Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman was an influential American screenwriter born in Chicago, known for his significant contributions to film during the mid-20th century. After an early interest in show business, he moved to Hollywood in 1938, where he began his career amidst the challenges of the Great Depression. Foreman gained attention for his work on films such as "Champion" and "High Noon," the latter earning him critical acclaim, including a Writers Guild Award and an Academy Award nomination. His career was notably interrupted when he was blacklisted by Hollywood in 1951 after being labeled an "unfriendly witness" by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
In response, Foreman relocated to England, where he became a prominent figure in the British film industry, even serving as the first American head of the British Film Institute and receiving honors from Queen Elizabeth II. Despite challenges, he continued to write, co-penning the Oscar-winning screenplay for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," though he and his collaborator were not credited. Foreman's later years saw him return to the United States, where he remained active in the film industry until his passing in 1984, leaving behind a lasting legacy in cinema history.
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Carl Foreman
Author
- Born: July 23, 1914
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: June 26, 1984
- Place of death: Beverly Hills, California
Biography
Screenwriter Carl Foreman was born and raised in Chicago, the son of Isidore and Fanny Rozin Foreman. Following high school, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1932 through 1933. After a year as a newspaper reporter, he enrolled in Northwestern University, attending from 1936 until 1937 before entering the John Marshall Law School. Enamored by show business, he dropped out of law school to pursue a writing career, working intermittently as a writer of radio scripts, directing plays, and contributing fiction to magazines.
Working during the depths of the Great Depression, Foreman, in 1938, relocated to Hollywood, where he worked as a story analyst and a film laboratory technician. He studied screenwriting after being awarded a scholarship by the League of American Film Writers’ School, where screenwriters Robert Rossen and Dore Schary were among his instructors.
Foreman’s career falls into three distinct periods. The first was before he was blacklisted by Hollywood after being tagged an “unfriendly witness” by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1951. The second came after he moved to England, where he lived from 1952 until 1972. The third period began when he returned to the United States in 1972.
During the first period, he performed more than three years of military service during World War II, working with directors Frank Capra and Stanley Kramer to make films for the Army Signal Corps. Following his military service, Foreman wrote the story for Dakota, the film that launched actorJohn Wayne’s career. In 1946, Foreman joined with Kramer and George Glass to found a film company. Foreman also wrote the screenplay for Champion, a film that marked a turning point in Kirk Douglas’s acting career and that brought Foreman nominations for his first Academy and Writers Guild Awards. Foreman’s greatest triumph in this first period was his screenplay for High Noon, which won him a Writers Guild Award as Best Screen Play and another nomination for an Academy Award.
During his twenty years in England, Foreman became the first American to head the British Film Institute and was also made a commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1957, he collaborated with another blacklisted American screen writer, Michael Wilson, on the screenplay for The Bridge on the River Kwai, but they were not credited. Therefore, when the film won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture, the recipient was listed as Pierre Bouelle, the French author who wrote the novel on which the screenplay is based.
Winston Churchill admired Foreman’s The Guns of Navarone and approached him about writing a screenplay based on Churchill’s early life. This film, Young Winston, was the last script Foreman produced during his residence in England. In 1972, he returned to the United States and became involved in many organizations associated with the film industry. He also produced some plays for television, including The Golden Gate. He wrote two screenplays, Force Ten from Navarone, a sequel to The Guns of Navarone, and When Time Ran Out, before he died in 1984.