--- description: See photos of the real-life Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter portrayed by Bryan Cranston in a new movie. title: See Photos of the Real Dalton Trumbo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff74b1517cc10d/69886ebb5f570f52b0b1e167/151029-dalton-trumbo-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Photos of the Real Dalton Trumbo  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Nov 6, 2015 1:30 AM CUT  Trumbo and his bird. Trumbo and his bird.John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Nov 6, 2015 1:30 AM CUT In 1957, LIFE magazine published a real-life mystery titled “Hollywood Whodunit: An Oscar, Whowonit?” A screenwriter named Robert Rich had won an Oscar for best original screenplay for the 1956 movie _The Brave One_. The problem was, Rich never came forward to collect his award. No one actually knew who he was, for that matter. Rich, it would later be revealed, was the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, whose life will get the biopic treatment with the release of _Trumbo_, starring Bryan Cranston, on Friday. Trumbo wrote _The Brave One_ under a pen name because he was blacklisted for his involvement with the Communist Party and could not find work under his real name. When asked whether he was the writer behind _The Brave One_, Trumbo responded, “I’ll neither deny nor confirm that I wrote it. In that way I am able to steal part of the credit for practically every good picture ever made.” One of the movie’s producers, Morry King, lamented Rich’s anonymity: “If only we could find Rich, we’d have a party for him, have some great drinks, invite the press—should be great.” It would be nearly two decades before such a party could be thrown—the Academy officially recognized Trumbo in 1975, the year before he died.  Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo holds his finger up to lips as if to say "quiet." John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Trumbo holds a cigarette and purses his lips at the pet bird perched on his chest. John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Happy suspect Dalton Trumbo lives quietly, is rumored to write scripts under assumed names. John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Trumbo sits at his desk with his pet bird. John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Trumbo and his bird. John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Trumbo gazes thoughtfully at his pet bird, perched on a lamp. John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4093098/dalton-trumbo-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4093098/dalton-trumbo-photos/"},"headline":"See Photos of the Real Dalton Trumbo","datePublished":"2015-11-06T01:30:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:06.022Z","description":"The blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter is portrayed by Bryan Cranston in the new movie Trumbo","url":"https://time.com/4093098/dalton-trumbo-photos/","keywords":["Hollywood","photography","Authors","LIFE Magazine","1957"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff74b1517cc10d/69886ebb5f570f52b0b1e167/151029-dalton-trumbo-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff74b1517cc10d/69886ebb5f570f52b0b1e167/151029-dalton-trumbo-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dalton Trumbo","caption":"Dalton Trumbo","creditText":"John Swope—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4093098/dalton-trumbo-photos/","name":"See Photos of the Real Dalton Trumbo"}}]}] ```