27 Facts About Abraham Polonsky

Abraham Lincoln Polonsky was an American film director, screenwriter, essayist and novelist.

Abraham Polonsky was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Body and Soul.

Abraham Polonsky was born in New York City, the eldest son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Henry and Rebecca.

Abraham Polonsky had paid his way by teaching night classes at CCNY in English literature and writing.

Abraham Polonsky wrote essays, radio scripts, novels and an occasional play.

Meanwhile, the US had entered World War II, and Abraham Polonsky wanted to enlist.

Abraham Polonsky served in Europe with the OSS from 1943 to 1945, mainly working as a liaison with the French Resistance, and sometimes operating behind enemy lines.

Abraham Polonsky wrote and directed radio programs on clandestine OSS stations.

Abraham Polonsky helped launch the academic film journal Hollywood Quarterly, and contributed several essays.

Abraham Polonsky was loaned out by Paramount to Enterprise Studios to write a boxing story for John Garfield.

Later that month, on April 25,1951, Abraham Polonsky was summoned before the Committee.

Abraham Polonsky refused to answer questions, instead invoking the Fifth Amendment's shield against self-incrimination.

Abraham Polonsky refused to answer whether his wife Sylvia had been a CPUSA member.

Only once during his testimony did Abraham Polonsky offer a response.

Abraham Polonsky was asked for the names of the men he worked with in the OSS.

Abraham Polonsky was not given public credit for the screenplay until 1997, when the Writers Guild of America West officially restored his name to the film under the WGA screenwriting credit system.

Abraham Polonsky published five novels over the course of 40 years.

Abraham Polonsky was the creator, script supervisor and writer of the pilot episode of the Canadian television series Seaway.

In 1968, Abraham Polonsky was the screenwriter for Madigan, a neo-noir film where he used his own name in the credits.

Abraham Polonsky transformed it into an allegory about racism, genocide, and persecution.

Abraham Polonsky survived the procedure but was advised by his cardiologist that he could no longer handle the pressure and workload of film directing, and so from then on he confined himself to writing and teaching.

Abraham Polonsky publicly objected when director Irwin Winkler rewrote his script for Guilty by Suspicion, a film about the Hollywood blacklist era.

At that point, Abraham Polonsky was so offended by the script changes, he had his name removed from the credits.

Until his death, Abraham Polonsky was a virulent opponent of director Elia Kazan who had "named names" of his Communist associates to the HUAC.

In 1999, Abraham Polonsky was furious when he learned that Kazan would receive an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 1998, Abraham Polonsky was a co-winner of the Career Achievement Award presented by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Abraham Polonsky died on October 26,1999, in Beverly Hills, California.