John Randolph Papers Bulk, 1940-1999 1918-1999, (Bulk 1940-1999)

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John Randolph Papers Bulk, 1940-1999 1918-1999, (Bulk 1940-1999)

http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/wag_255/wag_255.html

Born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in the Bronx, New York on June 1, 1915, Randolph was renamed Mortimer Lippman at the age of 12 when his mother remarried, and finally emerged as the actor, John Randolph. He began his acting career in the 1930s with the Federal Theatre Project. His first Broadway role came courtesy of the Project when he appeared in in 1938. His final Broadway appearance was as a replacement for the lead in in 1991. He won the prestigious Tony Award for his performance in Neil Simon’s . In January 1942, while on the road with a production of starring Canada Lee, John married actress Sarah Cunningham of Greenville, South Carolina, Shortly thereafter he was drafted into the Army Air Corps where he served for the next four years. Television found Randolph in 1948 and lost him in 1951 when he was blacklisted. During the blacklist period he continued to work in theatre and developed new performance opportunities with his fellow blacklistees’ actress Phoebe Brand, educator Frederic Ewen, and his wife, Sarah. In August of 1955 John and Sarah both appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) where they both invoked the Fifth Amendment. Randolph’s television career began to revive slowly in the early 1960s. His film career got off to a strong start in 1966, when he played a banker who undergoes surgery and awakens as Rock Hudson in John Frankenheimer’s . He made his final film appearance in 2003. A champion of civil rights, a fighter for more opportunities for performers of color, a lifelong supporter of progressive causes, John Randolph, actor and activist, was silenced by death in Los Angeles, California on February 24, 2004. The collection consists of Randolph’s personal and professional files, reflecting his passions for acting, activism, social justice and his intense relationship with his wife, Sarah Cunningham. The materials range from their correspondence during World War II, to opening night telegrams for various Broadway productions, to performance pieces used during the blacklist period and Randolph’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) file. Coriolanus Prelude to a Kiss Broadway Bound Native Son Seconds

9.0 linear feet; (9 boxes)

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6331950

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

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