Robert Presnell Jr.

Screenwriter

Birthday July 21, 1914

Birth Sign Cancer

Birthplace Chicago, IL

DEATH DATE Jun 14, 1986 (71)

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About

Screenwriter famous for directing shows and writing scripts for radio, movies, and TV shows from the 1940s to the early 1980s. Some shows that he worked on included The Twilight Zone and The Eleventh Hour. 

Before Fame

He got his start as a journalist working for the Milwaukee Journal. He got his break when he started working on the radio with famous director and actor Orson Welles in the mid-1940s. 

Trivia

He was an activist and was involved in the movement against the blacklisting of Hollywood writers and actors during the McCarthy trials. He co-wrote the show Hollywood Fights Back in 1947. He was also a supporter of Amnesty International and the anti-nuclear organization SANE.

Family Life

He was married twice. His first marriage to Kay Brown. They had one son named Pete. His second wife was famous actress Marsha Hunt. They were married in 1946 and they adopted a child named Chon Kai Yin from Hong Kong.

Associated With

He was close friends with the blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. He "fronted" for Trumbo on the movie Conspiracy of Hearts when Trumbo was blacklisted from writing in Hollywood.