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Robert Rossen

Former boxer whose work as a writer and director of socially conscious dramas such as "The Body Beautiful" led to a writing contract with Warner Bros. in 1936. Rossen scripted around ten features over the next seven years for directors including Lloyd Bacon, Mervyn Leroy and Lewis Milestone. His writing was influenced by his Communist affiliations and, although he had left the party in 1945, his involvement led to a subpoena from the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. In the four years that elapsed before Rossen was eventually tried and blacklisted, he established himself as an independent producer and director of note with films such as "Body and Soul" (1947), scripted by Abraham Polonsky, and "All the King's Men" (1949), an incisive indictment of political corruption.