Screenwriter Bernard Gordon dies at 88

LOS ANGELES, May 12 (UPI) -- Screenwriter Bernard Gordon, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, has died of cancer at 88 at his home in Los Angeles.

Gordon -- who wrote screenplays for such films as Charlton Heston's "55 Days at Peking" and Ronald Reagan's "Hellcats of the Navy" -- was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee but was never called to testify, The Los Angeles Times reported. Although the major studios blacklisted him, Gordon continued to write under other names.

Eventually, the Writers Guild of America restored his name to many of his screen credits.

Gordon's screen credits also included "The Thin Red Line" (1964) and "Battle of the Bulge" (1965).

Gordon was a main organizer in 1999 of protests outside the Academy Awards when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a lifetime award to Elia Kazan -- who had denounced colleagues during the HUAC investigation of communists in Hollywood.

"Some very, very prominent people had been affected by the depths of that campaign against Kazan," said Patrick McGilligan, co-author of a book about the Hollywood blacklist, "Tender Comrades."

Gordon is survived by his daughter, Ellen.