David Shankbone from USA · CC BY 2.0

Schulberg's 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run? skewered Hollywood's ruthless climbers so precisely that the industry never quite forgave him for it, and his screenplay for On the Waterfront — drawing on his own decision to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee — won the 1954 Academy Award. He also wrote The Harder They Fall, a novel about corruption in boxing, and the screenplay for A Face in the Crowd, both extending his recurring subject: American institutions and the compromises required to succeed inside them.