Robert Ryan

 Near the end of World War II, Robert Ryan met fellow Marine Richard Brooks in the library of Camp Pendleton. Brooks had just had his first novel, "The Brick Foxhole" published, and Ryan told him he was an actor who was determined to play the role of the villain if a movie version were ever made. Ryan insisted, "I know that son of a b!tch. No one knows him better than I do." Two years later, outside the theater where "Crossfire" (1947) had just previewed, actor Ryan--who had indeed played the role of Montgomery which he had once sought--was able to ask writer Brooks, 'What do you think?'"

Brooks wrote his novel while he was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps making training films. In the novel, the victim was a homosexual. As told in the film "The Celluloid Closet" (1996), and in the documentary included on the DVD edition of the "Crossfire" film, the Hollywood Hays Code prohibited any mention of homosexuality because it was seen as a sexual perversion. Hence, the book's theme of homophobia was changed to one about racism and anti-Semitism.

The picture received five Oscar nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress. It was the first B movie to receive a Best Picture nomination. It has been suggested that one reason the film failed to win any Oscars was director Edward Dmytryk and producer Adrian Scott's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in late 1947. They refused to state whether they were, or had been, Communists. Dmytryk--a Canadian who had become an American citizen only a decade earlier--and Scott became the first two "members" of the infamous "Hollywood Ten". The Hollywood Ten was a group of producers, writers, and directors who, in April 1948, were tried and convicted of contempt of Congress. They were subsequently blacklisted and, thus, unable to work in Hollywood.

Happy Birthday, Robert Ryan!