Ian Hunter; Oscar-Winning Writer

Ian McLellan Hunter, a film and television writer who migrated to New York from Hollywood when he became a blacklist target during the McCarthy Era, died Tuesday at a Manhattan hospital. The Academy Award winner--for “Roman Holiday” in 1953--was 75 and had gone to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to see a doctor. He suffered an apparent heart attack there.

With other film writers, directors and actors, Hunter left Los Angeles in the early 1950s for the friendlier confines of New York when the House Un-American Activities Committee began to ferret out suspected Communists in the film industry.

He taught writing at New York University and most recently was a screen writing adviser at the Sundance Institute in Utah.

With Ring Lardner Jr., another blacklist victim, he wrote the Broadway musical “Foxy,” a 1964 production starring Bert Lahr and Larry Blyden. Under pseudonyms, they also created television series, including “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1955-58), filmed in England and starring Richard Greene.

Hunter’s other screen credits included “A Woman of Distinction,” “Second Chorus” and “Mr. District Attorney.” His television specials included “The Blue and the Gray,” “You Can’t Go Home Again” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” He also contributed episodes to “The Defenders” and “The Adams Chronicles.”

Survivors include his wife, Alice, a son, a sister and four grandchildren.