Ring Lardner Jr. (1915 - 2000), the third son of a famous American writer, attended Andover and Princeton and, in 1935 went to Hollywood to become a scriptwriter. In 1942 he co-wrote, with Michael Kanin, the comedy Woman of the Year, which won the Academy Award for best original screenplay. Because of his refusal to reveal beliefs and associations in 1947 before the House Committee on Un-American Activitites, Lardner was blacklisted in Hoillywood and three years later, sentenced to a year in prison. During that time he began research on his novel The Ecstasy of Owen Muir (1954), a searing indictment of American society during the McCarthy era. In addition to his other books All for Love and The Lardners: My Family Remembered, Lardner wrote pieces for The Nation, Esquire, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Among his screenwriting credits following his blacklisting are The Cincinnati Kid and M*A*S*H, the latter of which won the 1970 Grand Prix in Cannes.
