J. Edward Bromberg

Joseph Edward Bromberg (born Josef Bromberger, December 25, 1903 – December 6, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American character actor in motion picture and stage productions dating mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. Knowledge of his past as a member of the Communist Party led to a defiant appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, shortly before his death. Bromberg is considered a victim of red-baiting and a casualty of the Hollywood Blacklist. He is best known, historically, as being one of the "names" named by director Elia Kazan in the director's second appearance before HUAC. Early years Born to a Jewish family in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Timișoara, Romania), Bromberg was 11 months old when his parents, Herman and Josephine Roth Bromberg, emigrated to the United States with him in the second cabin class on the S/S Graf Waldersee, which sailed from Cuxhaven, Germany, 18 March 1905 and arrived at the Port of New York, 31 March. They settled in New York City. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School, he attended City College of New York for two years and then went to work to help pay for acting lessons with the Russian coach Leo Bulgakov, who had trained with Konstantin Stanislavski. Career