LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Film director Edward Dmytryk, a member of the Hollywood Ten who served prison time during the Red Scare-era witch hunts of the 1940s and was blacklisted until he named names of his communist comrades, died Thursday. He was 90.

Dmytryk had been ill for a year and succumbed to heart and kidney failure, said his wife, Jean Porter.

Dmytryk was a rising young director at RKO Pictures in 1945 when he joined the Communist Party. He said he stayed ``only a few months,'' but two years later the House Committee on Un-American Activities called him and nine other Hollywood figures to a Washington hearing.

All refused to answer questions about party membership. They were convicted of contempt and sentenced to a year in federal prison. When Dmytryk finished his sentence, he admitted that he had been a party member.

In 1951, Dmytryk returned to the House committee and identified 26 people as communists. Only then did he find work in Hollywood.

After making a string of low-budget films for Stanley Kramer, the producer assigned him to the 1954 World War II drama, ``The Caine Mutiny,'' starring Humphrey Bogart. The film's success made Dmytryk an in-demand director.

Dmytryk also directed ``Raintree County,'' ``The Young Lions,'' ``The Carpetbaggers'' and other films starring some of Hollywood's most famous names.

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Last modified: Thursday, 31-May-2007 09:42:36 EDT