An Austrian national. She died in
1951 at age 59. She moved to the United States in 1933 and began her film
career in Hollywood. She appeared in Dalton Trumbo’s Tender Comrades in 1943.
She started her US film career in 1934 and ended it in 1949. During that time,
she made a total of 12 films, three television appearances, and 13 stage roles.
The claim that she was fired by the networks and blacklisted by the studios is
simply that, a claim but a claim without evidence.
Christians was 51 years old when she finished
her last film, ancient by Hollywood
standards, especially for women, to say nothing of her broad German accent.
Hollywood casting directors simply like Christians. When “Watch on the Rhine”
was remade, Betty Davis was chosen for the role Christians had once had. The
casting director was quoted as saying that Christians reading for the role was
uninspired. The same thing happened when Hollywood filmed “I Remember Mama” the
role Christians had made famous on state went to Irene Dunn who was better box
office.
Christians had been a supporter
of the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born, a communist
front, which landed her on the pages of Red Channels. Also, the FBI learned
through an informant that Christians, at the height of the cold war, was a
secret but active member of the Communist Party. The FBI’s surveillance on
Christians, which began in 1950, a year before her death, was limited to collecting newspaper clipping
and occasional phone recording, both of which Christian would have been unaware
of. The constant claim that the bureau “hounded her” isn’t true as her FBI
record indicates. Her FBI file is open to the public.
Several writers on the left have
made the preposterous claim that the stress caused by being investigated as a
Communist contributed to the cerebral hemorrhage that killed her. She had been
ill for two weeks prior to her death and had left the touring company of The
Black Chiffon due to poor health. According to the show’s producer, Gabe Rubin,
she had suffered a heart attack while in New York.
It was the very far left
publication, The Daily Compass, that started the story, as a matter of opinion,
that blacklisting killed Christians. (The Compass said that blacklisting also
killed actor John Garfield, Edward
Bromberg and Canada Lee. John Garfield, born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, died of
heart attack after playing several strenuous sets of tennis against his
doctor’s orders. Garfield had a long history f heart problems that kept secret
from the studios and the public. On the day he died, when he started to feel
chest pains, he refused to allow his family or friends to phone a doctor.
Canada Lee had uremia and died of kidney disease while in a coma. Edward
Bromberg died of a heart attack at age 48. He had been suffering from heart
disease well before he refused to testify before the HUAC)
Screen Credits
1951
The Black Chiffon (Stage play)
I Remember Mama (Stage play)
1950
The Clock (TV Series)
1949
The Ford Theatre Hour (TV Series)
Repertory Theatre (TV Series)
1948
All My Sons
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1944
Address Unknown
1943
Tender Comrade
1937
Seventh Heaven
The Woman I Love
Heidi
1936
Come and Get It
1935
Escapade
Ship Cafe
1934
A Wicked Woman
Just because someone’s name
appeared in Red Channels, that doesn’t mean they were blacklisted. It just
means there name appeared in Red Channels.
Just because a person said they
were blacklisted doesn’t mean they were. Many people in Hollywood have lied
about being blacklisted over the years.
If a person was actually blacklisted…and not
many were actually blacklisted….it was the studios and TV sponsors who
blacklisted them. Not the United States federal government.
If a person claims the blacklist
ruined their career, they should be able to prove they had a career before the
blacklist.