Bob Roberts(1907-1995)
- Producer
One of 6 children of a Jewish immigrant family they moved to Los
Angeles in 1915. Growing up in LA, he dropped out of school and sold
newspapers on the street then ladies shoes, then life insurance. He
soon became the U.S. top salesman for Oxidental Insurance and as such
was brought into contact and became friends with several top screen
writers, Hollywood film producers and actors. Though these friendships
he developed a lifelong affinity for the film industry and resolved to
become a film producer himself.
He started in the thirties as one of the small backers of Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing". Then, in the early forties he created his first production company, Xanadu, consisting of some of Hollywood's best known screenwriters including Dalton Trumbo, Hugo Butler, Ian Hunter, Paul Trivers. Throughout his career as a producer of film noir classics, he stuck to his belief in the screenplay as the blue-print for success.
In the late forties when movie stars and most production was under the control of the major studios he founded one of the first independent production companies, Roberts Productions to make films that addressed social issues. He was willing to take the risks himself rather than be censored by the studio heads. The first film he produced was Body and Soul starring his partner John Garfield set in the shady underbelly of the boxing world and its exploitation of a poor but tough young man. It was nominated for 3 academy awards, and won one. The next film of Roberts Productions was Force of Evil, an expose of the numbers racket and based on a book called Tuckers People. Considered a classic of the period, it was awarded a national U.S. National Film Registry in 1994. The third and last film of his company was He Ran All the Way made in 1951. This was also John Garfield's last film before his death in 1952.
Now at the peak of his career, he, along with many others, was suddenly brought down by the McCarthy hearings that harassed the creative community of the period. Hollywood was divided between those who were named as having been associated with the Communist Party and those who did the naming. Those who named others, were permitted to remain in Hollywood and work. Those who refused were denied the right to work - known as being blacklisted. Many of his close friends and associates such as Dalton Trumbo were cited for Contempt of Congress and taken to jail when they refused to condemn others. Unwilling to testify against his colleagues and friends and with no-one to support his young family, he fled with wife Kathryn and their young son Mark to England. Kathryn, gave birth to a daughter Jan almost as soon as they arrived.
As the long period of the Blacklist wore on he was denied a work permit by the British government and was unable to break into the close knit establishment of British filmmaking. So in order to support his family he had to sell off the only things he owned - the original and optioned screenplays he had brought with him from the Hollywood. When they were gone his days as an independent film producer were over. He did, however succeed in staging one west end play and a film version of Othello 'All Night Long' 1961 starring Richard Attenborough, Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michele and a number of Jazz luminaries of the period including Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus. Again, although originally executive producer Rank Studios insisted that their own British team of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden had creative control, this did not result in success for this particular movie.
He started in the thirties as one of the small backers of Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing". Then, in the early forties he created his first production company, Xanadu, consisting of some of Hollywood's best known screenwriters including Dalton Trumbo, Hugo Butler, Ian Hunter, Paul Trivers. Throughout his career as a producer of film noir classics, he stuck to his belief in the screenplay as the blue-print for success.
In the late forties when movie stars and most production was under the control of the major studios he founded one of the first independent production companies, Roberts Productions to make films that addressed social issues. He was willing to take the risks himself rather than be censored by the studio heads. The first film he produced was Body and Soul starring his partner John Garfield set in the shady underbelly of the boxing world and its exploitation of a poor but tough young man. It was nominated for 3 academy awards, and won one. The next film of Roberts Productions was Force of Evil, an expose of the numbers racket and based on a book called Tuckers People. Considered a classic of the period, it was awarded a national U.S. National Film Registry in 1994. The third and last film of his company was He Ran All the Way made in 1951. This was also John Garfield's last film before his death in 1952.
Now at the peak of his career, he, along with many others, was suddenly brought down by the McCarthy hearings that harassed the creative community of the period. Hollywood was divided between those who were named as having been associated with the Communist Party and those who did the naming. Those who named others, were permitted to remain in Hollywood and work. Those who refused were denied the right to work - known as being blacklisted. Many of his close friends and associates such as Dalton Trumbo were cited for Contempt of Congress and taken to jail when they refused to condemn others. Unwilling to testify against his colleagues and friends and with no-one to support his young family, he fled with wife Kathryn and their young son Mark to England. Kathryn, gave birth to a daughter Jan almost as soon as they arrived.
As the long period of the Blacklist wore on he was denied a work permit by the British government and was unable to break into the close knit establishment of British filmmaking. So in order to support his family he had to sell off the only things he owned - the original and optioned screenplays he had brought with him from the Hollywood. When they were gone his days as an independent film producer were over. He did, however succeed in staging one west end play and a film version of Othello 'All Night Long' 1961 starring Richard Attenborough, Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michele and a number of Jazz luminaries of the period including Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus. Again, although originally executive producer Rank Studios insisted that their own British team of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden had creative control, this did not result in success for this particular movie.