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Hugo D. Butler (4 May 1914 – 7 January 1968) was a Canadian born screenwriter working in Hollywood who was blacklisted by the film studios in the 1950s. Born in Calgary, Alberta, his father had acted and written scripts in silent films. Hugo Butler worked as a journalist and playwright before moving to Hollywood in 1937 where he wrote the first of his thirty-four screenplays. His work on Edison the Man (1940) led to his nomination (with Dore Schary) for the Best Writing, Original Story Academy Award.
In 1940 he married actress Jean Rouverol, later an author and screenwriter. Shortly thereafter Butler's career was interrupted when he served in the United States military during World War II.
After being blacklisted, he wrote under various pseudonyms as well as using a fellow member of the Writers Guild of America as a front to submit screenplays to the movie studios on his behalf. He and his wife went to Mexico where he worked on scripts for directors Luis Buñuel and Carlos Velo. He was a handful of blacklisted artists responsible for the Nuevo Cine movement in Mexico, according to Rebeca Shreiber's Cold War Exiles in Mexico. They did not return to the United States on a permanent basis for thirteen years.
Hugo Butler suffered from arteriosclerotic brain disease for several years before he died from a heart attack in 1968 in Hollywood, California. In 1997, the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America voted to posthumously give him official credit for scripts he had written.
He is survived by Becky Butler, Emily Butler, Mary Butler, Debbie Butler and screenwriter Michael Butler.
