Dash and Lilly


Dash and Lilly is a 1999 Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-nominated biographical television film about writers Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman. The film was directed by actress Kathy Bates and written by Jerrold L. Ludwig. It stars Sam Shepard and Judy Davis.

Plot

The lives of Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman are set against the golden era of Hollywood, HUAC and the issue of McCarthyism of the 1950s. This intimate look at the lives of two of this century's literary titans follows their tumultuous affair, drinking bouts, career highs and lows, and activities in support of left-wing causes including Hammett's public avowal of Communism and his membership in the Communist Party and Hellman's sympathies for the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union before World War II.

Principal cast