J. Edward Bromberg

As a member of the politically minded Group Theater in the '30s, J. Edward Bromberg worked with some of the biggest future names of stage and screen, including Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Elia Kazan, and John Garfield. But it was at his own memorial several decades later, oddly, that Bromberg achieved the height of his fame, in a eulogy delivered by friend and actress Lee Grant. In 1950, Bromberg was blacklisted after being called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Though he refused to testify, he was separately named as a Communist by director Edward Dmytryk. The experience took an immediate toll on the actor, who died a year later. At that time, Grant delivered a moving eulogy, putting her own career in jeopardy; she went from the top of her profession to a decade of experiencing the blacklist herself. As a character actor, Bromberg slipped effortlessly into various B movie roles. But as a blacklisted actor and fondly remembered pioneer of the acting craft, he reached far greater, immortal heights.