Stanley Kramer was the first to break the black list (a list of writers, actors, producers that were seemingly criticizing the American way, which was considered subversive) During the 1940’s and early to middle 1950’s Senator Joseph McCarthy was conducting hearings against the entertainment industry for seeming associations with unAmerican activities which deeply effected the careers of motion picture writers, directors, producers and actors. These people were black-listed which meant they were not allowed to make a living or work in our industry. Many of these black-listed artists left the country, lost homes, lost all support, were ostracized and many committed suicide. This was a very bleak and embarrassing time in our country. If a producer wanted to hire a writer who had been black- listed, they would often change their names on the credits. They would meet in out of the way coffee shops as not to been seen, because they were afraid of the association and would not pay them their normal salary. No filmmaker was allowed to hire anyone who had been black-listed. Stanley Kramer was the first to break the blacklist in 1957 by hiring 2 blacklisted writers. He not only paid them top-dollar he used their real names and then brought them onto the studio lot and he hired them as actors in the film. These two blacklisted writers were the two truck drivers who transported Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis to jail in “The Defiant Ones.” In the credits where it says screen play written by, Stanley zooms in on their close ups and places their names right under their picture. He defied the system and fanned the flame. The film was extremely controversial. It was the first time an Anglo Saxon and an African American depicted escaped prisoner, chained together who settled their differences culturally and socially and subsequently bonded together in lasting
friendship. In 1967 Stanley made another classic film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” dealing with the subject matter of interracial marriage starring Sidney Poitier,
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