Morris Carnovsky(1897-1992)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Morris Carnovsky was one of the more prominent victims of the Hollywood
blacklist, being named as a Communist party member by both
Elia Kazan -- the most infamous of the
informers who sang before the House Un-American Activities Committee in
the era blacklistee Lillian Hellman
called the "Scoundrel Time" -- and
Sterling Hayden. However, he had been
effectively blacklisted -- unofficially banned from appearing in
Hollywood films -- since 1950, two years before Kazan sang before HUAC,
when Carnovsky himself refused to "name names" before the Committee.
Carnovsky did not make any more movies for the better part of a decade
-- in fact, his movie acting career essentially was over -- but he did
have a thriving career on the Broadway stage, the venue where he
established his reputation as a thespian back in the 1930s.
Morris Carnovsky was born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 5, 1898,
the son of a grocer. Upon graduation from high school he attended St. Louis' Washington University.
Like most actors of his generation, he worked his way up the ladder by
first appearing with traveling stock companies. Eventually, he landed
in New York City, where he became a member of the Theatre Guild,
the legendary theatrical company appearing as Kublai Khan in Nobel Prize
winner 'Eugene O'Neill's play "Marco Millions' (I)'.
Subsequently, he became one of the founding members of the left-wing
Group Theatre.
Founded in 1931 by Lee Strasberg and
Harold Clurman, and Cheryl Crawford, The
Group Theatre contained Luther Adler,
Stella Adler, Elia Kazan, and playwright
Clifford Odets; the latter three were
major forces in transforming American theater and acting, a process
that began with the Provincetown Theatre. Stella Adler, Elia Kazan and
Lee Strasberg, including their students/latter Group Theatre members
like Bobby Lewis, were instrumental in making "The Method" -- a
variation of Konstantin Stanislavski's acting theories, based on finding
and cultivating "motivation" -- revolutionized American acting on stage
and in the movies, most famously through Adler's student
Marlon Brando. Kazan and Strasberg later
founded the Actors Studio, America's premier acting school that
promulgated "The Method" via such alumni as
James Dean,
Paul Newman and hundreds of others.
Carnovsky was a member of the Group Theater until it broke up in 1940.
He appeared prominently in Odets' plays "Awake and Sing" and
Golden Boy (1939). Carnovsky's talents
were in demand by other theatrical troupes, and he appeared on Broadway
in the 1930s in multiple non-Group Theatre productions.
Eventually, Hollywood beckoned and Carnovsky made his screen debut in
The Life of Emile Zola (1937),
playing Anatole France in support of
Paul Muni. Settling in Los Angeles
after the Group Theatre breakup, Carnovsky was one of the founders of
the Actor's Laboratory and became involved with the the Hollywood
Communist Party, whose cultural apparatchik, screenwriter
John Howard Lawson, was later one of
the Hollywood Ten, the first group of leftists blacklisted by the film
industry. While Carnovsky was never involved in espionage or any overt
acts against the interests of the United States (as were none of the
Hollywood Ten or other blacklistees), he led Marxist study groups in
his home, as Sterling Hayden testified to before HUAC.
In his 1952 testimony before HUAC, Elia Kazan named Carnovsky as a
member of the Communist Party cell he had belonged to in the Group
Theatre. Other members included Lee Strasberg's wife, Paula (best known
as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach). Kazan had quit the cell in the
mid-1930s, he said, when it was ordered by the Party to undermine
Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg (who did not know his wife was a
communist) and take over the Group Theatre. The attempted coup was
never launched.
In 1950, Carnovsky was hauled before HUAC, where he refused to "name
names." This resulted in his blacklisting, not Kazan's testimony.
(Kazan said that Carnovsky, like others he named, already were known by
the Committee.) The blacklist did not exist on Broadway, and producer
(and future Osar-winning actor)
John Houseman cast Carnovsky in
the Broadway production of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People,"
whose script was written by future HUAC target
Arthur Miller. He acted in many
Broadway productions throughout the 1950s and into the
'60s.
A part in Sidney Lumet's
film version of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (1962) did not
revive his movie career, and he continued to act on stage. He died on
September 1, 1992, at the age of 94.
blacklist, being named as a Communist party member by both
Elia Kazan -- the most infamous of the
informers who sang before the House Un-American Activities Committee in
the era blacklistee Lillian Hellman
called the "Scoundrel Time" -- and
Sterling Hayden. However, he had been
effectively blacklisted -- unofficially banned from appearing in
Hollywood films -- since 1950, two years before Kazan sang before HUAC,
when Carnovsky himself refused to "name names" before the Committee.
Carnovsky did not make any more movies for the better part of a decade
-- in fact, his movie acting career essentially was over -- but he did
have a thriving career on the Broadway stage, the venue where he
established his reputation as a thespian back in the 1930s.
Morris Carnovsky was born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 5, 1898,
the son of a grocer. Upon graduation from high school he attended St. Louis' Washington University.
Like most actors of his generation, he worked his way up the ladder by
first appearing with traveling stock companies. Eventually, he landed
in New York City, where he became a member of the Theatre Guild,
the legendary theatrical company appearing as Kublai Khan in Nobel Prize
winner 'Eugene O'Neill's play "Marco Millions' (I)'.
Subsequently, he became one of the founding members of the left-wing
Group Theatre.
Founded in 1931 by Lee Strasberg and
Harold Clurman, and Cheryl Crawford, The
Group Theatre contained Luther Adler,
Stella Adler, Elia Kazan, and playwright
Clifford Odets; the latter three were
major forces in transforming American theater and acting, a process
that began with the Provincetown Theatre. Stella Adler, Elia Kazan and
Lee Strasberg, including their students/latter Group Theatre members
like Bobby Lewis, were instrumental in making "The Method" -- a
variation of Konstantin Stanislavski's acting theories, based on finding
and cultivating "motivation" -- revolutionized American acting on stage
and in the movies, most famously through Adler's student
Marlon Brando. Kazan and Strasberg later
founded the Actors Studio, America's premier acting school that
promulgated "The Method" via such alumni as
James Dean,
Paul Newman and hundreds of others.
Carnovsky was a member of the Group Theater until it broke up in 1940.
He appeared prominently in Odets' plays "Awake and Sing" and
Golden Boy (1939). Carnovsky's talents
were in demand by other theatrical troupes, and he appeared on Broadway
in the 1930s in multiple non-Group Theatre productions.
Eventually, Hollywood beckoned and Carnovsky made his screen debut in
The Life of Emile Zola (1937),
playing Anatole France in support of
Paul Muni. Settling in Los Angeles
after the Group Theatre breakup, Carnovsky was one of the founders of
the Actor's Laboratory and became involved with the the Hollywood
Communist Party, whose cultural apparatchik, screenwriter
John Howard Lawson, was later one of
the Hollywood Ten, the first group of leftists blacklisted by the film
industry. While Carnovsky was never involved in espionage or any overt
acts against the interests of the United States (as were none of the
Hollywood Ten or other blacklistees), he led Marxist study groups in
his home, as Sterling Hayden testified to before HUAC.
In his 1952 testimony before HUAC, Elia Kazan named Carnovsky as a
member of the Communist Party cell he had belonged to in the Group
Theatre. Other members included Lee Strasberg's wife, Paula (best known
as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach). Kazan had quit the cell in the
mid-1930s, he said, when it was ordered by the Party to undermine
Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg (who did not know his wife was a
communist) and take over the Group Theatre. The attempted coup was
never launched.
In 1950, Carnovsky was hauled before HUAC, where he refused to "name
names." This resulted in his blacklisting, not Kazan's testimony.
(Kazan said that Carnovsky, like others he named, already were known by
the Committee.) The blacklist did not exist on Broadway, and producer
(and future Osar-winning actor)
John Houseman cast Carnovsky in
the Broadway production of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People,"
whose script was written by future HUAC target
Arthur Miller. He acted in many
Broadway productions throughout the 1950s and into the
'60s.
A part in Sidney Lumet's
film version of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (1962) did not
revive his movie career, and he continued to act on stage. He died on
September 1, 1992, at the age of 94.