Last week we looked at some photos from the circa 1951 HUAC hearings, pictures of writers and other behind-the-scenes figures who were put into the hot seat.  Performers also felt the heat, and  if some of these folks are less known that they might be, probably blame it on the blacklist.  Many of their careers were rudely interrupted and their reputations blackened by the long arm of HUAC and the publication of an inflammatory anti-Communist pamphlet called Red Channels containing the names of Hollywood personalities with alleged Soviet sympathies. 

Actor Jose Ferrer was called before the committee in 1951 and ended up on the Red Channels list, but obviously managed to shake off any negative vibes to go on to a long and successful career.

Fellow Morlock RHS had a great article a little while ago on Marc Lawrence, who appeared before the committee and ended up naming fellow actors Lionel Stander and Jeff Corey.

Actor Morris Carnovsky, who had excelled in both motion pictures and on the stage (he was one of the original members of the famed Group Theater), had Communist Party ties and was named by Elia Kazan and Sterling Hayden during their testimony.   When his movie career dried up he returned to the stage and kept acting until his death at the age of 94 in 1992.

Lloyd Gough was a successful Hollywood actor (married to actress Karen Morley) who was called before the committee, took the Fifth, and subsequently blacklisted.  He even had his name stricken from the credits of Rancho Notorious, his last movie before being blackballed, but he eventually came back in the early 1960s and had a robust career in movies (Madigan, Earthquake, The Front) and television (The Green Hornet and many other series).

Alvin Hammer was a partner of Judy Holliday, Betty Comden and Adolf Green in the entertainment troupe The Revuers in the early 1940s, and his name came up in her testimony before the committee.  Hammer had moved into feature films in often uncredited roles that nevertheless made his face a familiar one.  He was named in Red Channels and went through a long lull that eventually found him coming back full force in many television roles from the late 1960s almost up until his death in 1993.

One of the most unfortunate victims of the second HUAC wave was actor Larry Parks, who had transitioned from a stage career into a string of movie roles that eventually culminated in his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Al Jolson in 1946′s The Jolson Story.  He was hauled before HUAC only a few years later, and his early familiarity with the Communist Party, which he admitted to in his testimony, was enough to shatter his career.   Married to MGM musical star Betty Garrett, Larry Parks‘ life as a movie actor was basically over, and although he and Betty toured in a stage show together, eventually Larry devoted more time to non-entertainment businesses and only acted a few more times.   The obvious pain the HUAC proceedings inflicted on Parks’ life made him one of the most unfortunate stories of the blacklist.

Another victim of HUAC was actor J. Edward Bromberg, whose early successes in the Group Theater led to a busy Hollywood career as an in-demand character actor in over fifty films (The Mark of Zorro, A Song is Born, Jesse James to name a few) starting in 1936.  His earlier political affiliations led to his blacklisting, and only a few months after the early 1951 hearings Bromberg died of a heart attack in December 1951 in England.  His early death at only 48 years of age was generally attributed to the stress of the HUAC proceedings.

Actress Ann Revere, who had earned the respect of her acting peers with a long history of excellent performances in such movies as The Song of Bernadette, National Velvet (Oscar winner), Forever Amber, Gentleman’s Agreement and many others, was also hauled before the committee.  She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights and after ending up blacklisted found her latest part — in director George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun where she played Montgomery Clift’s mother — whittled down.  Revere’s movie career virtually ended, but she continued in stage work and did make it back to television and some movie work in the 1970s. 

Actor Howard Da Silva had been named by Robert Taylor in the first round of HUAC hearings, and ended up on the Red Channels list.  Da Silva had been a highly sought-after actor with impressive Hollywood credits — The Lost Weekend, Sergeant York, Abe Lincoln in Illinois — and after being blacklisted he returned to theater work and then in the early 1960s made a big comeback with a myriad of roles in all popular television series of the time and many movies, including as American patriot Benjamin Franklin in 1776, a role he had originated on Broadway.

Actor Will Geer, a longtime political activist for a variety of populist causes, found himself under HUAC’s scrutiny after a robust theater and movie career (Winchester ’73, Broken Arrow).   His blacklisting turned Geer back to theater and a special interest in gardening which sparked the creation of the famous Los Angeles landmark venture Theatricum Botanicum.  Will Geer’s role in 1962′s Advise and Consent marked his return to Hollywood, and he never stopped worked from that moment until his death in 1978.  Perhaps best remembered for his role as Grandpa on The Waltons television series, Geer was a cantankerous and talented individual with one of the most successful comeback stories after HUAC.

The more you learn about the HUAC proceedings the more fascinating they are, and the more you want to know.  There are many tremendous books and internet resources on the subject, and they’re all worth your time.  After pondering the faces of the folks who came up against the committee, it’s the least we can do to  try to understand their situation and respect the personal principles they attempted to uphold.   Their ordeal is not forgotten.