[4] During the 1950s and 1960s, Yordan acted as a front for blacklisted writers[5][6] although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era.

After graduating from high school, he acted at the Goodman Theatre, before earning degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Yordan wrote Woman Who Came Back (1945) for Republic Pictures and Whistle Stop (1946) for producer Seymour Nebenzal starring Ava Gardner.

In short order, he became known among producers as a bravura "spitballer," that is, one who can talk a good script (and one has only to meet Yordan to appreciate how spellbinding is his vernacular).

He became a much-sought-after script doctor and coarse dialogue specialist, often arriving at the 11th hour to contribute the famed lightning-quick "Yordan touch."

[5] Yordan received financial backing and signed an agreement with Hill and producer John Wildberg.

In 1947, Lee Richardson (author), Antoinette Perry and Brock Pemberton sued Yordan for not paying them.

The other, made in 1958 had an all-black cast as the American Negro Theater production, and starred Eartha Kitt, Sammy Davis Jr., and Henry Scott.

Yordan's first credit for a major studio was House of Strangers (1949) which he adapted from a Jerome Weidman novel for Fox.

[7]: 341 In 1948 Yordan formed a company with actor Bob Cummings and Eugene Frenke called United California Productions who made Let's Live a Little.

[citation needed] In 1949, he announced he would write and produce The Big Blonde based on a story by Dorothy Parker.

[24] Security Pictures made The Big Combo (1955), a co-production with the company of star Cornel Wilde; Yordan wrote the script and produced with Sidney Harmon.

Yordan produced and adapted Budd Schulberg's novel The Harder They Fall (1956), which was directed by Mark Robson.

Yordan adapted Little Man Big World by W. R. Burnett for Robert Ryan to star for Security, but the film was not made.

[citation needed] Yordan struck a deal with screenwriter Ben Maddow who was having difficulty getting work because of the left-wing associations.

[5] Maddow wrote Man Crazy which Yordan and Sidney Harmon produced for Security Pictures[5][7]: 332  and The Naked Jungle which was directed by Byron Haskin at Paramount.

Maddow would go to write several scripts for him including Men in War (1957)[38] and possibly God's Little Acre (1958) as well as Yordan's only novel, Man of the West on which the 1957 film Gun Glory (1957) was based.

[7]: 338 )[39] Although he also spoke well of Yordan,[5] in an interview Maddow once remembered his anger and astonishment at passing through England and discovering a Penguin edition of Man of the West for which he had not been compensated.

[11] Ben Maddow claimed to have written the entire Johnny Guitar screenplay, but recanted after seeing the picture years later.

[7]: 341 In 1960, he wrote and produced Studs Lonigan (1960), although blacklisted writers Arnaud D'Usseau and Bernard Gordon did much of the actual writing.

[5] In 1959 Sperling fired Yordan when the screenwriter delivered his script for The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960).

[11] Columbia studio head Sam Briskin hired Yordan, provided he keep an office on the lot and that his authorship of any scripts would be guaranteed.

[5] Unable to work in Hollywood, Yordan found opportunity in Spain with independent producer Samuel L. Bronston.

[5][42] Yordan stayed with Bronston to write El Cid (1961) for Mann, although it is more likely the actual scripting was done by blacklistees Ben Barzman and Bernard Gordon.

[5] In 1963 Security Pictures announced they would make ten films for Allied Artists over two and a half years, including The Tribe That Lost Its Head; Gretta, based on a book by Erskine Caldwell; a Western called Bad Man's River; and a science fiction film Crack in the World.

[49] He made uncredited script contributions to Horror Express (1973), The Mad Bomber (1973), Psychomania (1974) and Pancho Villa (1974).

His final scripts included Marilyn Alive and Behind Bars (1992), Dead Girls Don't Tango (1992) and Too Bad About Jack (1994).

[5] He claims to never have read a newspaper till he was 50[5][7] and his use of Hollywood blacklistees was believed to be not out of political commitment but because "he got the better people cheaper".

[6] He reportedly once told screenwriter Bernard Gordon that "It's Jews like you who ruined the motion picture industry with this anti-hero shit.

"[53] Eddie Muller wrote "What made Yordan's scripts distinctive was his sometimes subtle, sometimes subversive, way of twisting genre conventions to keep things lively and unpredictable.