Walter Bernstein

Screenwriter

About

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Birth Place

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Born

August 20, 1919

Biography

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A former writer for The New Yorker who wrote many distinguished scripts for live TV in the late 1940s, Bernstein earned one feature credit, for "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands" (1948), before being blacklisted in 1950. He returned to film work nine years later, scripting such fine films as Sidney Lumet's "Fail Safe" and John Frankenheimer's "The Train" (both 1964) with Franklin Coen and Fra...

Filmography

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Women & Men II (1991)

Director ("Return To Kansas City")

Little Miss Marker (1980)

Indignation (2016)

Hollywood Contra Franco (2009)

Annie Hall (1977)

Photos & Videos

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Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Communist Sympathizer

Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Make It A Firing Squad

Family & Companions

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Gloria Loomis

Wife

Literary agent.

Judith Braun

Wife

Third wife; married in October 1961; divorced in 1984; mother of his four children.

Bibliography

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"Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist"

Walter Bernstein, Alfred A. Knopf (1996)

"Keep Your Head Down"

Walter Bernstein, Viking (1945)

Biography

A former writer for The New Yorker who wrote many distinguished scripts for live TV in the late 1940s, Bernstein earned one feature credit, for "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands" (1948), before being blacklisted in 1950. He returned to film work nine years later, scripting such fine films as Sidney Lumet's "Fail Safe" and John Frankenheimer's "The Train" (both 1964) with Franklin Coen and Frank Davis, and Martin Ritt's "The Molly Maguires" (1970), which he co-produced. His screenplay for "The Front" (1976) was a poignant, embittered portrait of the travails of a circle of screenwriters during the blacklist. Bernstein made his directing debut in 1980 with a rather bland remake of "Little Miss Marker." In the 1990s, he wrote a handful of teleplays, most notably the HBO drama "Miss Evers' Boys" (1997) and adapted his own screenplay of "Fail Safe" for a live CBS broadcast in 2000.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Women & Men II (1991)

Director ("Return To Kansas City")

Little Miss Marker (1980)

Cast (Feature Film)

Indignation (2016)

Hollywood Contra Franco (2009)

Annie Hall (1977)

Hollywood On Trial (1976)

Writer (Feature Film)

FAIL SAFE (2000)

FAIL SAFE (2000)

Miss Evers' Boys (1997)

The Affair (1995)

Doomsday Gun (1995)

Women & Men II (1991)

Screenplay ("Return To Kansas City")

The House On Carroll Street (1988)

The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

Little Miss Marker (1980)

An Almost Perfect Affair (1979)

The Betsy (1978)

Semi-Tough (1977)

The Front (1976)

The Molly Maguires (1970)

The Money Trap (1966)

The Train (1965)

Fail Safe (1964)

Paris Blues (1961)

Heller in Pink Tights (1960)

A Breath of Scandal (1960)

That Kind of Woman (1959)

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)

Producer (Feature Film)

FAIL SAFE (2000)

Co-Executive Producer

The Molly Maguires (1970)

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Hollywood On Trial (1976)

Cast (Special)

The Tramp and the Dictator (2002)

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)

On Cukor (2000)

Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998)

Writer (Special)

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)

Producer (Special)

Special Thanks (Special)

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)

Misc. Crew (Special)

The Tramp and the Dictator (2002)

Life Events

1948

First film credit (as co-adaptor), "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands"

1959

First screenwriting credit after blacklisting, "That Kind of Woman", directed by Sidney Lumet

1960

Did uncredited screenwriting on "The Magnificent Seven"

1964

Penned the screenplay for "Fail Safe", directed by Lumet

1970

First film as co-producer (with director Martin Ritt), "The Molly Maguires"; also wrote screenplay

1976

Appeared in feature-length documentary "Hollywood on Trial"

1976

Scripted the blacklist-themed drama "The Front", starring Woody Allen

1977

Had bit part as Annie's date outside movie theater in "Annie Hall"

1977

Penned the screenplay adaptation of "Semi-Tough"

1978

Produced and wrote two pilots for a proposed series about a detective named "Sparrow"; neither sold

1979

Contributed to the script of "Yanks"

1980

Film directing debut (also writer), "Little Miss Marker"

1988

Scripted "The House on Carroll Street"

1991

Directed and wrote the "Return to Kansas City" segment of the HBO anthology "Women & Men II"

1995

Provided the story for the WWII-era drama about interracial love, "The Affair"

1997

Adapted David Feldshuh's award-winning play "Miss Evers' Boys" into an acclaimed HBO movie

1999

Penned the teleplay for the CBS movie "Durango"

2000

Adapted 1964 screenplay of "Fail Safe" for a live broadcast starring George Clooney

Videos

Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Communist Sympathizer TV writer Miller (Michael Murphy) explaining how he's been blacklisted to friend Howard (Woody Allen), a cashier and small-time bookie, early in The Front, 1976, by blacklisted screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Martin Ritt.

Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Make It A Firing Squad Howard (Woody Allen) enjoying the fruits of his work "fronting" for blacklisted writers, has a meeting with Delaney (Lloyd Gough) foiled, then arrives at the studio where Florence (Andrea Marcovicci) and Sussman (Herschel Bernardi) have an emergency, in The Front. 1977.

Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) First Class Script His first visit to the TV studio, Howard (Woody Allen), posing as a writer in place of his blacklisted friend, meets Florence (Andrea Marcovicci), Sussman (Herschel Bernardi), actor Parks (William Bogert) and comic Hecky (Zero Mostel), in Martin Ritt's The Front, 1976.

Front, The (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Sincerity Is The Key We meet Remak Ramsay as Hennessy, the ex-FBI man whose job is to clear network employees suspected of having Communist connections, as comic Hecky (the long-blacklisted Zero Mostel) has his initial interview, in The Front, 1976, from Walter Bernstein’s original screenplay.

Fail-Safe (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Who Gives That Order? First scene for translator Buck (Larry Hagman) and for the president (Henry Fonda), going underground at the start of the crisis precipitated by an accidental incursion by an American nuclear bomber squadron, consulting with General Bogan (Frank Overton), in Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe, 1964.

Fail-Safe (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Nightmare, Opening Dan O'Herlihy, as "General Black," features in the nightmare sequence and opening credits to Fail-Safe 1964, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau.

Fail-Safe (1964) -- (Movie Clip) This Is Our Chance! Knapp (Russell Collins), Colonel Cascio (Fritz Weaver) et al at missile command as the accidental American nuclear attack proceeds, Secretary Swenson (William Hansen) presiding in the war room, hawkish civilian Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) dominating, the president (Henry Fonda) sequestered, in Sidney Lumet's Cold War thriller Fail-Safe, 1964.

Fail-Safe (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Then We Must Toughen The Men While there's only a routine strategic alert in place, hawkish civilian nuclear war expert Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) is giving a previously scheduled talk to top military brass, jousting in particular with General Black (Dan O'Herlihy), in Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe, 1964.

Fail-Safe (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Convicts And File Clerks First scene for nuclear war theorist Groeteschele (Walter Matthau), holding court at a Washington cocktail party, diplomat Foster (Dana Elcar) objecting, with no suggestion of the crisis that comes later in the film, in Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe, 1964.

Heller In Pink Tights - (Original Trailer) Touring actors in the wild West brave Indians and outlaws in Heller In Pink Tights (1960) starring Sophia Loren, directed by George Cukor.

Paris Blues - (Original Trailer) Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier play two jazz musicians blowing cool on the Left Bank in Martin Ritt's Paris Blues (1961).

Money Trap, The - (Original Trailer) A cop with financial problems turns crooked in The Money Trap (1966) starring Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth.

Family

Louis Bernstein

Father

Teacher.

Hannah Bernstein

Mother

Joan Bernstein

Daughter

Peter Bernstein

Son

Nicholas Bernstein

Son

Andrew Bernstein

Son

Companions

Gloria Loomis

Wife

Literary agent.

Judith Braun

Wife

Third wife; married in October 1961; divorced in 1984; mother of his four children.

Bibliography

"Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist"

Walter Bernstein, Alfred A. Knopf (1996)

"Keep Your Head Down"

Walter Bernstein, Viking (1945)

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