Norma Barzman Dies: Blacklisted Screenwriter Was 103

Tom Tapp
·3 min read
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UPDATE: A memorial service for Norma Barzman will be held tomorrow from 10 AM-1 PM at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary in Los Angeles.

Norma Barzman, a prominent screenwriter who was blacklisted due to her involvement with the American Communist Party, died Sunday at her Beverly Hills home, according to a social media post from her daughter Suzo Barzman. She was 103.

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Barzman wrote the original story for Never Say Goodbye (1947) starring Errol Flynn with husband Ben Barzman. She was an uncredited writer on The Locket (1946) starring Laraine Day and Robert Mitchum. She wrote Finishing School (1952) and on the TV series Il triangolo rosso (1967). She also appeared as an actress in Theatre 70 (1970) and Pajama Party (2000) as the “Groovy Grandma.”

Barzman was unapologetic about her involvement with the Communist party from 1943-49. In a 2014 interview with the L.A. Times, she maintained that “one should be proud to have been a member of the American Communist Party during those years. Hitler was invading the Soviet Union, so there was no reason to be anti-Russian, they were our allies.”

In a 2008 interview, Barzman recalled discovering she was under surveillance courtesy of Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was on her way up to neighbor Judy Garland’s house, but stopped to warn Barzman that law enforcement was monitoring everyone who came and went from her house; sheriff’s deputies had literally stopped Monroe on the way up and asked her if she was going to Barzman’s address.

Soon thereafter Barzman and her husband went to England to work on Edward Dmytryk’s Give Us This Day(1949). While there, they were warned against returning to the U.S. due to the threat posed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Sure enough, the Barzmans were soon blacklisted.

They bought a home in Paris in 1954, where they became friends with Pablo Picasso, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret. The duo did not return to Los Angeles for another 20-plus years. Barzman said that by that time, she had become disillusioned with Communism, that she “should have known much earlier how terrible the Soviet Union was. Ben and I went over there in 1964, and we saw with our own eyes how awful it was—and it was.”

Barzman’s daughter, Suzo Barzman, posted the following remembrance on Instagram:

I lost a big piece of my heart Sunday afternoon. My mother-Norma Barzman died at home peacefully surrounded by family. She was 103 years old. Had a long life full of stories and accomplishments. Her sharpness and joy was intact to the end. Whenever someone asked her secret to longevity she would just answer that she loved every part of life, people and never stopped working. I’m grateful to have been able to spend these last years with her. I will miss her deeply but she will live on in me.

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A post shared by Suzo Barzman (@lanylonpar)

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