{{Short description|American dramatist (1940–2011)}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} '''Christopher Trumbo''' (September 25, 1940 – January 8, 2011) was an American television writer, screenwriter and playwright. Trumbo was considered an expert on the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist.<ref name=latimes>{{cite news|first=Dennis|last=McLellan|title=Christopher Trumbo dies at 70; screen and TV writer whose father was blacklisted|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-christopher-trumbo-20110112-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-01-12 |access-date=2011-01-26}}</ref> His father, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, was blacklisted by Hollywood for nearly a decade for refusing to testify to Congress, as one of a group known as The Hollywood Ten.<ref name=latimes/>
==Early life== Trumbo was born on September 25, 1940, to Dalton and Cleo Trumbo, in Los Angeles, where he was also raised.<ref name=venturabreeze>{{cite news|title=Local Screenwriter Dies|url=http://ventura.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=47312|work=Ventura Breeze|date=2011-01-20|accessdate=2011-01-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206123138/http://ventura.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=47312|archive-date=2011-02-06}}</ref> Trumbo was seven years old when his father was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.<ref name=latimes/> His father spent ten months in prison before being released in 1951.<ref name=latimes/> The family moved to Mexico City to share a place with the screenwriter Hugo Butler, who was also blacklisted, and his family.<ref name=latimes/> The Trumbos returned to California after two years in Mexico and settled in Highland Park.<ref name=latimes/>
Trumbo graduated from Franklin High School in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.<ref name=venturabreeze/> He enrolled at Columbia University. He took a year off from Columbia to work as an assistant director on the 1960 film ''Exodus'', adapted from the novel written by Leon Uris; the screenplay was written by his father, Dalton Trumbo, and the film was directed by Otto Preminger.<ref name=venturabreeze/> Trumbo received a bachelor's degree from Columbia College in 1964.<ref name=latimes/><ref>{{Cite web|date=January 2004|title=ALUMNI NEWS|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan04/quads5.html|access-date=July 30, 2020|website=Columbia College Today}}</ref>
==Career== Trumbo began working as a television and film screenwriter in 1967.<ref name=latimes/><ref name=venturabreeze/> Trumbo co-wrote the film ''The Don Is Dead'' (1973), starring Anthony Quinn, as well as the John Wayne film ''Brannigan'' (1975). In 1974, he was the co-creator with Michael Butler of the short-lived ABC police drama ''Nakia'', and he also wrote for the series. In 1978, Trumbo wrote the television film ''Ishi: The Last of His Tribe'', in which he co-credited his father, who died in 1976.<ref name=venturabreeze/> Trumbo's other credits included television episodes of ''Falcon Crest'', ''Ironside'' and ''Quincy, M.E.''.<ref name=latimes/>
Trumbo wrote a play based on his father's blacklist-era letters, called ''Trumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted''.<ref name=venturabreeze/> The play, which focuses on Dalton Trumbo's blacklist experience through his personal letters, was adapted as an off-Broadway production directed by Peter Askin.<ref name=latimes/> Askin's ''Trumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted'', which starred Nathan Lane as Dalton Trumbo and Gordon MacDonald as the narrator, opened at the Westside Theatre in New York City.<ref name=latimes/> The production ran for approximately one year.<ref name=latimes/> Lane departed the production and several well-known actors took on the role of Dalton Trumbo, including Chris Cooper, Gore Vidal, Richard Dreyfuss, F. Murray Abraham, Bill Irwin and Brian Dennehy.<ref name=latimes/> Dennehy later starred in a national tour of the play.<ref name=latimes/>
Christopher Trumbo and Peter Askins collaborated to create the film ''Trumbo'' (2007), which was also based on Dalton Trumbo's letters.<ref name=latimes/> The film combined documentary footage with performances by Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy, Liam Neeson, Donald Sutherland and Paul Giamatti.<ref name=latimes/>
Trumbo was considered an expert on the Hollywood blacklist era. He was often cited in books and appeared in documentaries concerning the subject, including the seven-part ''Moguls and Movie Stars'', which aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2010.<ref name=venturabreeze/> Trumbo was writing a history of the Hollywood blacklist at the time of his death in 2011.<ref name=venturabreeze/>
==Death== Trumbo died of cancer in hospice care at his home in Ojai, California, on January 8, 2011, at the age of 70, the same age at which his father died.<ref name=latimes/> He was survived by his wife, Nancy Escher; his sisters, Nikola Trumbo and Mitzi Trumbo.<ref name=venturabreeze/> Before he died, he requested that his father receive full credit for his work on ''Roman Holiday,'' which won an Oscar. On December 19, 2011, the Writers Guild credited Dalton Trumbo with the screenplay posthumously.<ref name=kpcc>{{cite news|last=Cheryl Devall|first=Paige Osburn|title=Blacklisted writer gets credit restored after 60 years for Oscar-winning film|url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/12/19/30417/blacklisted-writer-gets-credit-restored-oscar-winn/|accessdate=December 20, 2011|newspaper=89.3 KPCC|date=December 19, 2011}}</ref><ref name=latimes-verrier>{{cite news|last=Verrier|first=Richard|title=Writers Guild restores screenplay credit to Trumbo for 'Roman Holiday'|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/12/writers-guild-restores-screenplay-credit-to-trumbo-for-roman-holiday.html|accessdate=December 20, 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 19, 2011}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0874307|Christopher Trumbo}}
{{Dalton Trumbo|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbo, Christopher}} Category:1940 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American male screenwriters Category:American documentary filmmakers Category:People from Ojai, California Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Screenwriters from California Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:Columbia College, Columbia University alumni Category:Dalton Trumbo