John Garfield
John Garfield ( born March 4, 1913 in New York City, New York; ibid † May 21, 1952; Jacob Julius Garfinkle actually ) was an American actor.
Life
John Garfield was only brought up by his father after his mother's death in 1920, but could not cope with the death of his mother and was given to a school for maladjusted children. Here he first came into contact with the theater and started boxing, which later on helped him in the film.
After school, he received a scholarship to the famous drama school of the Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya in New York. Since 1932, he played professional theater and was a member of the politically left-leaning independent theater group Theatre. He had his breakthrough in the play Golden Boy by Clifford Odets, but lost the role in the film adaptation of William Holden. Instead, he signed a contract with Warner Brothers, where he was settled quickly to the role of underdogs and gangster. Among the few challenging roles until the mid- 1940s included in the net of passions beside Lana Turner and Joan Crawford in Humoresque. Starting with the net of the passions Garfield came increasingly to in film noirs.
Garfield, a staunch liberal who was also involved socially and politically. On his initiative, he and Bette Davis opened with support and donations from all circles of Hollywood in October 1942, the Hollywood Canteen, in which occurred the greatest stars of all entertainment industries in vain, to entertain American soldiers before they had to go to war. The soldiers were given free admission and could eat nothing and drink. When the Hollywood Canteen closed on Thanksgiving Day in November 1945, more than 3,000 artists had occurred before about 3 million soldiers. The institution and the history of the one millionth visitor in 1944 was immortalized in a movie names Hollywood Canteen, in which also had many stars cameo appearances. Later Bette Davis said of this commitment: "There are only a few achievements in my life that I am sincerely proud of. The Hollywood Canteen is one of them. "
During the persecutions of the McCarthy era he was accused before due to its liberal commitment to be a sympathizer and member of the Party of the Communists. Garfield refused in 1951 before the Committee on Un-American Activities, to give the names of companions left, and could henceforth only work in the theater.
Garfield was married and the father of three children, of whom the eldest daughter died in 1945 at the age of eight years since 1935. His wife left him shortly before his death, which plunged him into a deep depression, and he developed heart problems that led to his untimely death in 1952.
John Garfield was nominated twice for an Oscar, but did not get the trophy. He received his first nomination directly for his film debut in the Michael Curtiz - directed comedy father.