Waldo Salt

Waldo Salt
Born(1914-10-18)October 18, 1914
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMarch 7, 1987(1987-03-07) (aged 72)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other namesArthur Behrstock
M.L. Davenport
Mel Davenport
EducationStanford University (AB)
OccupationScreenwriter
Years active1937–1978
Spouses
Ambur Dana
​
​
(m. 1938; div. 1941)​
Mary Davenport
​
​
(m. 1942, divorced)​
Gladys Schwartz
​
​
(m. 1969; died 1981)​
​
(m. 1983)​
Children2 with Davenport (including Jennifer Salt)

Waldo Miller Salt[1] (October 18, 1914 – March 7, 1987) was an American screenwriter. He wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplays for Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Coming Home (1978).

Early life and career

Salt was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Winifred May (née Porter) and William H. Salt, a playwright and artist.[2] Waldo graduated from Stanford University in 1934.[3] He was hired as a junior writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[4] The first of the nineteen films he wrote or co-wrote was The Bride Wore Red (1937). He received his first screenplay credit for The Shopworn Angel (1938).

Salt's career in Hollywood was interrupted in 1951 when he was blacklisted after being labeled a Communist by screenwriter Richard Collins.[5] On April 13, 1951, in his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Salt invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answer whether he was a member of the Communist Party.[4] Although he could no longer work openly in film or television, he was still able like other blacklisted writers to earn money by writing under a pseudonym, which he did for the British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.[6]

After the blacklist ended, Salt won Academy Awards for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for his work on Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home respectively, as well as earning a nomination for the former for Serpico.

Salt is featured in the extras for the Criterion Collection's Midnight Cowboy Blu-ray disc release, specifically in an audio interview with Michael Childers; many photos of Salt can be seen here as he was a collaborator for the screenplay. The documentary listed below, Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey, is also featured on the disc.[7]

Personal life

Salt was married four times. The first was to Ambur Dana, who later married Nat Hiken, then to actress Mary Davenport (married in 1942) with whom he had two children, actress/writer/producer Jennifer, and Deborah; both marriages ended in divorce.[8] After his divorce from Davenport, he married Gladys Schwartz in 1969, and they remained together until her death in 1981. He was married to playwright Eve Merriam from 1983 until his death at age 72 in Los Angeles on March 7, 1987.[8][9]

He joined the Communist Party USA in 1938[10] (or 1939[11]) and left in 1955. [11]

Documentary

Salt was the subject of a 1990 documentary Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey, which featured interviews with Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and other collaborators and friends.

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, first presented in 1992, is awarded at the Sundance Film Festival annually. It is determined by the dramatic jury, and recognizes outstanding screenwriting in a film screened at the festival that year.[12]

Filmography

Films
Year Title Notes
1937 The Bride Wore Red Adaptation, uncredited
1938 The Shopworn Angel Screenplay
1939 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Dialogue, uncredited
1940 The Philadelphia Story Uncredited
1941 The Wild Man of Borneo Screenplay
1943 Tonight We Raid Calais Screenplay
1944 Mr. Winkle Goes to War Alternative title: Arms and the Woman
1948 Rachel and the Stranger Screenplay
1950 The Flame and the Arrow Screenplay
1951 M Additional dialogue
1961 Blast of Silence Narration written by, credited as Mel Davenport
1962 Taras Bulba Screenplay together with Karl Tunberg
1964 Flight from Ashiya Alternative title: Ashiya kara no hiko
Wild and Wonderful
1969 Midnight Cowboy Screenplay; Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay
1971 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight Alternative title: The Gang That Couldn't Shoot
1973 Serpico Screenplay
1975 The Day of the Locust Screenplay
1978 Coming Home Oscar Winner for Best Original Screenplay
Television
Year Title Notes
1955 Star Stage 1 episode
1956 Colonel March of Scotland Yard 2 episodes
1958 Swiss Family Robinson Television movie, credited as Mel Davenport
Ivanhoe 4 episodes
1961 Tallahassee 7000 1 episode
1964 Espionage 1 episode, credited as Mel Davenport
1965 The Nurses 1 episode
1967 Coronet Blue 1 episode

Awards and nominations

Year Award Result Category Film or series
1949 Writers Guild of America Award Nominated Best Written American Western Rachel and the Stranger
1970 Won Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Midnight Cowboy
1974 Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Serpico (Shared with Norman Wexler)
1979 Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen Coming Home (Shared with Robert C. Jones)
1986 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
-
1970 Academy Award Won Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Midnight Cowboy
1974 Nominated Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Serpico (Shared with Norman Wexler)
1979 Won Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Coming Home (Shared with Nancy Dowd and Robert C. Jones)
1970 BAFTA Award Won Best Screenplay Midnight Cowboy
1974 Edgar Allan Poe Awards Nominated Serpico (Shared with Norman Wexler)
1970 Golden Globe Award Nominated Best Screenplay Midnight Cowboy
1979 Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Coming Home (Shared with Robert C. Jones)

References

  1. ↑ "Waldo Salt". New York. 4. New York Magazine Co. 1971.
  2. ↑ Monahan, Ruth (March 8, 1933). "Play by Menlo Part Man Entertainingly Given Here". The Peninsula Times Tribune. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal (September 27, 2015). "Waldo Salt - Biography - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Testimony of Waldo Salt, Accompanied by His Counsel, Robert W. Kenny and Ben Margolis". Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-Second Congress, First Session, March 8 and 21; April 10, 11, 12, and 13, 1951. Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry – Part 1. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1951. pp. 259–274.
  5. ↑ Vaughn, Robert (1972). Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting (PDF). New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 280 – via World Radio History.
  6. ↑ Matthews, Tom Dewe (October 7, 2006). "The Outlaws". The Guardian. Retrieved October 11, 2006.
  7. ↑ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". The Criterion Collection. May 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Waldo Salt, 72, Dies; Oscar-Winning Writer". The New York Times. March 8, 1987. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  9. ↑ Zimmer, Vanessa (June 30, 2022). "Who Was… Waldo Salt?". Sundance Institute. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  10. ↑ Cofresi, Diana (December 11, 2006). "Waldo Salt ~ About Waldo Salt | American Masters | PBS". American Masters. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  11. 1 2 Buckley, Tom (December 7, 1973). "Waldo Salt Recalls 'The Day of the Locust'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  12. ↑ "2021 Sundance Film Festival". festival.sundance.org.

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