Born in Baltimore, Maryland. He began his career at 13 as Ben Hecht's copy boy on the Chicago Daily News. He later became a crime reporter and at 19 published his first book, Hizonner Big Bill Thompson, an unauthorized biography of Chicago's mayor. When the mayor sued him, he moved to Hollywood, where he began writing gangster stories with Kubec Glasmon, a Polish-born pharmacist who employed him as a soda jerk. Their novelette-length Beer and Blood became the basis for THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931), a milestone in the American cinema's gangster genre and in the career of the star, James Cagney. Under contract to Warner Bros., the two collaborated on a number of other crime and action films in 1931-32. Bright then moved to Paramount. In 1933, rebelling against the low wages and poor working conditions of Hollywood writers, Bright and Glasmon were among the 10 founders of the Screen Writers Guild (now the Writers Guild of America). A political activist with leftist leanings, Bright was blacklisted in 1951 after being named a Communist in testimony before the House Un-American Activities hearings. Returning to Hollywood from seven years of self-exile in Mexico, he wrote magazine articles and became a reader, story editor and literary advisor for Bill Cosby's production company. He was instrumental in the company's filming of JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN (1971), the antiwar film by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten. Other notable screenwriting credits (alone or in collaboration) include SMART MONEY (1931), UNION DEPOT, THE CROWD ROARS, THREE ON A MATCH and IF I HAD A MILLION (all 1932), SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933), THE ACCUSING FINGER, HERE COMES TROUBLE and GIRL OF THE OZARKS (all 1936), JOHN MEADE'S WOMAN and SAN QUENTIN (both 1937), BROADWAY and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR (both 1942), I WALK ALONE, JOE PALOOKA IN FIGHTING MAD, OPEN SECRET and CLOSE-UP (all 1948), THE KID FROM CLEVELAND (1949), THE BRAVE BULLS (1951) and LA REBELIÓN DE LOS COLGADOS / THE REBELLION OF THE HANGED (1954, uncredited).    Nominated for Writing (Original Story) 1930-31: THE PUBLIC ENEMY (w. Kubec Glasmon) 1 nomination