Obituaries : George Sklar; Playwright Was Put on McCarthy Era Blacklist

George Sklar, a proletarian dramatist whose plays found root in the old Federal Theatre Project and on other landmark stages of the Great Depression, died Sunday at his Los Angeles home.

The sociological playwright whose espousal of leftist causes put him on Hollywood’s blacklist in the McCarthy era was 79 and probably had a heart attack, his son, Zachary, said.

Sklar was probably best known for “Stevedore,” a play about racial and union conflicts which he wrote in 1934 and which ran in New York for a year and then in London with Paul Robeson in the lead role.

Sklar was a founder of the Theatre Union, which was aimed at an audience of workers, many of them unemployed, during the 1930s. A graduate of Yale University who did advanced study in drama there, Sklar’s first stage credit was “Merry-Go-Round” in 1932, which he wrote with Albert Maltz. Maltz was one of the so-called Hollywood 10, a group of film writers and directors jailed for their leftist leanings in the 1950s.

Sklar also wrote “Peace on Earth,” “Parade,” “Life and Death of an American,” the 1947 stage version of “Laura” and “And People All Around,” a play chosen by the American Playwrights Theatre for 40 regional productions across the country.

“Life and Death of an American” was the last production staged by the Depression-inspired Federal Theatre Project made famous by John Houseman and Orson Welles, while “And People All Around” dealt with the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964.

Sklar’s last play, “Brown Pelican,” about the ecological crisis, was written in 1972.

Sklar’s novels include “The Two Worlds of Johnny Truro,” “The Promising Young Men,” “The Housewarming” and “The Identity of Dr. Frazier,” a 1961 work on anti-Semitism.

In addition to his son Zachary, Sklar is survived by his wife, Miriam, another son, Daniel, a daughter, Judith, and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. at the John C. Fremont Library in Hollywood.