Story

Many of the Budd Schulberg obituaries in the so-called liberal media — like this one from the New York Times — spent a vast amount of time talking about Schulberg’s falling out with the Communist Party and his subsequent 1951 appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he informed on 17 people he said had been members of the party. It was a big deal, especially for lefties of a certain age. Whenever I’d bring up Schulberg’s name to Abe Polonsky, who wrote the film noir classic ”Body and Soul” and had been blacklisted for 15 years for his refusal to name the ... Read Full Story

Budd Schulberg, who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for the Marlon Brando classic "On the Waterfront," died Wednesday at age 95. Schulberg, the son of a studio boss who earlier had defined the Hollywood hustle with the novel "What Makes Sammy Run?" in 1941, died of natural causes at his home in Westhampton Beach, on Long Island, said his wife, Betsy Schulberg. He was taken to a nearby medical center, where doctors unsuccessfully tried to revive him, she said. "He was very loved," she said, "and cherished." "On the Waterfront," directed by Elia Kazan and filmed in Hoboken, N.J., was released in 1954 to great ... Read Full Story

Per the Daily Variety : Iconoclastic writer Budd Schulberg, who penned the controversial Hollywood novels "What Makes Sammy Run?" and "The Disenchanted" and who won an Oscar for his original screenplay "On the Waterfront," died of natural causes Wednesday at his home in Westhampton Beach, on Long Island, according to his wife Betsy. He was 95. Ironically what Schulberg may have been best known for was his book "What Makes Sammy Run," which was never made into a movie: Schulberg's influence over Hollywood was strong. The Sammy Glick character from "What Makes Sammy Run" is the paradigm of power-driven, amoral studio executives. Although "What ... Read Full Story