17 Facts About Morris Carnovsky

Morris Carnovsky was an American stage and film actor.

Morris Carnovsky was one of the founders of the Group Theatre in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films until, in the early 1950s, professional colleagues told the House Un-American Activities Committee that Carnovsky had been a Communist Party member.

Morris Carnovsky was blacklisted and worked less frequently for a few years, but then re-established his acting career, taking on many Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and performing the title roles in college campus productions of King Lear and The Merchant of Venice.

In 1922, Morris Carnovsky began his long career on Broadway with his New York stage debut as Reb Aaron in The God of Vengeance.

Two years later, Morris Carnovsky joined the Theatre Guild acting company and appeared in the title role of Uncle Vanya.

Morris Carnovsky summered at Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut, with the Group Theatre in 1936, as he worked with the Group during all their summer rehearsal periods, most of which were spent in the Catskills and upstate New York.

Morris Carnovsky appeared in almost every major Group Theatre production, often playing parts that had been written specifically for him by his good friend, the actor and playwright Clifford Odets.

Morris Carnovsky appeared in the anti-war musical Johnny Johnson, Sidney Kingsley's Men in White, the Elia Kazan-directed Thunder Rock, My Sister Eileen, and Cafe Crown.

Morris Carnovsky continued his stage work by joining the Actors' Lab, an acting troupe much like the Group, serving as its first director.

Morris Carnovsky portrayed George Gershwin's father in Rhapsody in Blue in 1945, and in Dead Reckoning, he starred as the villainous nightclub owner Martinelli with Humphrey Bogart.

Morris Carnovsky was at one time a member of the American Communist Party.

When Morris Carnovsky was called before the HUAC he refused to "name names", which ended his film career.

Again on Broadway, Morris Carnovsky appeared in 1957 in Noel Coward's Nude with Violin.

Morris Carnovsky appeared in a few more pictures: In 1962, he went to Paris to appear in Sidney Lumet's A View from the Bridge, an adaptation of Arthur Miller's play of the same name.

Morris Carnovsky played Creon in a TV play of Medea, and in 1974 appeared in The Gambler, playing James Caan's grandfather.

Morris Carnovsky was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979.

Morris Carnovsky died at his home in Easton, Connecticut, on September 1,1992, four days before his 95th birthday, from natural causes.