The Power and Influence of Hedda Hopper

Fall film Trumbo puts gossip columnist's reign of selective terror back in the headlines.

The highly anticipated fall film Trumbo won’t be out until Nov. 6, but already, the buzz has started. One sizable chunk of discussion involves syndicated gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, portrayed in the film by Helen Mirren. (Bryan Cranston plays the title role of blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.)

Variety editorial director Peter Bart, given an early look at the film, is among the class of journalists who goes back far enough to have known the real Hopper:

I met Hopper in the 1960s, when she scolded me for writing admiringly about Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted screenwriter.

Meanwhile,

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