Hugo Dansey Butler (4 May 1914 – 7 January 1968) was a Canadian-born

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

working in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

who was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

by the

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...

s in the 1950s.

Biography

Born on 4 May 1914 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, his father, Frank Russell Butler (December 28, 1889 — June 10, 1967), had acted and written scripts in

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. His mother was Margaret Annie Dansey Addis (1891-19??). Hugo Butler worked as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

before moving to Hollywood in 1937 where he wrote the first of his thirty-four screenplays. His work on '' Edison the Man'' (1940) led to his nomination (with

Dore Schary Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 – July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed one feature film, ''Act One (film), Act One'', th ...

) for the Best Writing, Original Story

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

. In 1940, he married actress Jean Rouverol, later an author and screenwriter. The couple would have six children. On May 5, 1945, Butler enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After being blacklisted, he wrote under various pseudonyms as well as using a fellow member of the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

as a front to submit screenplays to the

movie studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; howe ...

s on his behalf. After being subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1951, Butler and his family went to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

where he worked on scripts for directors

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

, Carlos Velo and

Robert Aldrich Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick '' auteur'' working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed main ...

. He was a handful of blacklisted artists responsible for the ''Nuevo Cine'' movement in Mexico, according to Rebeca Shreiber's ''Cold War Exiles in Mexico.'' While living in Italy, he would also continue writing for Aldrich. They did not return to the United States on a permanent basis for thirteen years.

Death

Butler suffered from

arteriosclerosis Arteriosclerosis, literally meaning "hardening of the arteries", is an umbrella term for a vascular disorder characterized by abnormal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries; this process gradually restricts th ...

for several years before he died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in January 1968 in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. He was survived by his wife Jean and six children, including screenwriter Michael Butler. His death occurred shortly before he was about to rise from the Hollywood blacklist after co-writing the 1968 film '' The Legend of Lylah Clare'' with his wife. In 1997, the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America voted to posthumously give him official credit for scripts he had written. Butler's film ''Los Pequeños Gigantes'' was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Selected filmography

*'' Edison the Man'' (story, 1940) *'' Blossoms in the Dust'' (1941) * '' A Yank on the Burma Road'' (1942) *''

Lassie Come Home ''Lassie Come Home'' is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor feature film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was d ...

'' (1943) *'' The Southerner'' (1945) *'' Miss Susie Slagle's'' (1946) *'' From This Day Forward'' (1946) *'' A Woman of Distinction'' (1950) *'' He Ran All the Way'' (1951) *'' The Big Night'' (1951) *'' The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (1954) directed by

*''

Torero A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activi ...

'' (1956) *'' Autumn Leaves'' (1956) *'' Los pequeños gigantes'' (1958) *'' La joven'' (''The Young One'', 1960) directed by Buñuel *'' The Legend of Lylah Clare'' (1968)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Hugo 1914 births 1968 deaths American male screenwriters Canadian expatriate writers in the United States Hollywood blacklist Writers from Calgary 20th-century American male writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century American screenwriters United States Army soldiers Screenwriters from Alberta