Dear Nikki: I’m writing you today regarding the piece, “WGA Restores Blacklisted Writer Dalton Trumbo’s Screen Credit On ‘Roman Holiday,’” by Mike Fleming which appeared on Deadline New York online Monday, December 19, 2011. My father, Lester Koenig, was a writer and producer principally known for being second in command on Willy Wyler’s films from WWII (my father was the principal writer of The Memphis Belle) through Roman Holiday. He was blacklisted on the grounds that he had been named by someone as having questionable ties and then, on being subpoenaed, he refused to name names. He was a friend and colleague of Dalton Trumbo. Taking nothing away from Dalton, my father told me that the screenplay for Roman Holiday was a collaborative effort. When Willy Wyler, my father, and several other writers left port in New York on the Queen Mary bound for Europe, Willy was not satisfied with what they had.
- 12/20/2011
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline Hollywood
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