- Lester Cole
Lester Cole (
June 19 ,1904 -August 15 ,1985 ) was an Americanscreenwriter .Born in
New York City , Lester Cole began his career as an actor but soon turned to screenwriting. His first work was "If I had a Million"." In 1933, he joined withJohn Howard Lawson andSamuel Ornitz to establish theWriters Guild of America .In 1934 he joined the
American Communist Party . Subjected to aHouse Committee on Un-American Activities investigation and blacklisted, he became known as one of the "Hollywood Ten ." Convicted ofcontempt of Congress , he served ten months in prison.Between 1932 and 1947 Cole had written more than forty screenplays that were made into motion pictures. After his
blacklist ing, he had only three and only because of friends through whom he was able to submit a few screenplays under the names, Gerald L.C. Copley, Lewis Copley, and J. Redmond Prior.His best-known work was the highly successful 1966 film "
Born Free ".Lester Cole died of a heart attack in
San Francisco, California in 1985.ee also
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The Hollywood Ten " documentary.External links
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