# Waldo Salt

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 (née Porter) and William Haslem Salt, an artist and business executive. He graduated from Stanford University in 1934. The first of the nineteen films he wrote or co-wrote was released in 1937 with the title The Bride Wore Red.
Salt's career in Hollywood was interrupted when he was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951. Like many other blacklisted writers, while he was unable to work in Hollywood, Salt wrote under a pseudonym for the British television series The Adventures of Robin Hood.
After the collapse of the blacklist, 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 release, specifically in an audio interview with Michael Childers; many photos of Waldo 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 and death

Salt was married four times. The first was to Amber Dana (1938-1941), 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 remained together until her death in 1981. He was married to playwright Eve Merriam from 1983 until his death in Los Angeles on March 7, 1987; he was 72.

## Documentary

Waldo 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 Tunberg |
| 1964 | Flight from Ashiya | Alternative title: Ashiya kara no hiko |
| 1964 | 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 episodes |
| 1958 | Swiss Family Robinson | Television movie, credited as Mel Davenport |
| 1958 | Ivanhoe | 4 episodes |
| 1961 | Tallahassee 7000 | 1 episode |
| 1964 | Espionage | 1 episode |
| 1965 | The Nurses | 1 episode |
| 1967 | Coronet Blue | 1 episode |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Result | Category | Film or series |
| 1949 | Writers Guild of America Award | Nominated | Best Written American Western | Rachel and the Stranger |
| 1970 | Writers Guild of America Award | Won | Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium | Midnight Cowboy |
| 1974 | Writers Guild of America Award | Won | Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium | Serpico (Shared with Norman Wexler) |
| 1979 | Writers Guild of America Award | Won | Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen | Coming Home (Shared with Robert C. Jones) |
| 1986 | Writers Guild of America Award | Won | Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement | - |
| 1970 | Academy Award | Won | Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | Midnight Cowboy |
| 1974 | Academy Award | Nominated | Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | Serpico (Shared with Norman Wexler) |
| 1979 | Academy Award | 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) |
| 1970 | Golden Globe Award | Nominated | Best Screenplay | Midnight Cowboy |
| 1979 | Golden Globe Award | Nominated | Best Screenplay - Motion Picture | Coming Home (Shared with Robert C. Jones) |