One of the most gifted actors of the 1930s and 1940s, John Garfield is too little remembered today. His gritty, true-to-life performances in 35 films, including Body and Soul, which was one of the first movies to raise the ugly specter of race relations in the United States, and in 16 Broadway productions were all highly acclaimed. Garfield is best recalled, by some, for having been targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for his liberal political beliefs. Garfield was one of many Hollywood stars blacklisted by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cronies. "Acting is my life," he said in a speech in 1939. Deprived of that opportunity, he died in 1952. This generously illustrated work examines the actor's personal and professional life, recounting a bygone era of Hollywood and American history.

"I believe the more successful an actor becomes, the more chances he should take. An actor never stops learning." John Garfield Before there was Brando and James Dean, there was John Garfield. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, young Jacob Julius Garfinkle's talent and charisma carried him from membership in some of the Bronx's toughest street gangs to the boards of the prestigious American Laboratory Theater. As mercurial as he was talented, Garfield chafed at what he deemed "unfair" casting choices in New York and headed west to Hollywood, scoring an Academy Award nomination for his very first film role. Strong-willed, and with a gambler's bravado, Garfield was one of the first Hollywood stars to buck the studio system and start his own independent production company before being caught up in the career-jeopardizing web of McCarthyism.Author Larry Swindell tells the tortured tale of this cult movie icon, whose incredible talent and turbulent lifestyle made his tragically short life so compelling decades after his death.

Biography of John Garfield.

But soon, seduced by the myth of Hollywood and the reality of Warner Brothers, he made his movie debut, in 1938, in Four Daughters and immediately established himself as an earthy, rebellious and electrifying presence on the screen - in retrospect, the James Dean of the Depression era.

It’s Garfield—as you’ve never seen him! Come savor the existential adventures of Jon Arbuckle in Garfield Minus Garfield. Based on the phenomenon ignited by Dan Walsh’s hilarious and wildly popular webcomic (beloved by The New York Times and The Washington Post, and hailed as “inspired” by Garfield creator Jim Davis), Garfield Minus Garfield takes everyone’s favorite fat cat out of the picture, leaving us with only the lonely ennui of Jon as he’s left to voice thoughts about his own existence into an empty void. Featuring a foreword by Dan Walsh

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt. "Crisp, concise and revealing history.... A fresh narrative that plumbs some of the most dramatic days in U.S. presidential history." —The Washington Post James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history. Look for Candice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods.