John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle; March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. 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).

Called to testify before the U.S. 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. Garfield is acknowledged as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

Early life

thumb|upright|Garfield as a child

Jacob Garfinkle (Yiddish: ) was born in a small apartment on Rivington Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, to David and Hannah Garfinkle, Russian Jewish immigrants, and grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theater District. In infancy, a middle name—Julius—was added, and for the rest of his life those who knew him well called him Julie.

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". However, his forced testimony before the committee had severely damaged his reputation. He was listed in Red Channels and allegedly barred from future employment by Hollywood studio bosses for the remainder of his career. Garfield met with the FBI to press his case, but at the meeting, the FBI showed him a dossier on his wife Roberta (known as "Robbe"), which included her old Communist Party membership card and canceled checks to events sponsored by the party. The FBI offered to clear him if he would sign a statement asserting that his wife was a communist. Garfield responded with an angry expletive and left the meeting.

Death

thumb|200px|John Garfield's grave in [[Westchester Hills Cemetery]]

thumb|John Garfield's footstone

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 Robbe was not temporary. He confided to columnist Earl Wilson that he would soon be divorced. Close friends speculated that it was his wife's opposition to his planned confession in Look magazine that triggered the separation. He heard that a HUAC investigator was reviewing his testimony for possible perjury charges. His agent reported that Twentieth Century-Fox wanted him for a film titled Taxi but would not begin talks unless the investigation concluded in his favor.

Garfield's funeral was the largest in New York since that of Rudolph Valentino, with more than 10,000 crowding the streets outside. Garfield's estate, valued at more than $100,000, was left entirely to his wife. Shortly afterward, the HUAC closed its investigation of Garfield, leaving him in the clear. He was interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York.

Personal life

Garfield and Roberta Seidman married in February 1935. She had been a member of the Communist Party. 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 becoming actors themselves.

Filmography

Feature films

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Director

! Notes

|-

| 1938

| Four Daughters

| Mickey Borden

| Michael Curtiz

| Film debut <br> Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor <br> Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

|-

| rowspan="6"| 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

|

|-

| rowspan="4"| 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

|

|-

| rowspan="3"| 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

|

|-

| rowspan="4"| 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

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| 1944

| Between Two Worlds

| Tom Prior

| Edward A. Blatt

|

|-

| Hollywood Canteen || Himself (cameo)

| Delmer Daves

|

|-

| 1945

| Pride of the Marines

| Al Schmid

| Delmer Daves

|

|-

| rowspan="3"| 1946

| The Postman Always Rings Twice

| Frank Chambers

| Tay Garnett

|

|-

| Nobody Lives Forever

| Nick Blake

| Jean Negulesco

|

|-

| Humoresque

| Paul Boray

| Jean Negulesco

|

|-

| rowspan="3"| 1947

| Body and Soul

| Charley Davis

| Robert Rossen

| Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor <br> Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

|-

| Gentleman's Agreement

| Dave Goldman

| Elia Kazan

|

|-

| Daisy Kenyon

| Himself (cameo)

| Otto Preminger

| Uncredited

|-

| rowspan="2"| 1948

| Difficult Years

| Narrator (American version)

| Luigi Zampa

| Originally titled Anni difficili

|-

| Force of Evil

| Joe Morse

| Abraham Polonsky

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| 1949

| Jigsaw

| Loafer with Newspaper (cameo)

| Fletcher Markle

| Uncredited

|-

| We Were Strangers

| Tony Fenner

| John Huston

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| 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

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Date

! Program

! Episode

! Ref.

|-

| April 14, 1941

| Lux Radio Theatre

| "Dust Be My Destiny"

| align="center"|

|-

|May 10, 1943

|The Front Line Theater

|Johnny Eager

| align="center" |

|-

| December 28, 1943

| Burns and Allen

| "John Garfield The Gangster"

| align="center"|

|-

| May 19, 1946

| Theatre Guild on the Air

| "They Knew What They Wanted"

| align="center"|

|-

| 1946

| Academy Award

| "Blood on the Sun"

| align="center"|

|-

| 1947

| Screen Guild Players

| "Saturday's Children"

| align="center"|

|-

| 1948

| Suspense

| "Death Sentence"

| align="center"|

|}

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! Year

! Award

! Category

! Nominated work

! Result

! Ref.

|-

| 1938

| rowspan="2"| Academy Awards

| Best Supporting Actor

| Four Daughters

|

| align="center"|

|-

| 1947

| Best Actor

| Body and Soul

|

| align="center"|

|-

| 1938

| National Board of Review Awards

| Best Acting

| rowspan="2"| Four Daughters

|

| align="center"|

|-

| 1938

| rowspan="2"| New York Film Critics Circle Awards

| rowspan="2"| Best Actor

|

| align="center"|

|-

| 1947

| Body and Soul

|

| align="center"|

|}

  • He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard.

Cultural references

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The John Prine song "The Late John Garfield Blues" (ca. 1997) is inspired by Garfield. The actor is also mentioned by Prine in "Picture Show", a song in the musician's Grammy Award-winning album The Missing Years.
  • Garfield is a character in Names (1997), Mark Kemble's play about former Group Theatre members' struggles with the House Un-American Activities Committee.
  • The protagonist in Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice (pub. 2009), Larry "Doc" Sportello, discusses Garfield's film appearances throughout the detective story.
  • The narrator of Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint (pub. 1969), Alexander Portnoy at one point notes his cousin Harold's strong resemblance to Garfield.

References

Further reading

  • Morris, George. John Garfield. New York, Jove Publications, 1977
  • "The Jewish Brando", Tablet Magazine