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1 | A week before his fatal heart attack Garfield had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 51), J. Edward Bromberg (at 48) and Canada Lee (at 45). |
2 | Garfield was one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars, having been suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. |
3 | Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to "go Hollywood," he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option, and they refused to own a home in Tinseltown. |
4 | He landed a nonpaying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to legendary acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. |
5 | Was a semifinalist in a Golden Gloves tournament. |
6 | Favorite movie star of Alain Delon. |
7 | He was born on the same day that Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States (March 4, 1913). |
8 | On Piers Morgan Tonight: Episode dated 11 July 2012 (2012), to promote his autobiography, Robert Blake related that when he was playing John Garfield as a boy in Humoresque (1946), there was a scene he could not get right. Garfield cleared the set and directed Blake himself. After the scene was finished, Garfield told the nine-year-old. "Robert, remember this for the rest of your life. Your life is a rehearsal. Your performance is real.". |
9 | According to her best-selling autobiography, "The Gift Horse", German actress Hildegard Knef was the last person Garfield spoke to before his death. |
10 | In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' play "Golden Boy" on Cavalcade of Stars: Episode #1.53 (1950). The role had been written for him by Odets, but when the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't "ready" to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role. Garfield finally played the role on Broadway in 1951, a few months before his premature death from a heart attack. |
11 | Garfield was a guest on Ed Sullivan's The Ed Sullivan Show: Episode #2.15 (1948) and quipped that the large TV cameras of this new medium were frightening. |
12 | On May 26, 1949, he was a guest on NBC radio's "Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Show". |
13 | The role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) was originally written for Garfield, but he died before the film was made. |
14 | The role of Bill Sampson in All About Eve (1950) was originally intended for him, but Gary Merrill was cast instead. |
15 | When he turned down the chance to play the male lead on Broadway in "A Streetcar Named Desire," the part written originally by Tennessee Williams for an Italian-American was rewritten for a Polish-American to accommodate the blonde looks of the then unknown Marlon Brando. Brando's performance made him a star. |
16 | Parents were Russian immigrants, David and Hannah Garfinkle. Although his father was a presser in a factory during the week, he was also a cantor on weekends and holy days. |
17 | Was Nelson Algren's choice to play Frankie Machine in the film version (The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)) of Algren's novel "The Man With the Golden Arm". |
18 | Garfield's widow Roberta married labor lawyer Sidney Cohn in 1954. He died in 1991 and Roberta Garfield Cohn died of Alzheimer's Disease in January 2004. |
19 | Is portrayed by Bruce Ornstein in Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983) |
20 | Buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York |
21 | Blacklisted during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. He was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a former showgirl, Iris Whitney on May 21, 1952, the day after Clifford Odets, testifying before HUAC, reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. His funeral in New York was mobbed by thousands of fans. |
22 | When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. He was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. |
23 | His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. |
24 | Wife Roberta Seidman was his childhood sweetheart. |
25 | Was producer Irene Mayer Selznick's first choice to play Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway premiere of "A Streetcar Named Desire.". |
26 | Won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times as a boy with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. |
27 | Comforted Sidney Poitier on his first plane ride by telling him to put a handkerchief over his face and think about nothing. |
28 | Father of actors David Garfield and Julie Garfield. |
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