Silvia Richards (born Silvia Hope Goodenough) was an American screenwriter who worked on a number of films in the 1940s and 1950s, including the

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

Ruby Gentry ''Ruby Gentry'' is a 1952 film directed by King Vidor, and starring Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, and Karl Malden. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to Kin ...

'' and the Western ''

Rancho Notorious ''Rancho Notorious'' is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Marlene Dietrich as the matron of a criminal hideout called ''Chuck-a-Luck''. Arthur Kennedy and Mel Ferrer play rivals for her attention in this tale of f ...

''. She also wrote for television in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Origins

Richards was born in Indianola, Iowa, to Aubrey Goodenough and Gertrude Pearl. She attended high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She married Robert L. Richards in 1938 in Alexandra, Virginia. The two lived in New York for a time, where their son David was born; they'd eventually move to Hollywood to launch careers as screenwriters.

HUAC hearings

Richards' work was interrupted by the McCarthy Hearings. She was called in as a friendly witness for

HUAC The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

but claimed that she went along with HUAC because she feared for the well-being of her two young sons. Her action helped cause a divorce from her husband, screenwriter Robert L. Richards, who would not testify for the committee. Robert Richards was blacklisted and forced to write under various pseudonyms for the remainder of his career.

Later life

Following her divorce from Richards, Silvia married screenwriter A. I. (Buzz) Bezzerides, another victim of the McCarthy-era blacklist, in 1953. Ronald Bergan. "AI Bezzerides". London: The Guardian, February 6, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/feb/06/guardianobituaries.obituaries Accessed January 25, 2012. She assisted him in developing his writing ideas but stopped writing on her own. She died in 1999, while Bezzerides lived until 2007.

Selected filmography

* 1952 ''

'' (screenplay) * 1952 ''

'' (original story) * 1951 ''

Battle of Powder River The Battle of Powder River, also known as the Reynolds Battle, occurred on March 17, 1876, in Montana Territory, United States. The attack on a Cheyenne Indian encampment by Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds initiated the Great Sioux War of 1876. Althou ...

'' (screenplay) * 1947 '' Secret Beyond the Door...'' (screenplay) * 1947 ''Possessed'' (screenplay)

References

External links

1915 births 1999 deaths American women screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub