Waldo Salt
Waldo Salt was an influential American screenwriter, born on October 18, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Stanford University and began his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), contributing to various films before making his mark with the 1938 film *The Shopworn Angel*. His career took a turn during World War II when he worked as a consultant for the Office of War Information. However, Salt faced significant challenges in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including being blacklisted due to his refusal to testify about his political affiliations during the Red Scare.
Despite these obstacles, he achieved remarkable success in the late 1960s with *Midnight Cowboy*, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Salt an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. His work often explored complex themes, as seen in later films like *Serpico* and *Coming Home*, the latter addressing the emotional toll of the Vietnam War. Salt passed away from lung cancer on March 7, 1987, in Los Angeles, and in recognition of his contributions to the film industry, the Sundance Film Festival awards a best-screenplay award in his name. His legacy continues through his family, including his daughter Jennifer, who is also involved in the film industry.
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Waldo Salt
Screenwriter
- Born: October 18, 1914
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: March 7, 1987
- Place of death: Los Angeles, California
Biography
Waldo Salt was born October 18, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of William Haslem Salt, a business executive, and Winifred Porter Salt. He attended a private school in Victoria, British Columbia, and California’s San Raphael Military Academy before graduating from Stanford University in 1934.
After teaching for one year at Menlo Junior College, Salt became a screenwriter at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). He contributed dialogue to several films before receiving his first credit in 1938 for The Shopworn Angel, in which a Broadway actress, played by Margaret Sullavan, hurriedly weds a soldier, played by Jimmy Stewart, who is about to go off to war.
As World War II began, Salt left MGM to be a consultant for the Office of War Information in Washington, where he wrote films for the United States Army. During this period, he also crafted screenplays for two war films, Tonight We Raid Calais and Mr. Winkle Goes to War. Salt joined RKO Studios after the war, receiving his first solo credit for Rachel and the Stranger, an offbeat romantic Western with William Holden, Loretta Young, and Robert Mitchum.
Salt’s career was soon disrupted when he was summoned in 1947 by Congress’s Committee on Un-American Activities. Although he was not called to testify, his RKO contract was not renewed. Salt received a few independent assignments, as with Joseph Losey’s remark of Fritz Lang’s M, before finally being called to testify in 1951. When he refused to answer questions about his possible involvement with the Communist Party, Salt found himself blacklisted. He continued to work without credit on such films as The Crimson Pirate, and like many blacklisted writers, he worked in television under pseudonyms. During this period, Salt wrote an off-Broadway folk opera.
In 1962, producer Harold Hecht, with whom he had worked previously, broke Salt’s blacklist by hiring him for three projects, beginning with the historical epic Taras Bulba. Salt’s greatest achievement would come at the end of the 1960’s with Midnight Cowboy. Adapted from James Leo Herlihy’s novel, this tale of the friendship between two ill-matched New York street hustlers, played by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, was a critical and commercial success. Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award as best picture of 1969, and Salt also won an Oscar.
Following the mediocre Mafia comedy The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Salt returned to form with Sidney Lumet’s Serpico. This account of an honest New York policeman, played by Al Pacino, fighting police corruption is Salt’s strongest character study. Salt then rejoined Midnight Cowboy director John Schlesinger with The Day of the Locust from the novel by Nathanael West, but they could not emulate their earlier success. Salt rebounded again with Coming Home, about the emotional pain of the Vietnam War, one of the first films to address this subject, with Jane Fonda, Bruce Dern, and Voight. The film, written by Robert C. Jones from a story by Nancy Dowd, brought Salt his second Academy Award.
Salt did not receive another screenwriting credit before dying of lung cancer in Los Angeles on March 7, 1987. The Sundance Film Festival’s best-screenplay award is named for him. Salt’s wives included writer Eve Merriam and actress Mary Davenport. His daughter Jennifer is an actress and screenwriter. She appears in a supporting role in Midnight Cowboy. Several of Salt’s manuscripts are housed at the University of California at Los Angeles.