… in 1947 the ‘Hollywood Ten’ – a group of film producers, directors and screenwriters – were blacklisted by the majority of Hollywood Studios for their rumoured Communist affiliations.

These men included Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytryk, John Howard Lawson, Ring Lardner Jr, Samuel Ornitz, Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo. Most were never employed in Hollywood again, so great was the fear of Communism in the west at this time.

Interestingly, the German writer Bertolt Brecht was originally among this group, but he fled the country the day after the inquest.