Jean Rouverol

Jean Rouverol (July 8, 1916 – March 24, 2017) was an American actress, screenwriter and author who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s.

Life and acting career Rouverol was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of playwright Aurania Rouverol, who created the Andy Hardy fictional character and co-wrote many of the screenplays for the MGM series of Andy Hardy films.

Rouverol began her acting career on stage. During a break from studying at Stanford, she appeared in Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl alongside Mickey Rooney as Puck. She was pulled from the play to appear as W. C. Fields' daughter in the comedy It's a Gift (1934), which was her screen debut.

HUAC and exile By 1950, Rouverol had her first screenplay, So Young So Bad, made into a film, but her career was interrupted as a result of the investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) into Communist influence in Hollywood. When the HUAC attempted to subpoena them in 1951, the Butlers chose exile in Mexico with their four small children rather than face a possible prison sentence as was endured by colleagues in the Hollywood Ten. Branded as subversives, Rouverol and her husband did not return to the U.S. on a permanent basis for thirteen years, during which time they had two more children.

In 1960, the Butlers moved to Rome so that Hugo could work on a script for director Robert Aldrich which became the 1962 film Sodom and Gomorrah. In 1964, the family relocated to the U.S. for good after a brief stay in Mexico. Living in California again, Rouverol and her husband resumed their screenplay collaboration although by this time, he had become ill with arteriosclerotic brain disease.

Later writing success In 1968, Rouverol published her first book, Harriet Beecher Stowe: Woman Crusader. Her book Writing for the Soaps was published in 1984. She taught writing classes at the University of Southern California and at UCLA Extension. Carpenter died on January 9, 2014, at the age of 98.

Rouverol died on March 24, 2017, at the age of 100.

Filmography

Screenplays So Young So Bad (1950) The First Time (1952; uncredited) Autumn Leaves (1956; front Jack Jevne) The Miracle (1959; originally uncredited) Face in the Rain (1963) The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

Books