 Gore Vidal (qv) was uncredited as a screenwriter, although  producer Sam Zimbalist (qv) promised he and  Christopher Fry (I) (qv), who worked on the script independently  from Vidal, a screen credit. Karl Tunberg (qv), who wrote the  original screenplay that had been very much rewritten into a  shooting script by Vidal and Fry, claimed the credit. Zimbalist died  before the movie ended, and thus could not testify at the guild  arbitration hearing. Tunberg won the credit, but failed to win the  Oscar. The film had been nominated for 12 Oscars, and won a record  11 (since tied). The movies sole loss was for Best Writing,  Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and usually is  attributed to the fallout from the credit dispute, which Vidal made  widely known.