Robert Rossen
Encyclopedia
Robert Rossen was an American
screenwriter
, film director
, and producer
whose film career spanned almost three decades. His 1949 film All the King's Men
won Oscars for Best Picture
, Best Actor
and Best Supporting Actress
, while Rossen was nominated for an Oscar as Best Director. He won the Golden Globe for Best Director and the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture. In 1961 he made The Hustler
, which was nominated for nine Oscars and won two. Rossen was nominated as Best Director and with Sidney Carroll
for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not win either award.
After directing and writing for the stage in New York
, Rossen moved to Hollywood in 1937. There he worked as a screenwriter for Warner Bros.
until 1941, and then interrupted his career to serve until 1944 as the chairman of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization Against the War, a body to organize writers for the effort in World War II
. In 1945 he joined a picket line
against Warner Bros., making an enemy of Jack Warner
. After making one film for Hal Wallis's new-formed production company, Rossen made one for Columbia Pictures
, another for Wallis and most of his later films for his own companies, usually in collaboration with Columbia.
Rossen was a member of the American Communist Party from 1937 to about 1947, and believed the Party was "dedicated to social causes of the sort that we as poor Jews from New York were interested in." However, he finally ended all relations with the Party in 1949. Rossen was twice called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC), in 1951 and in 1953. He exercised his Fifth Amendment
rights at his first appearance, refusing to state whether he had ever been a Communist. As a result he was unofficially blacklist
ed by the Hollywood studio bosses, and he was unable to renew his passport. At his second appearance he named 57 people as current or former Communists and was removed from the unofficial blacklist. Subsequently he had to produce his next film, Mambo
, in Italy in 1954 to repair his finances. While The Hustler in 1961 was a great success, conflict with the star of Lilith
so disillusioned Rossen that he made no more films during the last three years of his life.
Rossen's films for Warner generally described the conditions of working people, the portrayal of gangsters and racketeers
, and opposition to fascism
. He wrote that ambition and the desire for success were common themes in his work. His films often featured strong female characters. All Rossen's playscripts were adaptions except three which were based on real events. While head of production at Warner, Wallis considered that some of his best films were written by Rossen.
of New York City
. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants and his father was a rabbi
. As a youth Rossen attended New York University
, hustled
pool and fought some prizefights.
He started his theatrical career as a director and playwright in stock and off-Broadway productions, mainly in the social and radical theaters that flourished in New York in the early and mid-1930s. In 1932 Rossen directed John Wexley's Steel, about labor agitation, and Richard Maibaum
's The Tree, about a lynching
. A year later Rossen directed Birthright, in which Maibaum attacked Nazism
. In 1935 Rossen wrote and directed The Body Beautiful, a comedy about a naive burlesque
dancer. Although the play closed after four performances, Warner Bros.
director Mervyn LeRoy
was so impressed that in 1936 he signed Rossen to a personal screenwriting contract.
In 1936 Rossen married. A daughter, Carol Eve Rossen, was born in August 1937 and his son, Stephen Rossen, in 1940.
For his first credit in Hollywood, in 1937 Rossen co-wrote with Abem Finkel a script based on the prosecution of crime lord Lucky Luciano
and eventually titled Marked Woman
. Although some of Warner Bros.' management saw Rossen as an unknown quantity, the result won praise from both Jack Warner
and the Daily Worker
. Rossen's first solo script was for They Won't Forget
(1937), a fictionalized account of the lynching
of Leo Frank
, featuring Lana Turner
in her debut performance.
Dust Be My Destiny
, co-written in 1939 by Rossen, is the story of a fugitive from justice who is eventually acquitted with help from an attorney and a journalist, the latter arguing that "a million boys all over the country" were in a similar plight. Warner Bros. then ordered producer Lou Edelman to cut the script, adding that "This is the story of two people – not a group. It is an individual problem – not a national one."
The Sea Wolf
, released in 1941, was based on Jack London
's novel. Although the film had a strong cast and production, Rossen's re-draft of the script may be the greatest influence on the film. While the character of Captain Larsen remained both victim and oppressed in a capitalist hierarchy, he also became a symbol of fascism. Rossen also split the novel's idealist hero into an intellectual bosun
and a rebellious seaman. Warner Bros. cut many political points during production.
After the Attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941, the Screen Writers Guild set up on December 8, 1941, the Hollywood Writers Mobilization Against the War, a body to organize writers for the war effort. Rossen served as the body's chairman until 1944 and advocated the opening of a second front to support West European resistance again the Nazis. He was now seen as a patriot rather than a radical, and his earnings were much greater than in 1937. However, his work for Hollywood Writers Mobilization and for the Communist Party forced him to abandon some partly developed film projects, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
, which John Huston
eventually directed in 1948.
In 1945 Rossen joined a picket line
against Warner Bros., making an enemy of Jack Warner. Rossen signed a contract with an independent production company formed by Hal Wallis, who had previously been Warner Bros.' head of production. However Rossen wrote only two full scripts for this company, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
in 1946 and Desert Fury
in 1947. In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Rossen used a short story by John Patrick to introduce the main plot, which was set fifteen years later and which Rossen wrote himself. The relationship between Rossen and Wallis broke down when Rossen received offers from other production companies.
Dick Powell
had been a crooner but was making a new career as a dramatic actor. When Columbia Pictures
agreed to make Johnny O'Clock
for him in 1947, Powell successfully campaigned for Rossen to direct, and this became Rossen's debut in directing. As this crime melodrama
proved a modest success, Roberts Productions signed Rossen to direct Abraham Polonsky
's script of Body and Soul
, described by Bob Thomas
as "possibly the best prizefight film ever made." Rossen preferred an ending in which the hero wins a boxing match and then is killed by a gangster, but Polonsky insisted on his own ending, in which the hero escapes into obscurity before the fight. Following the success of Body and Soul, Rossen formed his own company and signed with Columbia Pictures a contract that gave him wide autonomy over every second film that he made at the studio.
All the King's Men
(1949) was based on the novel of the same name
by Robert Penn Warren
, which in turn was based on the career of the Louisiana
politician Huey Long
. Rossen introduced a new concept, that the defenders of the ordinary people can in turn become the new exploiters. As a requirement for his participation in the film, Rossen had to write to Columbia's Harry Cohn
saying that he was no longer a Communist Party member. Cohn's critiques of draft of Rossen's script including scrapping a framing structure that was difficult for audiences to follow, and several improvements in the relationships and motivations of characters. A meeting of the Communist Party in Los Angeles severely criticized the film, and Rossen finally ended all relations with the Party. All the King's Men won the Academy Award for Best Picture
, Broderick Crawford
won the award for Best Actor
and Mercedes McCambridge
was honored as Best Supporting Actress
. Rossen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director but lost to Joseph L. Mankiewicz
for A Letter to Three Wives
. Rossen won a Golden Globe for Best Director and the film won the Golden Globe for Best Picture.
The Brave Bulls
was directed in 1950 and released in 1951. This was Rossen's last work before studios blacklisted him. The New York Times
critic called this "the best film on bull-fighting yet."
in 1945, the USA became afraid of the spread of Communism. In 1946, the Republican
s gained an overwhelming majority in the Congressional elections. The Communist victory of China
in 1949 and the start of the Korean War
in 1950 reinforced the fear and extended it to Hollywood, where the film companies also opposed attempts to organize an industry-wide trade union
. Conservative and right-wing
groups fought to undo many of the liberal
measures of Franklin D. Roosevelt
's presidencies.
During hearings in 1947, Jack Warner included Rossen among many leftist writers whom Warner accused of incorporating Communist propaganda in scripts, and whom he claimed to have fired. Rossen was one of 19 "unfriendly witnesses" subpoenaed in October 1947 by the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) during the second Red Scare
but was one of eight not called to testify.
In 1951, however, Rossen was named as a Communist by several HUAC witnesses and he appeared before HUAC for the first time in June of that year. He exercised his rights under the Fifth Amendment
against self-incrimination, taking what came to be known as the "augmented Fifth". He testified that he was not a member of the Communist Party and that he disagreed with the aims of the party but when asked to state whether he had ever been a member of the party, Rossen refused to answer. He was placed on the unofficial blacklist by the Hollywood studios, and Columbia broke its production contract with him.
Rossen could not renew his passport
, and in May 1953, Rossen again appeared before the committee and named 57 people as Communists. He explained to the committee why he chose to testify: "I don't think, after two years of thinking, that any one individual can indulge himself in the luxury of personal morality or pit it against what I feel today very strongly is the security and safety of this nation." Stephen Rossen later shed light on his father's decision:
, trying to repair his finances after almost two years without work following the 1951 HUAC hearing. He had to produce the film in Italy, and it was premiered in Italy in 1954 and the USA in 1955. Rossen later said "Mambo was to be for fun only," but he "took it seriously, and it didn't come off." Contemporary critics dismissed the film. However, in 2001 Dorothea Fischer-Hornung concluded that the film achieved more than Rossen and contemporary critics realised: the female lead resolves her own conflicts by devoting herself to dance; Katherine Dunham
's choreography highlights this process; and innovative cinematography intensifies the dance scenes.
Rossen hoped Alexander the Great
(1956) would be a blockbuster, but the majority of the reviews criticized the film for failing to keep the audience's interest. However, the review from The New York Times wrote that "its moments of boredom are rare ... an overlong but thoughtful and spectacular entertainment."
In 1961, Rossen co-wrote, produced and directed The Hustler
. Drawing upon his own experiences as a pool hustler
, Rossen teamed with Sidney Carroll
to adapt the novel of the same name for the screen. The Hustler was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two. Rossen was nominated as Best Director and with Carroll for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not win either award. He was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle
and shared with Carroll the Writers Guild of America Award
for Best Written Drama. The Hustler was an enormous popular success and is credited with sparking a resurgence in the popularity of pool in the United States, which had been on the decline for decades.
Rossen was already ill when he started on his final film, Lilith
(1964), and it was poorly received in the USA. After it Rossen lost interest in directing, reportedly because of conflicts with the film's star, Warren Beatty
. The filmmaker said, "It isn't worth that kind of grief. I won't take it any more. I have nothing to say on the screen right now. Even if I never make another picture, I've got The Hustler on my record. I'm content to let that one stand for me." However, at the time of his death Rossen was planning Cocoa Beach, a script he conceived in 1962, showing the hopes and struggles of transients in a local community and contrasting this with nearby Cape Canaveral
, which Neve described as a "symbol of America’s imperial reach".
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was survived by his wife Sue, son Stephen and daughters Carol and Ellen.
(French for "grey film"). In his films for Warner Brothers' "Popular Front" period between 1937 and 1944, consistent themes were the conditions of working people, the portrayal of gangster
s and racketeers, and opposition to fascism
. After Dust Be My Destiny
, written by Rossen and released in 1939, Frank Nugent, who regularly reviewed for The New York Times
, complained about Warner Brothers' long line of melodramas about boys from poor neighbourhoods. Unlike filmmakers such as John Ford
and Howard Hawks
, Rossen was willing to explain his aims as a director: "The element common to many of my films is the desire for success, ambition, which is an important element in American life. It is an important element, and has become increasingly more important in what is known as Western Civilization." Polonsky
commented that "Rossen's talent is force applied everywhere without let-up." Neve acknowledged that social concerns were central in most of Rossen's works, but commented that Lilith
was different from Rossen's earlier films as it emphasized mood rather than narrative and examined through pictures and silences the nature of maladjustment and madness.
Farber noted the strong female characters of the 1930s and 1940s, and laments their replacing by all-male relationships from the 1950s onwards. For the earlier pattern Farber cited Rossen's 1946 script The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
, which was over melodramatic but portrayed a woman consumed by power, money and success. Lilith created one of the few strong women in the 1960s. Rossen generally destroyed the main character.
All Rossen's playscripts were adaptions except Marked Woman, Racket Buster and Alexander the Great, which were based on real events. Before he was blacklisted in 1951, only two of Rossen's adaptions were of serious novels, and Rossen's early drafts of the script for All the King's Men received serious criticisms within Columbia.
While head of production at Warner, Hal Wallis considered that some of his best films – including The Roaring Twenties, Marked Woman and The Sea Wolf – were written by Rossen. Wallis was very pleased with Rossen's script in 1946 for The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
, which was produced by Wallis own company. However, Rossen turned down Wallis's next two films. Both Wallis as producer and Rossen as writer-director wanted to operate as independents, rather than under the control of a studio.
All the King's Men
was one of the last of the social "message" films, as they were eclipsed as America turned conservative. Thomas Schatz' regarded All the King's Men as possibly the best of the genre, as it examined alcoholism, adultery, political corruption and the influence of journalism. In 2001 the United States National Film Registry
preserved the film as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Rossen produced, directed and co-wrote The Hustler
in 1961. At the time Variety
praised the cast, complained about the "sordid aspects" of the story and felt the film was far too long. The New Republic
praised the cast and Rossen's "sure, economical" direction, but thought the script "strains hard to give an air of menace and criminality." The film won two Academy Awards
and was nominated for another seven, was nominated in four of the Golden Globes' categories, and gained many other awards and nominations. In 1997 the National Film Registry preserved The Hustler as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2002 Roger Ebert
described the film as one "where scenes have such psychic weight that they grow in our memories" and praised Rossen's decision to develop all four main characters, and James Berardinelli
listed the film in his All Time Top 100 for similar reasons. Ebert also praised Rossen's decision to shoot the film in the "stygian gloom of the billiard parlor" created by black-and-white
. Other accolades appeared in the 2000s.
In 1966 Stephen Farber used "Gothic
" to described Lilith and a few other American films of the early 1960s based on psychological horror, and regarded Liliths female protagonist as a demonic temptress. Nina Leibman regarded Lilith as the most extreme of the American film industry's applications, or rather misapplications, of psychoanalytic concepts, as the patient is already psychotic and has a track record of previous conquests. In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
David Thomson
describes Lilith as "an oddity, the only one of [Rossen's] films that seems passionate, mysterious and truly personal. The other films will look increasingly dated and self-contained, but Lilith may grow."
} || Marked Woman
|| Film || Warner Bros.
|| Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1937 – October || They Won't Forget
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1938 || Racket Busters || Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1939 – September || Dust Be My Destiny
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1939 – October || The Roaring Twenties
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1940 || A Child Is Born
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1941 – March || The Sea Wolf
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1941 – June || Out of the Fog
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1941 – Nov || Blues in the Night
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1945 – December || A Walk in the Sun || Film || Lewis Milestone
Productions || Y || n || n
|-
| 1946 – July || The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
|| Film || Hal Wallis Productions || Y || n || n
|-
| 1947 – March|| Johnny O'Clock
|| Film || J. E. M. Productions || Y || Y || n
|-
| 1947 – August|| Desert Fury
|| Film || Hal Wallis Productions || Y || n || n
|-
| 1947 – November|| Body and Soul
|| Film || Enterprise Studios || n || Y || n
|-
| 1949 – April || The Undercover Man
|| Film || Robert Rossen || n || n || Y
|-
| 1949 – November|| All the King's Men
|| Film || Columbia Pictures Corporation || Y || Y || Y
|-
| 1951 || The Brave Bulls || Film || Rossen Enterprises || n || Y || Y
|-
| 1954 || Mambo
|| Film || Produzione Ponti-De Laurentiis || Y || Y || n
|-
| 1956 || Alexander the Great
|| Film || Rossen Films, S.A. C.B. Films || Y || Y || Y
|-
| 1957 || Island in the Sun
|| Film || Darryl F. Zanuck
Productions || n || Y || n
|-
| 1959 || They Came to Cordura
|| Film || Goetz Pictures, Inc.; Baroda Productions, Inc. || Y || Y || n
|-
| 1960 || The Cool World || Play || – || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1961 || The Hustler
|| Film || Rossen Enterprises Company || Y co-wrote with Sidney Carroll
|| Y || Y
|-
| 1964 || Lilith
|| Film || Centaur Enterprises || Y || Y || Y
|-
|}
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
whose film career spanned almost three decades. His 1949 film All the King's Men
All the King's Men
All the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
won Oscars for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
and Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, while Rossen was nominated for an Oscar as Best Director. He won the Golden Globe for Best Director and the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture. In 1961 he made The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
, which was nominated for nine Oscars and won two. Rossen was nominated as Best Director and with Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll was a film and television screenwriter. Although Carroll wrote most frequently for television, he is perhaps best remembered today for writing the screenplay for The Hustler for which he was nominated for an Academy Award...
for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not win either award.
After directing and writing for the stage in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Rossen moved to Hollywood in 1937. There he worked as a screenwriter for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
until 1941, and then interrupted his career to serve until 1944 as the chairman of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization Against the War, a body to organize writers for the effort in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1945 he joined a picket line
Picket line
A picket line is a horizontal rope, along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height , or overhead. The overhead form usually is called a high line....
against Warner Bros., making an enemy of Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
. After making one film for Hal Wallis's new-formed production company, Rossen made one for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, another for Wallis and most of his later films for his own companies, usually in collaboration with Columbia.
Rossen was a member of the American Communist Party from 1937 to about 1947, and believed the Party was "dedicated to social causes of the sort that we as poor Jews from New York were interested in." However, he finally ended all relations with the Party in 1949. Rossen was twice called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
(HUAC), in 1951 and in 1953. He exercised his Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
rights at his first appearance, refusing to state whether he had ever been a Communist. As a result he was unofficially blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
ed by the Hollywood studio bosses, and he was unable to renew his passport. At his second appearance he named 57 people as current or former Communists and was removed from the unofficial blacklist. Subsequently he had to produce his next film, Mambo
Mambo (film)
Mambo is a film written and directed in 1952 to 1953 Robert Rossen and released in 1955. A mambo craze spread through the USA in the 1950s, and Rossen aimed to repairing his finances after almost two years without work since his 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee hearing.He later said,...
, in Italy in 1954 to repair his finances. While The Hustler in 1961 was a great success, conflict with the star of Lilith
Lilith (film)
Lilith is a film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J. R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter and Gene Hackman...
so disillusioned Rossen that he made no more films during the last three years of his life.
Rossen's films for Warner generally described the conditions of working people, the portrayal of gangsters and racketeers
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
, and opposition to fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. He wrote that ambition and the desire for success were common themes in his work. His films often featured strong female characters. All Rossen's playscripts were adaptions except three which were based on real events. While head of production at Warner, Wallis considered that some of his best films were written by Rossen.
Early life and career
Robert Rossen, originally known as Robert Rosen, was born on March 16, 1908, and raised on the Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants and his father was a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
. As a youth Rossen attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, hustled
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
pool and fought some prizefights.
He started his theatrical career as a director and playwright in stock and off-Broadway productions, mainly in the social and radical theaters that flourished in New York in the early and mid-1930s. In 1932 Rossen directed John Wexley's Steel, about labor agitation, and Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels....
's The Tree, about a lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
. A year later Rossen directed Birthright, in which Maibaum attacked Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. In 1935 Rossen wrote and directed The Body Beautiful, a comedy about a naive burlesque
American burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...
dancer. Although the play closed after four performances, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
director Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
was so impressed that in 1936 he signed Rossen to a personal screenwriting contract.
In 1936 Rossen married. A daughter, Carol Eve Rossen, was born in August 1937 and his son, Stephen Rossen, in 1940.
Work in Hollywood
Rossen was a member of the American Communist Party from 1937 to 1947. Later he explained to his son Stephen that he believed the Party was "dedicated to social causes of the sort that we as poor Jews from New York were interested in."For his first credit in Hollywood, in 1937 Rossen co-wrote with Abem Finkel a script based on the prosecution of crime lord Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
and eventually titled Marked Woman
Marked Woman
Marked Woman is a crime melodrama film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins...
. Although some of Warner Bros.' management saw Rossen as an unknown quantity, the result won praise from both Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
and the Daily Worker
Daily Worker
The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
. Rossen's first solo script was for They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...
(1937), a fictionalized account of the lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
of Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
, featuring Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
in her debut performance.
Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny is a drama film released in 1939. John Garfield stars as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.-Plot:...
, co-written in 1939 by Rossen, is the story of a fugitive from justice who is eventually acquitted with help from an attorney and a journalist, the latter arguing that "a million boys all over the country" were in a similar plight. Warner Bros. then ordered producer Lou Edelman to cut the script, adding that "This is the story of two people – not a group. It is an individual problem – not a national one."
The Sea Wolf
The Sea Wolf (1941 film)
The Sea Wolf is a 1941 black-and-white film adaptation of Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield. The film was written by Robert Rossen and directed by Michael Curtiz....
, released in 1941, was based on Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
's novel. Although the film had a strong cast and production, Rossen's re-draft of the script may be the greatest influence on the film. While the character of Captain Larsen remained both victim and oppressed in a capitalist hierarchy, he also became a symbol of fascism. Rossen also split the novel's idealist hero into an intellectual bosun
Boatswain
A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...
and a rebellious seaman. Warner Bros. cut many political points during production.
After the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on December 7, 1941, the Screen Writers Guild set up on December 8, 1941, the Hollywood Writers Mobilization Against the War, a body to organize writers for the war effort. Rossen served as the body's chairman until 1944 and advocated the opening of a second front to support West European resistance again the Nazis. He was now seen as a patriot rather than a radical, and his earnings were much greater than in 1937. However, his work for Hollywood Writers Mobilization and for the Communist Party forced him to abandon some partly developed film projects, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American film written and directed by John Huston, a feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two Americans Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin during the 1920s in Mexico join with an old-timer, Howard , to prospect for gold...
, which John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
eventually directed in 1948.
In 1945 Rossen joined a picket line
Picket line
A picket line is a horizontal rope, along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height , or overhead. The overhead form usually is called a high line....
against Warner Bros., making an enemy of Jack Warner. Rossen signed a contract with an independent production company formed by Hal Wallis, who had previously been Warner Bros.' head of production. However Rossen wrote only two full scripts for this company, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a black-and-white film noir released in the United States in 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick, using the...
in 1946 and Desert Fury
Desert Fury
Desert Fury is a 1947 Paramount Pictures color film noir drama film starring Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak and Burt Lancaster, with Mary Astor and Wendell Corey....
in 1947. In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Rossen used a short story by John Patrick to introduce the main plot, which was set fifteen years later and which Rossen wrote himself. The relationship between Rossen and Wallis broke down when Rossen received offers from other production companies.
Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
had been a crooner but was making a new career as a dramatic actor. When Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
agreed to make Johnny O'Clock
Johnny O'Clock
Johnny O'Clock is an American crime film noir written and directed by Robert Rossen, based on a story by Milton Holmes. The drama features Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, and Lee J. Cobb.-Plot:...
for him in 1947, Powell successfully campaigned for Rossen to direct, and this became Rossen's debut in directing. As this crime melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
proved a modest success, Roberts Productions signed Rossen to direct Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky was an American film director, Academy-Award-nominated screenwriter, essayist, and novelist blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s, in the midst of the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
's script of Body and Soul
Body and Soul (1947 film)
Body and Soul is a 1947 film noir which tells the story of a boxer who becomes involved with crooked promoters. It stars John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere and William Conrad....
, described by Bob Thomas
Bob Thomas (reporter)
Bob Thomas is an American Hollywood film industry biographer and reporter who has worked for the Associated Press since 1944.-Personal life:...
as "possibly the best prizefight film ever made." Rossen preferred an ending in which the hero wins a boxing match and then is killed by a gangster, but Polonsky insisted on his own ending, in which the hero escapes into obscurity before the fight. Following the success of Body and Soul, Rossen formed his own company and signed with Columbia Pictures a contract that gave him wide autonomy over every second film that he made at the studio.
All the King's Men
All the King's Men (1949 film)
All the King's Men is a 1949 drama film based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Rossen and starred Broderick Crawford in the role of Willie Stark.-Plot:...
(1949) was based on the novel of the same name
All the King's Men
All the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
by Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
, which in turn was based on the career of the Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
politician Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
. Rossen introduced a new concept, that the defenders of the ordinary people can in turn become the new exploiters. As a requirement for his participation in the film, Rossen had to write to Columbia's Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
saying that he was no longer a Communist Party member. Cohn's critiques of draft of Rossen's script including scrapping a framing structure that was difficult for audiences to follow, and several improvements in the relationships and motivations of characters. A meeting of the Communist Party in Los Angeles severely criticized the film, and Rossen finally ended all relations with the Party. All the King's Men won the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
won the award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
and Mercedes McCambridge
Mercedes McCambridge
Carlotta Mercedes McCambridge was an American actress. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress."-Early life:...
was honored as Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Rossen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director but lost to Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...
for A Letter to Three Wives
A Letter to Three Wives
A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 film which tells the story of a woman who mails a letter to three women, telling them she has left town with the husband of one of them. It stars Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas in his film debut, Jeffrey Lynn, and Thelma Ritter...
. Rossen won a Golden Globe for Best Director and the film won the Golden Globe for Best Picture.
The Brave Bulls
The Brave Bulls
The Brave Bulls is a 1949 Western novel written by Tom Lea about the raising of bulls, on the ranch Las Astas, for bullfighting in Mexico....
was directed in 1950 and released in 1951. This was Rossen's last work before studios blacklisted him. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic called this "the best film on bull-fighting yet."
Examinations by HUAC
After the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1945, the USA became afraid of the spread of Communism. In 1946, the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
s gained an overwhelming majority in the Congressional elections. The Communist victory of China
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
in 1949 and the start of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
in 1950 reinforced the fear and extended it to Hollywood, where the film companies also opposed attempts to organize an industry-wide trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. Conservative and right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
groups fought to undo many of the liberal
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
measures of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's presidencies.
During hearings in 1947, Jack Warner included Rossen among many leftist writers whom Warner accused of incorporating Communist propaganda in scripts, and whom he claimed to have fired. Rossen was one of 19 "unfriendly witnesses" subpoenaed in October 1947 by the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
(HUAC) during the second Red Scare
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
but was one of eight not called to testify.
In 1951, however, Rossen was named as a Communist by several HUAC witnesses and he appeared before HUAC for the first time in June of that year. He exercised his rights under the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
against self-incrimination, taking what came to be known as the "augmented Fifth". He testified that he was not a member of the Communist Party and that he disagreed with the aims of the party but when asked to state whether he had ever been a member of the party, Rossen refused to answer. He was placed on the unofficial blacklist by the Hollywood studios, and Columbia broke its production contract with him.
Rossen could not renew his passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
, and in May 1953, Rossen again appeared before the committee and named 57 people as Communists. He explained to the committee why he chose to testify: "I don't think, after two years of thinking, that any one individual can indulge himself in the luxury of personal morality or pit it against what I feel today very strongly is the security and safety of this nation." Stephen Rossen later shed light on his father's decision:
"It killed him not to work. He was torn between his desire to work and his desire not to talk, and he didn't know what to do. What I think he wanted to know was, what would I think of him if he talked? He didn't say it in that way, though. Then he explained to me the politics of it—how the studios were in on it, and there was never any chance of his working. He was under pressure, he was sick, his diabetes was bad, and he was drinking. By this time I understood that he had refused to talk before and had done his time, from my point of view. What could any kid say at that point? You say, 'I love you and I'm behind you.' "
Return to filmmaking
From 1952 to 1953, Rossen wrote MamboMambo (film)
Mambo is a film written and directed in 1952 to 1953 Robert Rossen and released in 1955. A mambo craze spread through the USA in the 1950s, and Rossen aimed to repairing his finances after almost two years without work since his 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee hearing.He later said,...
, trying to repair his finances after almost two years without work following the 1951 HUAC hearing. He had to produce the film in Italy, and it was premiered in Italy in 1954 and the USA in 1955. Rossen later said "Mambo was to be for fun only," but he "took it seriously, and it didn't come off." Contemporary critics dismissed the film. However, in 2001 Dorothea Fischer-Hornung concluded that the film achieved more than Rossen and contemporary critics realised: the female lead resolves her own conflicts by devoting herself to dance; Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...
's choreography highlights this process; and innovative cinematography intensifies the dance scenes.
Rossen hoped Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great (1956 film)
Alexander the Great is a 1956 America sword and sandal epic film written, directed and produced by Robert Rossen with Gordon S. Griffith as executive producer...
(1956) would be a blockbuster, but the majority of the reviews criticized the film for failing to keep the audience's interest. However, the review from The New York Times wrote that "its moments of boredom are rare ... an overlong but thoughtful and spectacular entertainment."
In 1961, Rossen co-wrote, produced and directed The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
. Drawing upon his own experiences as a pool hustler
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
, Rossen teamed with Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll was a film and television screenwriter. Although Carroll wrote most frequently for television, he is perhaps best remembered today for writing the screenplay for The Hustler for which he was nominated for an Academy Award...
to adapt the novel of the same name for the screen. The Hustler was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two. Rossen was nominated as Best Director and with Carroll for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not win either award. He was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards....
and shared with Carroll the Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Written Drama. The Hustler was an enormous popular success and is credited with sparking a resurgence in the popularity of pool in the United States, which had been on the decline for decades.
Rossen was already ill when he started on his final film, Lilith
Lilith (film)
Lilith is a film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J. R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter and Gene Hackman...
(1964), and it was poorly received in the USA. After it Rossen lost interest in directing, reportedly because of conflicts with the film's star, Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
. The filmmaker said, "It isn't worth that kind of grief. I won't take it any more. I have nothing to say on the screen right now. Even if I never make another picture, I've got The Hustler on my record. I'm content to let that one stand for me." However, at the time of his death Rossen was planning Cocoa Beach, a script he conceived in 1962, showing the hopes and struggles of transients in a local community and contrasting this with nearby Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
, which Neve described as a "symbol of America’s imperial reach".
Later life
Rossen married Sue Siegal in 1954. He died in New York City at age 57 on February 18, 1966, following a series of illnesses and is interred at Westchester Hills CemeteryWestchester Hills Cemetery
The Westchester Hills Cemetery, approximately 20 miles north of New York City, was established at 400 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York. It welcomes the burial of Christians and Jews, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interred there...
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was survived by his wife Sue, son Stephen and daughters Carol and Ellen.
Reception
Rossen was one of the directors who developed film grisFilm gris
Film gris , a term coined by Thom Andersen, is a type of film noir which categorizes a unique series of films that were released between 1947 and 1951...
(French for "grey film"). In his films for Warner Brothers' "Popular Front" period between 1937 and 1944, consistent themes were the conditions of working people, the portrayal of gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
s and racketeers, and opposition to fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. After Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny is a drama film released in 1939. John Garfield stars as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.-Plot:...
, written by Rossen and released in 1939, Frank Nugent, who regularly reviewed for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, complained about Warner Brothers' long line of melodramas about boys from poor neighbourhoods. Unlike filmmakers such as John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
and Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
, Rossen was willing to explain his aims as a director: "The element common to many of my films is the desire for success, ambition, which is an important element in American life. It is an important element, and has become increasingly more important in what is known as Western Civilization." Polonsky
Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky was an American film director, Academy-Award-nominated screenwriter, essayist, and novelist blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s, in the midst of the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
commented that "Rossen's talent is force applied everywhere without let-up." Neve acknowledged that social concerns were central in most of Rossen's works, but commented that Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
was different from Rossen's earlier films as it emphasized mood rather than narrative and examined through pictures and silences the nature of maladjustment and madness.
Farber noted the strong female characters of the 1930s and 1940s, and laments their replacing by all-male relationships from the 1950s onwards. For the earlier pattern Farber cited Rossen's 1946 script The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a black-and-white film noir released in the United States in 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick, using the...
, which was over melodramatic but portrayed a woman consumed by power, money and success. Lilith created one of the few strong women in the 1960s. Rossen generally destroyed the main character.
All Rossen's playscripts were adaptions except Marked Woman, Racket Buster and Alexander the Great, which were based on real events. Before he was blacklisted in 1951, only two of Rossen's adaptions were of serious novels, and Rossen's early drafts of the script for All the King's Men received serious criticisms within Columbia.
While head of production at Warner, Hal Wallis considered that some of his best films – including The Roaring Twenties, Marked Woman and The Sea Wolf – were written by Rossen. Wallis was very pleased with Rossen's script in 1946 for The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a black-and-white film noir released in the United States in 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick, using the...
, which was produced by Wallis own company. However, Rossen turned down Wallis's next two films. Both Wallis as producer and Rossen as writer-director wanted to operate as independents, rather than under the control of a studio.
All the King's Men
All the King's Men
All the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
was one of the last of the social "message" films, as they were eclipsed as America turned conservative. Thomas Schatz' regarded All the King's Men as possibly the best of the genre, as it examined alcoholism, adultery, political corruption and the influence of journalism. In 2001 the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
preserved the film as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Rossen produced, directed and co-wrote The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
in 1961. At the time Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
praised the cast, complained about the "sordid aspects" of the story and felt the film was far too long. The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
praised the cast and Rossen's "sure, economical" direction, but thought the script "strains hard to give an air of menace and criminality." The film won two Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
and was nominated for another seven, was nominated in four of the Golden Globes' categories, and gained many other awards and nominations. In 1997 the National Film Registry preserved The Hustler as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2002 Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
described the film as one "where scenes have such psychic weight that they grow in our memories" and praised Rossen's decision to develop all four main characters, and James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
listed the film in his All Time Top 100 for similar reasons. Ebert also praised Rossen's decision to shoot the film in the "stygian gloom of the billiard parlor" created by black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
. Other accolades appeared in the 2000s.
In 1966 Stephen Farber used "Gothic
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
" to described Lilith and a few other American films of the early 1960s based on psychological horror, and regarded Liliths female protagonist as a demonic temptress. Nina Leibman regarded Lilith as the most extreme of the American film industry's applications, or rather misapplications, of psychoanalytic concepts, as the patient is already psychotic and has a track record of previous conquests. In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film is a reference book written by film critic David Thomson and originally published by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd in 1975 under the title "Biographical Dictionary of Cinema." Organized by personality, it's an exhaustive inventory of those involved in...
David Thomson
David Thomson (film critic)
David Thomson is a film critic and historian based in the United States and the author of more than 20 books, including The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.-Career:...
describes Lilith as "an oddity, the only one of [Rossen's] films that seems passionate, mysterious and truly personal. The other films will look increasingly dated and self-contained, but Lilith may grow."
Works
| Release | Title | Type | Production company | Writer | Director | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Steel | Play | – | – | Y | – |
| 1932 | The Tree | Play | – | – | Y | – |
| 1933 | Birthright | Play | – | – | Y | – |
| 1935 | The Body Beautiful | Play | – | Y | Y | – |
Marked Woman
Marked Woman is a crime melodrama film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins...
|| Film || Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
|| Y co-wrote || n || n
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| 1937 – October || They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
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| 1938 || Racket Busters || Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
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| 1939 – September || Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny
Dust Be My Destiny is a drama film released in 1939. John Garfield stars as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.-Plot:...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
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| 1939 – October || The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
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| 1940 || A Child Is Born
A Child Is Born
A Child is Born is a poetic Christmas drama in one act by Stephen Vincent Benet. First presented on radio on December 21, 1942 as part of the anthology program Cavalcade of America, , the production starred the famous husband-and-wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1941 – March || The Sea Wolf
The Sea Wolf (1941 film)
The Sea Wolf is a 1941 black-and-white film adaptation of Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield. The film was written by Robert Rossen and directed by Michael Curtiz....
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
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| 1941 – June || Out of the Fog
Out of the Fog (film)
Out of the Fog is a 1941 film noir directed by Anatole Litvak, starring John Garfield, Ida Lupino and Thomas Mitchell. A gangster falls in love with the daughter of one of the fisherman from whom he extorts "protection" money...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y || n || n
|-
| 1941 – Nov || Blues in the Night
Blues in the Night (1941 film)
Blues in the Night is a 1941 American musical drama film released by Warner Brothers, directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Priscilla Lane, Richard Whorf, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan, Elia Kazan, and Jack Carson...
|| Film || Warner Bros. || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1945 – December || A Walk in the Sun || Film || Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
Productions || Y || n || n
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| 1946 – July || The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a black-and-white film noir released in the United States in 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick, using the...
|| Film || Hal Wallis Productions || Y || n || n
|-
| 1947 – March|| Johnny O'Clock
Johnny O'Clock
Johnny O'Clock is an American crime film noir written and directed by Robert Rossen, based on a story by Milton Holmes. The drama features Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, and Lee J. Cobb.-Plot:...
|| Film || J. E. M. Productions || Y || Y || n
|-
| 1947 – August|| Desert Fury
Desert Fury
Desert Fury is a 1947 Paramount Pictures color film noir drama film starring Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak and Burt Lancaster, with Mary Astor and Wendell Corey....
|| Film || Hal Wallis Productions || Y || n || n
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| 1947 – November|| Body and Soul
Body and Soul (1947 film)
Body and Soul is a 1947 film noir which tells the story of a boxer who becomes involved with crooked promoters. It stars John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere and William Conrad....
|| Film || Enterprise Studios || n || Y || n
|-
| 1949 – April || The Undercover Man
The Undercover Man
The Undercover Man is a crime drama film noir starring Glenn Ford. This one of a number of noirs directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. The drama features Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, among others.-Plot:Frank Warren is a treasury agent assigned to...
|| Film || Robert Rossen || n || n || Y
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| 1949 – November|| All the King's Men
All the King's Men (1949 film)
All the King's Men is a 1949 drama film based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Rossen and starred Broderick Crawford in the role of Willie Stark.-Plot:...
|| Film || Columbia Pictures Corporation || Y || Y || Y
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| 1951 || The Brave Bulls || Film || Rossen Enterprises || n || Y || Y
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| 1954 || Mambo
Mambo (film)
Mambo is a film written and directed in 1952 to 1953 Robert Rossen and released in 1955. A mambo craze spread through the USA in the 1950s, and Rossen aimed to repairing his finances after almost two years without work since his 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee hearing.He later said,...
|| Film || Produzione Ponti-De Laurentiis || Y || Y || n
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| 1956 || Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great (1956 film)
Alexander the Great is a 1956 America sword and sandal epic film written, directed and produced by Robert Rossen with Gordon S. Griffith as executive producer...
|| Film || Rossen Films, S.A. C.B. Films || Y || Y || Y
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| 1957 || Island in the Sun
Island in the Sun (film)
Island in the Sun is a 1957 film that stars an ensemble cast including James Mason, Joan Fontaine, Dorothy Dandridge, Joan Collins, Michael Rennie and Harry Belafonte. The cast includes also Diana Wynyard, Patricia Owens and Stephen Boyd. The film is about race relations and interracial romance...
|| Film || Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
Productions || n || Y || n
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| 1959 || They Came to Cordura
They Came To Cordura
They Came To Cordura is a 1959 Western film co-written and directed by Robert Rossen, starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, and featuring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, Michael Callan, and Dick York. It was based on a 1958 novel by Glendon Swarthout.-Plot:Tom Thorn is a U.S...
|| Film || Goetz Pictures, Inc.; Baroda Productions, Inc. || Y || Y || n
|-
| 1960 || The Cool World || Play || – || Y co-wrote || n || n
|-
| 1961 || The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
|| Film || Rossen Enterprises Company || Y co-wrote with Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll
Sidney Carroll was a film and television screenwriter. Although Carroll wrote most frequently for television, he is perhaps best remembered today for writing the screenplay for The Hustler for which he was nominated for an Academy Award...
|| Y || Y
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| 1964 || Lilith
Lilith (film)
Lilith is a film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J. R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter and Gene Hackman...
|| Film || Centaur Enterprises || Y || Y || Y
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|}
External links
- Robert Rossen at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....