Sex was something he was good at, and it reassured him that he had talent. He may not have seen his one-night stand as being unfaithful to Robbe, for the two hadn't officially consummated their affair. (His wife Robbe recalled having been provided with one of the Margaret Sanger diaphragms when they made love for the first time.) He was just past 19 years old, and as with acting, Garfield was a quick study when it came to the opposite sex.Īnd also as with acting, he got hooked. It may have been his first time, but he was smart enough to use a contraceptive. One of them finally succeeded, pulling him into a spare bedroom during a cast party. While playing the role of Henry Suskind in 'Counsellor-at-Law' in Chicago, Garfield found out that the local chorus girls and bit players were competing to see who could get him into bed first. He rose to prominence in 1935 based on his work in two Clifford Odets plays, 'Waiting for Lefty' and 'Awake and Sing!', both directed for the Group Theatre by Harold Clurman. He became a member of the Group Theatre in 1934 and is legendary for his stage portrayals. He then appeared in 1932's 'Counsellor-at-Law' in Chicago. Garfield got a part in the Broadway production of 'Lost Boy' (1932), and was first credited as Jules Garfield. Gene Kelly with John Garfield (two of most notorious Hollywood's ladies men) John Garfield's interpretation of the same sort of anti-heroes could break through sans expressionistic lighting and sound and was cloaked in a sexual energy that neither Robinson nor Muni had. Robinson and Paul Muni had played the first tier of such characters on screen (and have been rightly heralded as two of the greatest American actors of all time) His natural style brought the internal rhythms and emotions of a character to the fore. Garfield was more than just an actor who played defiant rebels from the wrong side of the tracks. John Garfield is said to have been the first student of 'The Method' to succeed in Hollywood, and in so doing changed the face not just of American acting, but the standard of film acting as well.

He Ran All the Way by Robert Nott