Biography
Ring Lardner Jr. was an American screenwriter. Born Ringgold Wilmer Lardner Jr. in Chicago, Illinois, in 1915, he worked initially as a publicist and script doctor in Hollywood before receiving writing credits on films including Woman of the Year (1942), for which he shared an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
He contributed to the screenplays for Laura (1944), Cloak and Dagger (1946) and Forever Amber (1947). In 1947 he was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten after refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee and served a prison sentence for contempt of Congress. His next credited screenplay under his own name was The Cincinnati Kid (1965).
Lardner won a second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for MASH (1970). His final credited film work was a rewrite on The Greatest* (1977).
