Career is a
1959The year 1959 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters.*September 18 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries his second wife, Barbara Blakely....
film drama about actor Sam Lawson (Tony Franciosa) bent on breaking into the big time at any cost, braving
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
and even the more recent
blacklistA blacklist is a list or register of persons who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
, something that writer
Dalton TrumboDalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry.- Career :Trumbo...
knew all too well from being blacklisted himself.
The supporting cast includes
Dean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor and comedian. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That A Kick In The...
as actor-director Maurice "Maury" Novak, who works with Lawson at an early grassroots theatrical group later targeted as "subversive" for its liberal views. Novak left the theater to become a well known Hollywood director brought down by the blacklist himself.
Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
played Sharon Kensington, the alcoholic daughter of a powerful
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
producer Robert Kensington, played by
Robert MiddletonRobert Middleton, born Samuel G. Messer , was an American film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. Middleton, with a deep, booming voice, trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech. He worked steadily as a radio announcer...
.
Lawson continually tries to establish himself as an actor, suffering the slings and arrows of rejection despite his dedication and passion for the theater. It costs him his first wife, played by
Joan BlackmanJoan Blackman is an American actress.Blackman made her television acting debut as a guest performer in a 1957 series, Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, and then appeared in her first motion picture, Good Day for a Hanging, in 1959. She had a significant role in two Elvis Presley films...
. Lawson's long-suffering agent Shirley Drake (
Carolyn JonesCarolyn Sue Jones was an American actress.Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses...
) attempts to get him work and he slowly begins to rise, even managing to land work in a Kensington production. Just as he's about to land a major role in a TV series, his loyalty is researched and the ties to his allegedly "subversive" theater work with Novak are revealed. As Novak has been wrongly brought down, the now blacklisted Lawson, reflecting the realities of real-life blacklisted actors, is forced to take work as a waiter. In one sense this was among Hollywood's first direct documentations of the blacklist in a dramatic film.
Novak, himself on the skids, returns, vowing to start from the beginning, with a new off-Broadway theater and offers Lawson a chance to work together again. After agonizing, Lawson accepts the offer, and with the blacklist past, the new play becomes successful and heads to Broadway. With Lawson finally emerging as a major actor, Drake, who's fallen in love with Lawson, asks him in the final scene, thinking of his struggles and humiliation, if it was "worth it."
"Yes," says Lawson. "It was worth it."
The movie was written by
Bert GranetBert Granet was a writer and television producer. He worked with Desilu Productions and was instrumental in getting Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone on the air in the late 1950s when he produced his successful pilot pitch The Time Element. Granet served as the show's producer during its fourth and...
, James Lee, Philip Stong, and
Dalton TrumboDalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry.- Career :Trumbo...
, and directed by
Joseph AnthonyJoseph Anthony was an American playwright, actor, and director. He made his film acting debut in the 1934 film Hat, Coat, and Glove and his theatrical acting debut in a 1935 production of Mary of Scotland...
.
Cast
- Tony Franciosa ... Sam Lawson
- Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor and comedian. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That A Kick In The...
... Maurice 'Maury' Novak
- Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
... Sharon Kensington
- Carolyn Jones
Carolyn Sue Jones was an American actress.Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses...
... Shirley Drake
- Joan Blackman
Joan Blackman is an American actress.Blackman made her television acting debut as a guest performer in a 1957 series, Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, and then appeared in her first motion picture, Good Day for a Hanging, in 1959. She had a significant role in two Elvis Presley films...
... Barbara Lawson Helmsley
- Robert Middleton
Robert Middleton, born Samuel G. Messer , was an American film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. Middleton, with a deep, booming voice, trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech. He worked steadily as a radio announcer...
... Robert Kensington
- Donna Douglas
Donna Douglas is a Louisiana-born American character actress and real estate agent. The naturally blonde Douglas is best-known for her role as Elly May Clampett, daughter of Jed Clampett , in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies, which made her one of the most popular...
... Marjorie Burke
- Jerry Paris
Jerry Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show...
... Allan Burke
- Frank McHugh
Frank McHugh was an American film and television actor.McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage...
... Charlie
- Chuck Wassil ... Eric Peters
- Mary Treen ... Marie, secretary to Shirley Drake
- Alan Hewitt ... Matt Helmsley
- Marjorie Bennett ... Columnist
Awards
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards:
- Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Hal PereiraHal Pereira was an American art director and production designer....
, Walter H. TylerWalter H. Tyler was an American art director. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for eight more in the category Best Art Direction.He was born in Los Angeles, California and died in Orange County, California....
, Samuel M. ComerSam Comer was a set decorator who worked on almost 300 films during a career spanning four decades. He won four Academy Awards and was nominated for another 22 in the category Best Art Direction...
, Arthur KramsArthur Krams was an American set designer. He first made a name for himself working for MGM on films such as Holiday in Mexico, Easter Parade and The Student Prince in the mid 40s. Later, he went on to work with Paramount Pictures. While there, he shared an Oscar for The Rose Tattoo...
).
- Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture....
(Joseph LaShelle)
- Best Costume Design (Edith Head
Edith Head was an American costume designer who had a long career in Hollywood that garnered eight Academy Awards—more than any other woman in history.-Early life and career:...
)