He agreed to "front" for Dalton Trumbo, the real author of Roman
Holiday (1953), because Trumbo was blacklisted. Hunter passed along a
portion of the money he "earned" for writing the film to Trumbo, but he
kept the screenwriting Oscar, which the Academy awarded to him without
having any idea that they were really honoring a blacklistee. Shortly
afterwards, Hunter himself was also blacklisted. Trumbo's wife, Cleo,
was finally presented with the award in 1993, long after his death in
1976. The Oscar she received was actually a second one, because
Hunter's son wouldn't give up his father's Oscar, so two awards for
Best Screenplay of 1953 exist. The story credit was corrected to credit
Trumbo when the restored edition was released in 2002, nearly fifty
years after the original release.
