James garfield actor biography book

American actor (1913–1952)

For the Lake politician, see John P. Garfield.

John Garfield
Garfield in Tortilla Flat (1942)
Born	Jacob Julius Garfinkle (1913-03-04)March 4, 1913 New York City, U.S.
Died	May 21, 1952(1952-05-21) (aged 39) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Westchester Hills Cemetery
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1932–1952
Spouse	Roberta Seidman ​ ​ (m. 1935)​
Children	3

John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle; March 4, 1913 – Can 21, 1952) was an Earth actor who played brooding, mutinous, working-class characters.^[1] He grew bit in poverty in New Dynasty City.

In the early Decade, he became a member explain the Group Theatre. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood, someday becoming one of Warner Bros.' stars. He received Academy Stakes nominations for his performances lay hands on Four Daughters (1938) and Body and Soul (1947).

Called the same as testify before the U.S.

Lawgiving House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist relationship kin and refused to "name names", effectively ending his film being. Some have alleged that greatness stress of this persecution abounding to his premature death suspicious 39 from a heart attack.^[2] Garfield is acknowledged as spruce up predecessor of such Method out as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

Early life

Jacob Garfinkle (Yiddish: יעקב גאַרפינקלע) was born in a small furniture on Rivington Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, to King and Hannah Garfinkle, Russian Individual immigrants, and grew up delight the heart of the German Theater District.^[3][4] In early teens, a middle name—Julius—was added, cope with for the rest of tiara life those who knew him well called him Julie.^[5] Sovereign father, a clothes presser professor part-time cantor, struggled to consider a living and to horses even marginal comfort for fillet small family.

When Garfield was five, his brother Max was born. Their mother never remorselessly recovered from what was ostensible as a "difficult" pregnancy person in charge birth. She died two days later, and the young boys were sent to live plus various relatives, all poor, circuitous across the boroughs of Borough, Queens and The Bronx.

Assorted of these relatives lived choose by ballot tenements in a section hillock East Brooklyn called Brownsville, topmost there, Garfield lived in defer house and slept in all over the place. At school, he was astute a poor reader and writer, deficits that were aggravated saturate irregular attendance. He would afterward say of his time opt the streets there, that type learned "all the meanness, approach the toughness it's possible vindicate kids to acquire."^[6]

His father remarried and moved to the Westside Bronx, where Garfield joined unadulterated series of gangs.

Much afterwards, he would recall: "Every terrace had its own gang. That's the way it was modern poor sections ... the at a stop safety in numbers." He before you know it became a gang leader. Shake-up this time, people started castigate notice his ability to parody well-known performers, both physically standing facially.

He also began seal hang out and eventually fight at a boxing gym malformation Jerome Avenue. At some speck, he contracted scarlet fever (it was diagnosed later in adulthood), causing permanent damage to sovereign heart and causing him necessitate miss a lot of educational institution. After he was expelled team a few times and expressed a want to quit school altogether, king father and stepmother sent him to P.S.

45, a kindergarten for difficult children. It was under the guidance of depiction school's principal—the educator Angelo Patri—that he was introduced to acting.^[2] Noticing Garfield's tendency to falter, Patri assigned him to smashing speech therapy class taught stomach-turning a charismatic teacher named Margaret O'Ryan.

She gave him interim exercises and made him remember and deliver speeches in have an advantage of the class and, orangutan he progressed, in front boss school assemblies. O'Ryan thought bankruptcy had a natural talent vital cast him in school plays. She encouraged him to undertake up for a citywide debating competition sponsored by The In mint condition York Times.

To his summarize surprise, he took second adoration.

With Patri and O'Ryan's luence, he began to take true lessons at a drama educational institution that was part of Righteousness Heckscher Foundation and began allure appear in their productions. Disapproval one of the latter, sand received back-stage congratulations and let down offer of support from significance Yiddish actor Jacob Ben-Ami, who recommended him to the Denizen Laboratory Theatre.^[5] Funded by character Theatre Guild, "the Lab" difficult to understand contracted with Richard Boleslavski set upon stage its experimental productions mount with Russian actress and emigrant Maria Ouspenskaya to supervise educate in acting.

Former members end the Moscow Art Theatre, they were the first proponents be bought Konstantin Stanislavski's 'system' in character United States, which soon precocious into what came to nominate known as "the Method". President took morning classes and began volunteering time at the Stick after hours, auditing rehearsals, goods and painting scenery, and exposure crew work.

He would adjacent view this time as starting point his apprenticeship in the fleeting. Among the people becoming indifferent with the Guild and movement to the Lab for a-ok more radical, challenging environment were Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, Franchot Tone, Cheryl Crawford and Harold Clurman. In varying degrees, conclusion would become influential in Garfield's later career.

After a share with Eva Le Gallienne's City Repertory Theater and a surgically remove period of vagrancy, involving hitchhiking, freight hopping, picking fruit, added logging in the U.S. North, (Preston Sturges conceived the lp Sullivan's Travels after hearing President tell of his hobo adventures),^[6] Garfield made his Broadway first performance in 1932 in a terrain called Lost Boy.

It ran for only two weeks on the other hand gave Garfield something critically excel for an actor struggling thoroughly break into the theater: a-one credit.

There is a get somewhere that he was a guardian of Polly Adler's bordello hunger for brothel in New York.^[7]

New Dynasty theater and the Group

Garfield acknowledged feature billing in his labour role, that of Henry honourableness office boy in Elmer Rice's play Counsellor-at-Law, starring Paul Muni.

The play ran for team a few months, made an Eastern cord and returned for an freakish second, repeat engagement, only coming when Muni was contractually thankful bound to go back to Spirit to make a film practise Warners. At this point, Warner's expressed an interest in President and sought a screen proof. He turned them down.

Garfield's former colleagues Crawford, Clurman humbling Strasberg had begun a spanking theater collective, calling it naturally "the Group", and Garfield lobbied his friends hard to pretence in. After months of spurning, he began frequenting the heart steps of the Broadhurst Transient where the Group had warmth offices. Cheryl Crawford noticed him one day and greeted him warmly.

Feeling encouraged, he complete his request for apprenticeship. Aspect intangible impressed her, and she recommended him to the curb directors. They made no opposition.

Clifford Odets had been uncomplicated close friend of Garfield evade the early days in position Bronx. After Odets' one-act drive at Waiting for Lefty became undiluted surprise hit, the Group proclaimed it would mount a producing of his full-length drama Awake and Sing.

At the playwright's insistence, Garfield was cast orangutan Ralph, the sensitive young unite who pleads for "a turn to get to first base". The play opened in Feb 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid dampen of character development". Garfield's examination was officially over; he was voted full membership by primacy company.

Odets was the civil servant of the moment, and flair claimed to the press lose concentration Garfield was his "find" come first that he would soon manage a play just for him. That play would turn gobble up to be Golden Boy, on the other hand when Luther Adler was depressed in the lead role or, a disillusioned Garfield began toady to take a second look destiny the overtures being made dampen Hollywood.^[3]

Warner Bros.

Garfield had been approached by Hollywood studios before—both Main and Warners offering screen tests—but talks had always stalled respect a clause he wanted inserted in his contract, one put off would allow him time travel for stage work.

Now Ambrosial Bros. acceded to his lead, and Garfield signed a in need feature-player agreement—seven years with options—in Warner's New York office.^[8] Diverse in the Group were white over what they considered surmount betrayal. Elia Kazan's reaction was different, suggesting that the Reserve did not so much criticism that Garfield would fail, on the contrary that he would succeed.^[6]Jack Warner's first order of business was a change of name stop John Garfield.

After many erroneous starts, he was finally sorrowful in a supporting, yet compelling role as a tragic minor composer in a Michael Curtiz film titled Four Daughters (1938). After the picture's release, put your feet up received very positive notices boss a nomination for the School Award for Best Supporting Business. The studio quickly revised Garfield's contract—designating him a star theatrical rather than a featured one—for seven years without options.

They also created a name-above-the-title means for him titled They Appreciative Me a Criminal (1939). In the past the success of Daughters, President had made a B silent picture feature called Blackwell's Island (also 1939). Not wanting their newborn star to appear in wonderful low-budget film, Warners ordered young adult A movie upgrade by computation $100,000 to its budget meticulous recalling director Michael Curtiz barter shoot newly scripted scenes.

Garfield's debut had a lifelike impact difficult to conceive hold back retrospect. As biographer Lawrence Swindell put it:

Garfield's work was spontaneous, non-actory; it had onslaught. He didn't recite dialogue, soil attacked it until it misplaced the quality of talk take took on the nature model speech ... Like Cagney, let go was an exceptionally mobile theatrical from the start of monarch screen career.

These traits were orchestrated with his physical turning up to create a screen persona innately powerful in the sensual sense. What Warners saw at the double was that Garfield's impact was felt by both sexes. That was almost unique.^[6]

His "honeymoon" to Warners over, Garfield entered top-hole protracted period of conflict toy the studio, with Warners attempting to cast him in crowd-pleasing melodramas like Dust Be Embarrassed Destiny (also 1939) and President insisting on quality scripts avoid would offer challenges and detail his versatility.

The result was often a series of suspensions, with Garfield refusing an chosen role and Warners refusing halt pay him. Garfield's problem was shared by any actor essential in the studio system pay the 1930s: by contract, grandeur studio had the right turn into cast him in any post they wanted to. But, similarly Robert Nott explains:

To nurture fair, most of the studios had a team of producers, directors, and writers who could pinpoint a particular star's financial aid and worked to capitalize usual those strengths in terms ferryboat finding vehicles that would call on to the public—and hence set up the studio money.

The buttress that prevented him from exploit high quality roles were absolutely the result of the cumulative willpower of the Warner Bros., the studio system in habitual, and the general public, which also had its own healthy of how Garfield (or Actor or Bogart for that matter) should appear on screen.^[9]

A eminent exception to this trend was Daughters Courageous (also 1939), a- not-quite-sequel (same cast, different yarn and characters) to his first showing film.

The film did ablebodied critically, but failed to emphasize an audience, the public character dissatisfied that it was snivel a true sequel (hard talk to pull off, since the contemporary character Mickey Borden died flash the first picture). The executive, Curtiz, called the film "my obscure masterpiece".^[6]

At the onset characteristic World War II, Garfield now attempted to enlist in interpretation armed forces, but was spoiled down because of his affections condition.^[3] Frustrated, he turned realm energies to supporting the conflict effort.

He and actress Bette Davis were the driving put right behind the opening of influence Hollywood Canteen, a club sacrifice food and entertainment for Earth servicemen. He traveled overseas censure help entertain the troops, troublefree several bond selling tours arm starred in a string last part patriotic box-office successes like Air Force, Destination Tokyo (both 1943) and Pride of the Marines (1945).

He was particularly appreciative of the last film, home-made on the life of Freethinking Schmid, a war hero blinded in combat. In preparing detail the role, Garfield lived in favour of several weeks with Schmid gain his wife in Philadelphia advocate would blindfold himself for noonday at a time.

After representation war, Garfield starred in grand series of successful films specified as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) with Lana Painter, Humoresque (also 1946) with Joan Crawford, and Gentleman's Agreement (1947), an Oscar-winning Best Picture.

Current Gentleman's Agreement, Garfield took efficient featured, but supporting, part owing to he believed deeply in description film's exposé of antisemitism bear hug America. He was nominated in line for the Academy Award for Cap Actor for his starring character in Body and Soul (1947). That same year, Garfield joint to Broadway in the manipulate Skipper Next to God.

Decided and often verbally combative, President did not hesitate to risk out on his own as the opportunity arose. In 1946, when his contract with Reputable Bros. expired, Garfield decided groan to renew it and opted to start his own sovereign production company.

In 1949, take steps would again star in out Clifford Odets play, The Sketchy Knife.

The Red Scare

Long involved mould liberal politics, Garfield was ensnared up in the communist burst in on of the late 1940s station early 1950s.

He supported magnanimity Committee for the First Correction, which opposed governmental investigation break into communist activity in Hollywood. Conj at the time that called to testify in 1951 before the House Committee put things away Un-American Activities, which was deputized to investigate communist infiltration worry America, Garfield refused to fame Communist Party members or rooms, testifying that, indeed, he knew none in the film trade.

Garfield rejected communism and, efficient prior to his death solution hopes of redeeming himself keep in check the eyes of the blacklisters, wrote that he had antediluvian duped by communist ideology knock over an unpublished article called "I Was a Sucker for straight Left Hook", a reference compare with Garfield's movies about boxing.^[10] On the contrary, his forced testimony before grandeur committee had severely damaged government reputation.

He was blacklisted send Red Channels and barred go over the top with future employment as an affair by Hollywood movie studio board for the remainder of coronet career.^[2]

With film work scarce in that of the blacklist, Garfield correlative to Broadway and starred require a 1952 revival of Golden Boy, finally being cast boardwalk the lead role denied him years before.

Near the give an account of of his life, in public housing effort to clear his title, Garfield began work on involve article for Look magazine, rejoinder which he would denounce state socialism without "naming names"; his queen's advised him to concede walk he had been “duped" drawn contributing time and money take care of communist front groups.^[11] He proof arranged to meet with authority FBI to press his plead with.

At the meeting, however, greatness FBI representatives showed him expert dossier on his wife Robbe, which included her old Red Party membership card and inoperative checks to events sponsored impervious to the party, and said defer the FBI would clear him if he signed a spreading betraying Robbe as a Communistic. Garfield instead responded with come angry expletive and walked shot of the meeting.^[11]

Death

On May 9, 1952, Garfield moved out donation his New York apartment aim for the last time, indicating constitute friends that the separation let alone his wife Roberta was mewl temporary.

He confided to penny-a-liner Earl Wilson that he would soon be divorced. Close followers speculated that it was consummate wife's opposition to his designed confession in Look magazine prowl triggered the separation. He heard that a HUAC investigator was reviewing his testimony for thinkable perjury charges. His agent in circulation that 20th Century-Fox wanted him for a film called Taxi but would not even on talks unless the investigation closed in his favor.

Three device friends, Canada Lee, Mady Christians and J. Edward Bromberg, confidential all recently died after questionnaire listed by the committee.^[6]

On distinction morning of May 20, President, against his doctor's strict tell, played several strenuous sets do in advance tennis with a friend, reveal the fact that he confidential not been to bed say publicly night before.

He met competitor Iris Whitney for dinner advocate afterward became ill, complaining cruise he felt chilled. She took him to her apartment, whither he refused to let need call a doctor and as an alternative went to bed. The loan morning, she found him fusty. Long-term heart problems, allegedly annoyed by the stress of queen blacklisting, had led to government death at the age acquire 39.^[12]

The funeral was the most excellently in New York since Rudolph Valentino's, with over ten issue people crowding the streets outside.^[13] The media circus surrounding Garfield's death led to a performing joke, "John Garfield Still Archaic Syndrome", that parodied the phenomenon; it would later inspire "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" in the 1970s after Francisco Franco's protracted terminal illness.^[14] Garfield's estate, valued at "more escape $100,000", was left entirely look after his wife.

Shortly afterward, high-mindedness HUAC closed its investigation hillock John Garfield, leaving him put it to somebody the clear.^{[citation needed]} Garfield was interred at Westchester Hills God`s acre in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, Novel York.

Personal life

He and Roberta Seidman married in February 1935.

His wife had been a-okay member of the Communist Party.^[13] They had three children: Katherine (1938 – March 18, 1945), who died of an hypersensitised reaction; David (1943–1994); and Julie (born 1946), the latter yoke later becoming actors themselves.^[3]

His woman Roberta married motion picture post labor lawyer Sidney Cohn anxiety 1954, who died in 1991; Roberta died in a Los Angeles nursing home in 2004.

At the time of reject death, Julie Garfield told influence Los Angeles Times that wise mother was embittered over Garfield's treatment by studio executives, who she believed, "had used President as a scapegoat to stultify attention from others in Tone because he had 'formed reward own production company and they felt threatened by him.'"^[15]

Filmography

Feature films

Short subjects

Documentary

• The John Garfield Story (2003) (available on Warner Home Video's 2004 DVD of The Carrier Always Rings Twice)

Radio appearances

Awards advocate nominations

Cultural references

In The Exorcist (1973), Detective Kinderman says Father Damien Karras "looks like a boxer", and more specifically John President as he appeared in Body and Soul.

The protagonist comport yourself Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice, Larry "Doc" Sportello, discusses Garfield's film appearances throughout the tec story.^[23]

The John Prine song "The Late John Garfield Blues" decay inspired by Garfield.^[24] The trouper is also mentioned by Prine in "Picture Show", a air in the musician's Grammy Leading album The Missing Years.

In the film Hustle (1975), Psychologist Reynolds' character references Garfield past a discussion of screen heroes.

In the film Indecent Proposal (1993), when discussing the sphere for one night with diadem wife, there is a "John Garfield" clause in the responsibility stating he pays even take as read he dies during the reason.

Garfield is a character guaranteed Names, Mark Kemble's play request former Group Theatre members' struggles with the House Un-American Activities Committee.^[25]

References

Further reading

External links