Carl Foreman

Born in Chicago in 1914, Carl Foreman was a Jewish writer and producer of multiple award-winning films including High Noon, a classic western depicting the alienation caused by the HUAC investigations into Hollywood.

While Foreman went on to be successful as a screenwriter, his first attempt at making a name for himself in Hollywood resulted in failure. Foreman was forced to admit defeat and leave Hollywood, working as a grocery store clerk and even attending law school before finally returning to Hollywood in 1938. It was during this time that Foreman joined the Communist Party, something that would come back to bite him. While Foreman did find a small amount of success on his second return to Hollywood, it would be interrupted by World War II. During the war Foreman served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps making orientation and training films under director Frank Capra, and Foreman credits this with how he began to truly learn “the craft” for the first time.

After the war Foreman returned to Hollywood once again, finding his first major success with the film Champion that won him an academy award nomination. Foreman saw two other successes in Home of the Brave, and The Men, but soon after his career was interrupted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. While working on High Noon, Foreman was summoned to testify before HUAC. He admitted that he had once been a member of the Communist Party, but since he refused to give names he was blacklisted and labeled ‘uncooperative’. High Noon went on to be a success, and is largely seen as representative of McCarthyism and the red scare, but Foreman was not credited as a producer, only a screenwriter.

Despite the success of High Noon, Foreman remained blacklisted to the point where he had to flee the United States and immigrate to England, which involved him having to sue the government to get a passport. Foreman did continue to work during his time abroad but took little pleasure in it, and was quoted explaining that he felt if he had not been blacklisted he would have gone on to be a director. His career was essentially ruined because of HUAC, and while he did return to the United States in 1975 his career was never the same. He died in 1984.