Son Issues Apology for Father's Role in Hollywood Blacklisting

On July 29, 1946 The Hollywood Reporter published a column naming 11 Hollywood types as communist sympathisers. Eight of those branded by the trade paper's owner, editor and publisher and column author, Billy Wilkerson, went on to be blacklisted in the industry.

This month—which marks the 65th anniversary of the original Hollywood Blacklist made up of 10 people in the film industry who had chosen not to cooperate with the House Committe on Un-American Activities—his son, W. R. Wilkerson, apologized—in the same publication—for his father's role in what the son called "Hollywood's Holocaust."

"No on has ever apologized to the victims of this holocaust. So on the eve of this dark 65th anniversary, I feel an apology is necessary," he wrote in the Hollywood Reporter Monday.

In a series of articles, including a lengthy report titled "The Hollywood Reporter, After 65 Years, Addresses Role in Blacklist," the Reporter examines its own role in the blacklisting as well as profiles some of those blacklisted.

The Hollywood Blacklist included producers, directers, writers, actors, musicians and other entertainment professionals, reports Hollywood Movie Memories.

"Many of these film professionals would never be able to resume their careers, and many found that friends and family would turn their backs on them," according to the Hollywood Movie Memories article.

According to History.com, the Hollywood blacklist, which went on to ban many others from working in the movie studios, came to an end in the 1960s.