| Joshua Kurzweil | |
| Birth Date: | January 27, 1920 |
| Death Date: | February 16, 1990 (aged 70) |
| Occupation: | Actor |
Joshua Shelley (born Joshua Kurzweil; January 27, 1920 – February 16, 1990) was one of the actors blacklisted by movie studios as a result of the House Un-American Activities Committee's (HUAC) investigation of the Communist Party in Hollywood in 1952. He did not begin to again work regularly in Hollywood until 1973 when his career restarted.
A member of The Actors Studio from its inception in 1947,[1] Shelley worked frequently on stage, both on and off Broadway, during his Hollywood exile. Shelley's onscreen work, both pre- and post-blacklist, was confined primarily to television. Nonetheless, two career highlights remain Shelley's enthusiastically received 1949 feature film debut in City Across the River,[2] [3] [4] [5] as well as the blacklist-related 1976 film, The Front, notable for reuniting Shelley with several fellow blacklistees, including cast members Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Martin Ritt,[6] the latter also a fellow Actors Studio member.[7]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | City Across the River | Theodore 'Crazy' Perrin | ||
| 1949 | Yes Sir, That's My Baby | Arnold Schultze | ||
| 1974 | The Front Page | Cab Driver | ||
| 1975 | Funny Lady | Painter | ||
| 1975 | The Apple Dumpling Gang | Phil 'Broadway Phil' | ||
| 1976 | All the President's Men | |||
| 1976 | The Front | Sam | ||
| 1980 | Little Miss Marker | Benny | ||
| 1986 | Quicksilver | 'Shorty' |