Trivia

John Wayne considered Schulberg's book "What Makes Sammy Run?" part of a Communist plot, as the book deals with the formation of the Writers Guild of America. In fact, Schulberg had been a Communist Party member in the 1930s, and the Communist Party USA also attacked his book. Disillusioned with communism and what the USSR had devolved into under Stalin, he appeared as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951 and named names.

Although "What Makes Sammy Run?", his scathing look at Hollywood, was twice presented on television in New York-based productions in 1949 and 1959, and appeared on Broadway in a musical version with Steve Lawrence playing Sammy that ran for 540 performances in the 1964-1965 season, Hollywood itself has never made a version of the popular novel. Dreamworks acquired the rights to the novel from Warner Bros. for $2.6 million for a proposed version starring Ben Stiller, but that movie has yet to be green-lighted.

A movie industry insider, he published the damning expose of Hollywood "What Makes Sammy Run?" in 1941, creating the greatest of all Hollywood anti-heroes, Sammy Glick. The book made him persona non grata in Hollywood for years.

Louis B. Mayer told his father, B.P. Schulberg, that his son should be deported. An exasperated B.P. replied that since Budd was a U.S. citizen raised in Hollywood, "Where the hell are you gonna deport him? Catalina Island?" Recounting the incident, Budd told journalist Cathy Seipp, "My father was a very, very intelligent man, but not as smart as Louis B. Mayer. And that remark is one of the things I think helped finish my father in Hollywood".

During the Writer's Guild of America strike in 1988, Schulberg spoke at a WGA meeting, beginning his remarks by saying he was probably the only person from the original 1937 WGA council who was still on the council.

Schulberg's assertion that Louis B. Mayer used to meet with a German consul in Los Angeles to discuss cuts in his studio's movies that would help their release in Nazi Germany is documented in scholar Ben Urwand's controversial 2013 book, 'The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler'.

Son of B.P. Schulberg, who ran Paramount Pictures in the 1930s.

Schulberg's screenwriting career got of to a shaky start, due to an ill-conceived collaborative effort with F. Scott Fitzgerald on Winter Carnival (1939), a romantic comedy set in Schulberg's own alma mater. He was fired from the production by Walter Wanger half-way through shooting. In 1950, Schulberg wrote a novel, "The Disenchanted", based on his experiences with the project.

Educated at Ivy League Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

He was involved in gathering evidence against war criminals for the Nuremberg Trials, an assignment that included arresting documentary film maker Leni Riefenstahl at her chalet in Kitzbühel, Austria, ostensibly to have her identify the faces of Nazi war criminals in German film footage captured by the Allied troops.

In 1945 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and later that year he was assigned to gather photographic evidence to be used at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials.

While serving in the Navy during World War II, Schulberg was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), working with John Ford's documentary unit. Following VE Day.

Following VE Day, he was among the first American servicemen to liberate the Nazi-run concentration camps.

Was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a writer in 2003, when he was 89 years old.

The 1995 Broadway musical based on his screenplay for On the Waterfront (1954) was a flop, lasting only eight performances

In 1982, Schulberg wrote Moving Pictures: Memoirs of a Hollywood Prince, an autobiography covering his youth in Hollywood growing up in the 1920s and 1930s among the famous motion picture actors and producers as the son of B. P. Schulberg, head of Paramount Studios.

In 1965, after a devastating riot had ripped apart the fabric of the Watts section of Los Angeles, Schulberg formed the Watts Writers Workshop in an attempt to ease frustrations and bring artistic training to the economically impoverished district.

He strove to help young and disadvantaged writers, founding in 1971 the Douglass Creative Arts Center (New York), which still operates.

He was awarded the Army Commendation Ribbon for gathering photographic evidence of war crimes for the Nuremberg trials.

Schulberg was also a sports writer and former chief boxing correspondent for Sports Illustrated. He wrote some well-received books on boxing, including Sparring with Hemingway.

His brother, Stuart Schulberg, was a movie and television producer (David Brinkley's Journal, The Today Show), and his sister, Sonya Schulberg (O'Sullivan) (1918-2016), was an occasional writer (of a novel, They Cried a Little, and stories).

Fathered his third son Benn Stuart with his fourth wife Betsy Ann Langham.

Fathered his second daughter Jessica Adeline with his fourth wife Betsy Ann Langham.

Fathered his two elder sons, Stephan Schulberg (born in 1944) and David Schulberg (born in 1946), with his second wife, Virginia Anderson.

Fathered his eldest daughter, Victoria Schulberg (b. 1940), with his first wife, Virginia Ray.

Older brother of Stuart Schulberg.

Uncle of Sandra Schulberg.

His niece Sandra Schulberg was an executive producer of the Academy Award-nominated film Quills.

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his contributions to the sport.

His mother, of the Ad Schulberg Agency, served as his agent until her death in 1977.

He coined the nickname "Brooklyn Bonfire" for Clara Bow but it didn't take with the American movie going public.

As Adolph Zukor's publicist he coined Mary Pickford's nickname "America's Sweetheart".