Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American dramatist and screenwriter famously blacklisted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) at the height of the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–52. Hellman was praised for sacrificing her career by refusing to answer questions by HUAC; but her denial that she had ever belonged to the Communist Party was easily disproved, and her veracity was doubted by many, including war correspondent Martha Gellhorn and literary critic Mary McCarthy. She adapted her semi-autobiographical play The Little Foxes into a screenplay which received an Academy Award nomination in 1942. Hellman was romantically involved with fellow writer and political activist Dashiell Hammett for thirty years until his death. (from Wikipedia)