Waldo Miller Salt (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. Waldo graduated from Stanford University in 1934. He was hired as a junior writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
He joined the Communist Party USA in 1938 (or 1939) and left in 1955.
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.
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 Tunberg1964 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 episodes1958 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 1949Writers Guild of America AwardNominated Best Written American Western Rachel and the Stranger 1970Won 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 1970Academy 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) 1970Golden Globe AwardNominated Best Screenplay Midnight Cowboy 1979 Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Coming Home (Shared with Robert C. Jones)
References
External links
Waldo Salt from the American Masters website Waldo Salt Papers, an inventory of papers kept in the UCLA Library