John Garfield
John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle; March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters.[1] He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of the Group Theatre. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner Bros.' stars. He received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Four Daughters (1938) and Body and Soul (1947).
For the Michigan politician, see John P. Garfield.
John Garfield
March 4, 1913
May 21, 1952 (aged 39)
Actor
1932–1952
3
Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to "name names", effectively ending his film career. Some have alleged that the stress of this persecution led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack.[2] Garfield is acknowledged as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.
New York theater and the Group[edit]
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 "the Group", and Garfield lobbied his friends hard to get in. After months of rejection, he began frequenting the inside steps of the Broadhurst Theater where the Group had its offices. Cheryl Crawford noticed him one day and greeted him warmly. Feeling encouraged, he made his request for apprenticeship. Something intangible impressed her, and she recommended him to the other directors. They made no objection.
Clifford Odets had been a close friend of Garfield from the early days in the Bronx. After Odets' one-act play Waiting for Lefty became a surprise hit, the Group announced it would mount a production of his full-length drama Awake and Sing. At the playwright's insistence, Garfield was cast as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to first base". The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development". Garfield's apprenticeship was officially over; he was voted full membership by the company. Odets was the man of the moment, and he claimed to the press that Garfield was his "find" and that he would soon write a play just for him. That play would turn out to be Golden Boy, but when Luther Adler was cast in the lead role instead, a disillusioned Garfield began to take a second look at the overtures being made by Hollywood.[3]
Personal life[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
In The Exorcist (1973), Detective Kinderman says Father Damien Karras "looks like a boxer", and more specifically John Garfield as he appeared in Body and Soul.
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]