John Garfield
John Garfield | |
---|---|
Born | Jacob Julius Garfinkle March 4, 1913 New York City, U.S. |
Died | May 21, 1952 New York City, U.S. | (aged 39)
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 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters.
Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (
Early life
Jacob Garfinkle was born in a small apartment on
"If I hadn't become an actor, I might have become Public Enemy Number One."[6]
His father remarried and moved to the West Bronx, where Garfield joined a series of gangs. Much later, he would recall: "Every street had its own gang. That's the way it was in poor sections... the old safety in numbers." He soon became a gang leader. At this time, people started to notice his ability to mimic well-known performers, both physically and facially. He also began to hang out and eventually spar at a boxing gym on Jerome Avenue. At some point, he contracted scarlet fever (it was diagnosed later in adulthood), causing permanent damage to his heart and causing him to miss a lot of school. After he was expelled three times and expressed a wish to quit school altogether, his father and stepmother sent him to P.S. 45, a school for difficult children. It was under the guidance of the school's principal—the educator Angelo Patri—that he was introduced to acting.[2] Noticing Garfield's tendency to stammer, Patri assigned him to a speech therapy class taught by a charismatic teacher named Margaret O'Ryan. She gave him acting exercises and made him memorize and deliver speeches in front of the class and, as he progressed, in front of school assemblies. O'Ryan thought he had a natural talent and cast him in school plays. She encouraged him to sign up for a citywide debating competition sponsored by The New York Times. To his own surprise, he took second prize.
With Patri and O'Ryan's encouragement, he began to take acting lessons at a drama school that was part of
After a stint with Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater and a short period of vagrancy, involving hitchhiking, freight hopping, picking fruit, and logging in the U.S. Northwest, (Preston Sturges conceived the film Sullivan's Travels after hearing Garfield tell of his hobo adventures),[6] Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy. It ran for only two weeks but gave Garfield something critically important for an actor struggling to break into the theater: a credit.
There is a claim that he was a patron of
New York theater and the Group
Garfield received feature billing in his next role, that of Henry the office boy in Elmer Rice's play Counsellor-at-Law, starring Paul Muni. The play ran for three months, made an Eastern tour and returned for an unprecedented second, repeat engagement, only closing when Muni was contractually compelled to go back to Hollywood to make a film for Warners. At this point, Warner's expressed an interest in Garfield and sought a screen test. He turned them down.
Garfield's former colleagues Crawford, Clurman and Strasberg had begun a new theater collective, calling it simply "
Warner Bros.
Garfield had been approached by Hollywood studios before—both Paramount and Warners offering screen tests—but talks had always stalled over a clause he wanted inserted in his contract, one that would allow him time off for stage work. Now Warner Bros. acceded to his demand, and Garfield signed a standard feature-player agreement—seven years with options—in Warner's New York office.[8] Many in the Group were livid over what they considered his betrayal. Elia Kazan's reaction was different, suggesting that the Group did not so much fear that Garfield would fail, but that he would succeed.[6] Jack Warner's first order of business was a change of name to John Garfield.
After many false starts, he was finally cast in a supporting, yet crucial role as a tragic young composer in a Michael Curtiz film titled Four Daughters (1938). After the picture's release, he received very positive notices and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The studio quickly revised Garfield's contract—designating him a star player rather than a featured one—for seven years without options. They also created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him titled They Made Me a Criminal (1939). Before the success of Daughters, Garfield had made a B movie feature called Blackwell's Island (also 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warners ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.
Garfield's debut had a cinematic impact difficult to conceive in retrospect. As biographer Lawrence Swindell put it:
Garfield's work was spontaneous, non-actory; it had abandon. He didn't recite dialogue, he attacked it until it lost the quality of talk and took on the nature of speech... Like Cagney, he was an exceptionally mobile performer from the start of his screen career. These traits were orchestrated with his physical appearance to create a screen persona innately powerful in the sexual sense. What Warners saw immediately was that Garfield's impact was felt by both sexes. This was almost unique.[6]
His "honeymoon" with Warners over, Garfield entered a protracted period of conflict with the studio, with Warners attempting to cast him in crowd-pleasing melodramas like Dust Be My Destiny (also 1939) and Garfield insisting on quality scripts that would offer challenges and highlight his versatility. The result was often a series of suspensions, with Garfield refusing an assigned role and Warners refusing to pay him. Garfield's problem was shared by any actor working in the studio system of the 1930s: by contract, the studio had the right to cast him in any project they wanted to. But, as Robert Nott explains:
To be fair, most of the studios had a team of producers, directors, and writers who could pinpoint a particular star's strengths and worked to capitalize on those strengths in terms of finding vehicles that would appeal to the public—and hence make the studio money. The forces that prevented him from getting high quality roles were really the result of the combined willpower of the Warner Bros., the studio system in general, and the general public, which also had its own perception of how Garfield (or Cagney or Bogart for that matter) should appear on screen.[9]
A notable exception to this trend was Daughters Courageous (also 1939), a not-quite-sequel (same cast, different story and characters) to his debut film. The film did well critically, but failed to find an audience, the public being dissatisfied that it was not a true sequel (hard to pull off, since the original character Mickey Borden died in the first picture). The director, Curtiz, called the film "my obscure masterpiece."[6]
At the onset of
After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) with Lana Turner, Humoresque (also 1946) with Joan Crawford, and Gentleman's Agreement (1947), an Oscar-winning Best Picture. In Gentleman's Agreement, Garfield took a featured, but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (1947). That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God. Strong-willed and often verbally combative, Garfield did not hesitate to venture out on his own when the opportunity arose. In 1946, when his contract with Warner Bros. expired, Garfield decided not to renew it and opted to start his own independent production company.
In 1949, he would again star in a Clifford Odets play, The Big Knife.
The Red Scare
"I have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. My life is an open book. I am no Red. I am no 'pink.' I am no fellow traveler. I am a Democrat by politics, a liberal by inclination, and a loyal citizen of this country by every act of my life."
—from his statement read before the HUAC.
Long involved in liberal politics, Garfield was caught up in the
With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1952 revival of Golden Boy, finally being cast in the lead role denied him years before.
Near the end of his life, in an effort to clear his name, Garfield began work on an article for
Death
On May 9, 1952, Garfield moved out of his New York apartment for the last time, indicating to friends that the separation from his wife Roberta was not temporary. He confided to columnist
On the morning of May 20, Garfield, against his doctor's strict orders, played several strenuous sets of tennis with a friend, mentioning the fact that he had not been to bed the night before. He met actress Iris Whitney for dinner and afterward became ill, complaining that he felt chilled. She took him to her apartment, where he refused to let her call a doctor and instead went to bed. The next morning, she found him dead. Long-term heart problems, allegedly aggravated by the stress of his blacklisting, had led to his death at the age of 39.[12]
The funeral was the largest in New York since
Personal life
He and Roberta Seidman married in February 1935. His wife had been a member of the Communist Party.[13] They had three children: Katherine (1938 – March 18, 1945), who died of an allergic reaction; David (1943–1994); and Julie (born 1946), the latter two later becoming actors themselves.[3]
His widow married motion picture and labor lawyer Sidney Cohn in 1954, who died in 1991; Roberta died in a Los Angeles nursing home in 2004. At the time of her death, Julie Garfield told the Los Angeles Times that her mother was embittered over Garfield's treatment by studio executives, who she believed, "had used Garfield as a scapegoat to take attention from others in Hollywood because he had 'formed his own production company and they felt threatened by him.'"[15]
Awards and nominations
Garfield was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Four Daughters in 1939 and Best Actor for Body and Soul in 1948.
He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard.
Cultural references
In
The protagonist in Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice, Larry "Doc" Sportello, discusses Garfield's film appearances throughout the detective story.[16]
The John Prine song "The Late John Garfield Blues" is inspired by Garfield.[17] The actor is also mentioned by Prine in "Picture Show", a song in the musician's Grammy Award-winning album The Missing Years.
In the film Hustle (1975), Burt Reynolds' character references Garfield during a discussion of screen heroes.
In the film Indecent Proposal (1993), When discussing the contract for one night with his wife, there is a “John Garfield” clause in the contract stating he pays even if he dies during the event.
Garfield is a character in Names, Mark Kemble's play about former Group Theatre members' struggles with the House Un-American Activities Committee.[18]
Filmography
Feature films
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1938 | Four Daughters | Mickey Borden | Michael Curtiz | Film debut
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
1939 | They Made Me a Criminal | Johnnie Bradfield | Busby Berkeley | |
Blackwell's Island | Tim Haydon | William C. McGann | ||
Juarez | Porfirio Díaz | William Dieterle | ||
Daughters Courageous | Gabriel Lopez | Michael Curtiz | ||
Dust Be My Destiny | Joe Bell | Lewis Seiler | ||
Four Wives | Mickey Borden | Michael Curtiz | ||
1940 | Castle on the Hudson | Tommy Gordon | Anatole Litvak | Alternate title: Years Without Days |
Saturday's Children | Rims Rosson | Vincent Sherman | ||
Flowing Gold | John Alexander / Johnny Blake | Alfred E. Green | ||
East of the River | Joseph Enrico "Joe" Lorenzo | Alfred E. Green | ||
1941 | The Sea Wolf | George Leach | Michael Curtiz | |
Out of the Fog | Harold Goff | Anatole Litvak | ||
Dangerously They Live | Dr. Michael "Mike" Lewis | Robert Florey | ||
1942 | Tortilla Flat | Daniel "Danny" Alvarez | Victor Fleming | |
1943 | Air Force | Sgt. Joe Winocki, Aerial Gunner | Howard Hawks | |
The Fallen Sparrow | John "Kit" McKittrick | Richard Wallace | ||
Thank Your Lucky Stars | Himself (cameo) | David Butler | ||
Destination Tokyo | Wolf | Delmer Daves | ||
1944 | Between Two Worlds | Tom Prior | Edward A. Blatt | |
Hollywood Canteen | Himself (cameo) | Delmer Daves | ||
1945 | Pride of the Marines | Al Schmid | Delmer Daves | |
1946 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | Frank Chambers | Tay Garnett | |
Nobody Lives Forever |
Nick Blake | Jean Negulesco | ||
Humoresque | Paul Boray | Jean Negulesco | ||
1947 | Body and Soul | Charley Davis | Robert Rossen | Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor |
Gentleman's Agreement | Dave Goldman | Elia Kazan | ||
Daisy Kenyon | Himself (cameo) | Otto Preminger | Uncredited | |
1948 | Difficult Years | Narrator (American version) | Luigi Zampa | Originally titled Anni difficili |
Force of Evil | Joe Morse | Abraham Polonsky | ||
1949 | Jigsaw | Loafer with Newspaper (cameo) | Fletcher Markle | Uncredited |
We Were Strangers | Tony Fenner | John Huston | ||
1950 | Under My Skin | Dan Butler | Jean Negulesco | |
The Breaking Point | Harry Morgan | Michael Curtiz | ||
1951 | He Ran All the Way | Nick Robey | John Berry | Final film role |
Short subjects
- Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
- Meet the Stars #1: Chinese Garden Festival (1940)
- Show Business at War (1943)
- Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party (1946)
- Screen Snapshots: Out of This World Series (1947)
Documentary
- The John Garfield Story (2003) (available on Warner Home Video's 2004 DVD of The Postman Always Rings Twice)
Radio appearances
Year | Program | Episode / source |
---|---|---|
1941 | Lux Radio Theatre | Dust Be My Destiny[19] |
May 19, 1946 | Theatre Guild on the Air |
They Knew What They Wanted[20] |
1946 | Academy Award |
Blood on the Sun[21] |
1947 | Screen Guild Players | Saturday's Children[22] |
1948 | Suspense | Death Sentence |
References
- ^ "John Garfield Dies in N.Y. Home of Actress". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. May 22, 1952. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0498018909.
- ^ ISBN 9780879109851. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
- ]
- ^ ISBN 978-0899508672. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0688029074.
- ISBN 978-0-06-087434-6. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ The "option" gave the studio the right to drop the performer after every six-month period.
- ^ Gould, Mark R. "John Garfield, Film Noir and the Hollywood Blacklist". He Ran All The Way: The Life of John Garfield. @yourlibrary. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-8041-5048-4. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ^ a b Allen, Shannon (February 26, 2021). "John Garfield, HUAC, and He Ran All the Way (1951)". Vanguard of Hollywood. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- JSTOR 1210628.
(Pechter interviewing Polonsky): "It has been suggested that John Garfield's political difficulties and debarment from Hollywood work was a considerable influence in accelerating his early death. Do you have any opinion on this? Yes. He defended his streetboy's honor and they killed him for it."
- ^ a b Weintraub, Bernard (January 29, 2003). "Recalling John Garfield, Rugged Star KO'd by Fate". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
- ^ Collins, Gail (July 8, 2009). "Michael, a Foreign Affair". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
The practice of churning out stories about a deceased celebrity for as long as possible is an old tradition. It used to be known as the "John Garfield Still Dead" syndrome, after the extensive post-funeral coverage of a movie star who had a fatal heart attack in 1952 in the bed of a woman other than his wife.
- ^ Thurber, Jon (January 26, 2004). "Roberta Garfield Cohn, 89; Leftist Activist and Wife of John Garfield". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- Salon. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
- ^ Jaffee, Robert David (February 22, 2013). "Witness to a Persecution: In Search of Blacklistee John Garfield". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ^ Hirschhorn, Joel (December 4, 2001). "Names". Variety. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ url=https://www.amazon.com/Lux-Radio-Theatre-Destiny-episode/dp/B08L2CPR8C
- ^ url=https://www.eBay.com/publicity photo of June Havoc and John Garfield
- ^ "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 35 (2): 32–39. Spring 2009.
Further reading
- Morris, George. John Garfield. New York, Jove Publications, 1977 ISBN 0-15-646250-8
- McGrath, Patrick J. (2006). John Garfield: The Illustrated Career in Films And on Stage. North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-7864-2848-9.
External links
- John Garfield at IMDb
- John Garfield at the Internet Broadway Database
- John Garfield – The first Rebel Archived January 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- "The Jewish Brando", Tablet Magazine