John
Randolph (Emanuel Hirsch Cohen) started in theater in the 1930s in the Federal
Theatre Project. In the mid-1930s he spent his summers at the Pine Brook
Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut which was the summer home of the Group
Theatre. He made his Broadway debut in 1938. He was on active duty from 1941
through 1945.
“How
could you not become radicalized during the Depression?” he asked. “You’d have
to be an idiot not to be radical with 17 million unemployed. Also, I went to a
wonderful college, City College of New York, and the ferment there was
extraordinary.
“It
opened up a communist point of view, Socialism, Marxism, Henry George, all
that. There’s nothing wrong with absorbing new ideas and testing them.”
Randolph
and his wife were active in AFTRA, SAG and in Actor's Equity, were elected
members of union boards and became vice presidents at various times during
their careers.
Although
he didn’t appear before the HAC until 1955, he claimed to have been blacklisted
from working in Hollywood films and in New York film and television and radio
after 1948, however the record shows otherwise. He later changed the date of
his alleged blacklisting to 1952 which better jibes with the record.
When
Randolph appeared before the HUAC, with his wife, they refused to answer
questions and cited the Fifth Amendment protection against testifying against
themselves.
Randolph
balked at answering any questions about possible Commie membership during his
four years in the Air Force or when he was a member of the American Federation
of Television and Radio Artists. He also refused to say whether there was a
"Communist caucus" within AFTRA.
It
is difficult to see how he was blacklisted from a career he never had until
very late in life. He was a stage actor by choice. He worked on Broadway almost
non-stop, from 1950 through 1963.
The
Sound of Music (Nov 16, 1959 - Jun 15, 1963)
Triple
Play (Apr 15, 1959 - May 16, 1959)
The
Sound of Music (Off Broadway 1959)
The
Visit (May 05, 1958 - Nov 29, 1958)
Miss
Isobel (Dec 26, 1957 - Feb 08, 1958)
The
Wooden Dish (Oct 06, 1955 - Oct 15, 1955)
The
Time of Your Life (Jan 19, 1955 - Jan 30, 1955)
House
of Flowers (Dec 30, 1954 - May 21, 1955)
All
Summer Long (Sep 23, 1954 - Nov 13, 1954)
Madam,
Will You Walk (Dec 01, 1953 - Jan 10, 1954)
Room
Service (Apr 06, 1953 - Apr 18, 1953)
The
Grey-Eyed People (Dec 17, 1952 - Dec 20, 1952)
Seagulls
Over Sorrento (Sep 11, 1952 - Sep 20, 1952)
Paint
Your Wagon (Nov 12, 1951 - Jul 19, 1952)
Peer
Gynt (Jan 28, 1951 - Feb 24, 1951)
The
Golden State (Nov 25, 1950 - Dec 16, 1950)
Come
Back, Little Sheba (Feb 15, 1950 - Jul 29, 1950)
Previously
he worked on Broadway from 1938 until 1948 and continued to work in theater
until 1991.
What
little film work he did between 1948 and 1951 was mostly as an uncredited extra
on television and almost all of that happened in 1951 and 1948. He was in two
films only, in 1948, The Naked City where he played an uncredited Police dispatcher
and in 1951’s Fourteen Hours where he was uncredited.
1951
Danger (TV Series)
1951
The Web (TV Series)
1951
Repertory Theatre (TV Series, 3 different appearances)
1951
Treasury Men in Action (TV Series)
1951
Kraft Theatre (TV Series)
1949
Hands of Mystery (TV Series)
1948-1949
Actor's Studio (TV Series, 3 appearances in what were essentially filmed stage
plays)
1949 The Clock (TV Series, 2 appearances)