19 Facts About Cedric Belfrage

Cedric Henning Belfrage was an English film critic, journalist, writer and political activist.

Cedric Belfrage is best remembered as a co-founder of the radical US weekly National Guardian.

Later Belfrage was referenced as a Soviet agent in the US intelligence Venona project, although it appears he had been working for British Security Co-ordination as a double agent.

Cedric Henning Belfrage was born in Marylebone, London, on 8 November 1904, the son of Sydney Henning Belfrage and Frances Grace.

Cedric Belfrage was educated at Gresham's School, before entering Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Cedric Belfrage returned to London in 1930 as Sam Goldwyn's press agent.

Cedric Belfrage decided to make the United States his home and took out first papers for citizenship in 1937, although he failed to complete the process within the statutory seven-year time limit.

Cedric Belfrage joined the Communist Party USA in 1937, but withdrew his membership a few months later.

Cedric Belfrage was discharged from the Army and returned to the United States and nothing immediately came of the pair's plans.

In 1948, Belfrage co-founded, together with James Aronson and John T McManus, a radical weekly newspaper called the National Guardian.

At the height of McCarthyism, Cedric Belfrage was summoned in 1953 to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Cedric Belfrage returned to the US for the first time in 1973, touring around the country with to promote his new book, The American Inquisition.

Cedric Belfrage later debuted as a Spanish-English translator, notably for the Latin American author Eduardo Galeano.

Cedric Belfrage was commissioned by Monthly Review Press to translate Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America.

The 1948 Gorsky Memo, found in Soviet Archives, identifies Cedric Belfrage as having a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence as a member of the "Sound" and "Myrna" groups.

Cedric Belfrage had a child, Anne Hertz, with partner Anne-Marie Hertz.

Cedric Belfrage's uncle was Bryan Powley, the actor who began his career in the era of Silent film.

Cedric Belfrage died on 21 June 1990 in Mexico, aged 85.

On 17 September 2015 a BBC Radio Four documentary "The Hollywood Spy" examined Christopher Andrew's allegations, but put forward information by historian John Simkin that Cedric Belfrage was working for British Security Co-ordination as a double-agent, which would explain why he handed information to the Soviets.