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Hugo Dansey Butler (4 May 1914 – 7 January 1968) was a Canada screenwriter working in Hollywood who was blacklisted by the in the 1950s.Note: Butler signed his name "Hugo Dansey Butler" on his U.S. Department of Labor, Immigration and Naturalization Service Form 2202–L-A "Declaration of Intention" signed December 8, 1936. Butler's name is listed as "Hugo Danzee Butler" on D.S.S. Form 1 Military Draft Registration Card completed on October 16, 1940.
Hugo Butler worked as a journalist and playwright 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) for the Best Writing, Original Story Academy Award.
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 during World War II."Index Record for Hugo D Butler WWII Army Enlistment Records", (Army Serial Number 39747323), Fold3 by Ancestry.com website. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
After being blacklisted, he wrote under various pseudonyms as well as using a fellow member of the Writers Guild of America as a front to submit screenplays to the on his behalf. After being subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1951, Butler and his family went to Mexico where he worked on scripts for directors Luis Buñuel, Carlos Velo and Robert Aldrich. 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.
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.
Death
Butler suffered from arteriosclerosis for several years before he died from a heart attack in January 1968 in Hollywood, California. 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.
Selected filmography
External links
Categories: 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
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