S TUTTERING FOUND A TION CELEBRITY CORNER


JOHN G ARF IELD HOLLYWOOD'S ORIGINAL METHOD ACTOR


John Garfield had an amazing and short career as a Hollywood star. He had many impressive movie roles but his untimely death from a heart attack in 1952 at age 39 meant that his highly successful career was abruptly stopped in its tracks.


Garfield was born as Jacob Julius Garfinkel, the son of David and Hannah Garfinkle, both of whom were Russian Jewish immigrants. Growing up his family called him by the name of “Julie,” which was short for his middle name of Julius.


His childhood was one of poverty in the Bronx, and on a couple of occasions his family life was so hard that he went to live with relatives for periods of time. It is safe to say that his embrace of acting took him off the streets and put him on the right track after his troubles at school and hanging around street gangs.


He received classes from The Heckscher Foundation, as well as individual help from actors in the Yiddish Theatre that took an interest in him. Finally, in 1932 he made his Broadway debut in The Lost Boy, which closed after two weeks but gave the young actor his very first credit. Many other stage appearances followed before he finally agreed to take a screen test; both Paramount and Warners had offered screen tests in the past.


One of his first films was as a young composer in Four Daughters in 1938, which was directed by Michael Curtiz and definitely put Garfield on the map. In fact, Hollywood was abuzz that a non-veteran actor received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His high-profile film career cannot be done justice in this article. His most prominent films were Body and Soul (1947), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Sea Wolf (1941), The Breaking Point (1950), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Force of Evil


43


John Garfield was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City and moved to Hollywood in 1937, eventually becoming one of Warner Bros.' biggest stars.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56