William Wallace "Bill" Norton, Jr. (September 24, 1925 – October 1, 2010) was an American screenwriter particularly notable for his collaborations with Burt Reynolds Later in life, he was convicted of gun running in France when he tried to send arms from the United States to the Irish National Liberation Army in Northern Ireland. After being released from prison, he moved to Nicaragua, where he shot and killed an intruder in his Managua home. He later spent a year living in Cuba but became disillusioned with Communism and was reportedly smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. by his ex-wife. Early life Norton was born to Andrena "Rena" (née Callahan) and William Wallace Norton in Ogden, Utah, where his parents owned a ranch which they lost at the start of the Great Depression. His family moved to Berkeley, California, and then later to El Monte. He attended El Monte High School, where he was class president. World War II During World War II, Norton enlisted in the United States Army and served in Europe as an infantry officer with 5th Infantry, 71st Infantry Division with Patton's Third Army. He started writing, using his life experience of growing up poor and serving in the military, and some of his plays were produced by local theater companies. He joined the Communist Party in his youth and in 1958 was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, though he did not name anyone. Hollywood He wrote for the television series The Big Valley, which was broadcast from 1965 to 1968. His big screen breakthrough came with his script for the 1968 film The Scalphunters, set in the antebellum West, with the movie starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Shelley Winters. Other screenplays that Norton wrote included the Angie Dickinson vehicle Big Bad Mama, produced by Roger Corman, and the John Wayne detective film Brannigan (1975). He wrote the Burt Reynolds vehicles Sam Whiskey, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, White Lightning and Gator. When asked by a nurse the day before he died if she would know any of Norton's films, he replied "I don't think your I.Q. is low enough". Ireland After moving to Ireland in the mid-1980s, Norton was angered by attacks staged against Roman Catholic residents of Northern Ireland. He flew back to the U.S. and purchased a number of guns to bring back to supply the Irish National