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Anne Revere was born in New York on 25th June, 1903. Determined to be an actress she moved to Hollywood where she appeared in a series of films including Double Door (1934), One Crowded Night (1940), The Devil Commands (1941), Meet the Stewarts (1942), Shantytown (1943), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Rainbow Island (1944), National Velvet (1944), Forever Amber (1947) and Gentleman's Agreement (1947).

In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named several people who they accused of holding left-wing views.

One of those named, Bertolt Brecht, an emigrant playwright, gave evidence and then left for East Germany. Ten others: Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie refused to answer any questions.

Known as the Hollywood Ten, they claimed that the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution gave them the right to do this. The House of Un-American Activities Committee and the courts during appeals disagreed and all were found guilty of contempt of congress and each was sentenced to between six and twelve months in prison.

Those named were also called before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Some refused to answer questions but others, such as Richard Collins, Budd Schulberg, Elia Kazan and Lee J. Cobb, named others who were fellow members of left-wing groups. If these people refused to testify and name names, they were added to a blacklist that had been drawn up by the Hollywood film studios.

Over 320 people were placed on this list that stopped them from working in Hollywood. This included Revere, who was treasurer of the Screen Actors Guild and she did not appear in a film again to Tell Me That You Love Me in 1970. Other films include Macho Callahan (1970) and Birch Interval (1977). Anne Revere died on 18th December, 1990.

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(1) Anne Revere, letter to her fellow Screen Actors Guild Board members in 1953.

You, the Board of the Screen Actors Guild, point with pride to your seven-year fight against the Communist conspiracy. What have you accomplished? You have sanctioned the blacklist of 23 of your fellow members because they chose to defy an unconstitutional investigation into their thoughts and beliefs. Have you given strength to the industry by depriving those artists of their art and bread? Or have you further incapacitated the industry and the art which you profess to nourish? For seven years you have purged the screen of 'dangerous ideas.' With what results? The obliteration of all ideas. And people. Behold an industry that once bestrode the envious pinnacle of world leadership, now so paralyzed with fear that the screen is now inhabited solely by three-dimensional spooks and men from Mars. But there is still hope. The invalid is sick but not dead. Unlock the dungeon doors. Give him fresh air and sunshine. Take off the straitjacket and let him move about with freedom. But above all, return his conscience which you have filched from him.

 

 

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