I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Faye Dunaway, who had an incredibly hot streak in the 70s but was a complete industry pariah after her unflattering turn as Hollywood legend Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. She has since resurfaced in small character parts, but it took over a decade to achieve that modest standing.
I know Vanessa Redgrave still gets flak about her anti-Zionist speech at the Oscars over 20 years ago, but she still manages to wrangle Oscar nominations (though enough people were rankled that she’ll never win again) and keeps suitably busy, though more often than not they are smaller, off-the-beaten path films.
“We were the first show that said ‘Hey, man, the war is bad’ and criticized (President) Johnson from a public platform.” Tommy Smothers related in 1975. Because of the show’s growing popularity, Bonanza was no longer number one by 1968 - but still, CBS wasn’t all that happy.
It wasn’t long before Tommy Smothers discovered that he may have artistic control contractually, but the network had absolute control. Popular phrases, controversial songs and sometimes whole comedy segments were excised by the strict network censors. Sure, it was OK in 1967 to make fun of a President’s golf game on TV - but not his war.
At the end of the third season, because of numerous censorship battles and a constant beating in the conservative press - and the fact that Tommy Smothers was turning in the shows too late to be edited before broadcast - CBS demanded that the Comedy Hour episodes be completed and reviewed by censors by Wednesday of each week.
The network claimed the last show of the season was turned in late, cried breach of contract and dropped the series. (It was later proved that the network DID have the tape in their possession after all.) The network ultimately refused to run the episode anyway because they said it “would be considered irreverent and offensive by a large segment of our audience.”
Even after they had renewed the show for another season, CBS cancelled the Comedy Hour in 1969 - sending the Smothers Brothers and the network into court, and squelching Tommy Smothers’ idea of filming season four from counter-culture ground zero - San Francisco.
“In our case, seventy-five percent of the twenty-six shows we’ve done this season were censored,” Tom Smothers told Look Magazine in June, 1969, “And we’re mild. Now, if we’re thrown off that easily, what will happen to someone who has something really important to say?” This may go down as one of the most important censorship battles ever fought (and lost) in the United States.
The Smothers offered the censored episode on a syndicated basis, hoping that stations would sign on for a new ninety-minute Smothers special with new material added.
Long story short…they pissed off the network with their liberal and anti-war views and went too far so CBS found a quick way to drop em.
Speaking of actors that were treated poorly, what’s the story on Montgomery Clift? REM has the song ‘Monty Got a Raw Deal’ which is about him, but I don’t know exactly why he allegedly got a raw deal.
He got a raw deal because he had a run-in with a tree in an auto accident that required extensive facial reconstruction surgery. He may not have lost his talent, but he did lose his “movie star quality” good looks, and this only contributed to an already-existing drug & alcohol problem. Being tortued by his closeted homosexuality didn’t help either and he died at a (relatively) young age.
Also check out The Clash’s The Right Profile on their album London Calling
Re: the OP, I should note that said accident did not prevent Clift from returning to movies and having a career (although a somewhat different one than he might have otherwise expected), so no “blacklist” comparison applies.
Sharon Waxman covers Hollywood (among other things) for the Washington Post and she has said repeatedly in online chats that there is a sizeable number of Republicans and conservatives in Hollywood. They generally keep quiet, she says, because they believe their politics would hurt their careers. So, there’s at least a perception that there can be fallout if you go against the grain. Of course, as others have noted, that’s different from the studios actually getting together and agreeing not to hire certain actors.
Also many of the people who agreed to testify for HUAC were essentially blacklisted. Look at Elia Kazan…when he finally got that lifetime achievement award last year there were many people who refused to stand or applaud. “On the Waterfront” was made in an attempt to explain why Kazan felt he had to testify.
The other thing to remember is that most of the people hauled before HUAC really were communist party members, although most had quit the party after the 30s. Of course it isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime to be a communist, just like it isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. But would you work with someone you knew was a Klansman?
Mickey Rourke had a reputation of being difficult to work with, or just not showing up for work. But IIRC it was his support of John Gotti, during his trial that caused him to become a pariah in Hollywood.
Re Sizemore and Kilmer: The original article appeared in the New York Daily News in January 2000, which puts it in their “pay to read” archives. You can see the brief introduction here, or you can see an excerpt on another site here.
I don’t know about Peck but Jane Fonda and Paul Newman were definitely on Tricky Dick’s list.
This may not fit the definition of being “blacklisted” but this link aboutJean Seberg and the FBI is still disturbing. After reading it, you’ll have another reason to hate J. Edgar Hoover.
Eartha Kitt definitely was banned from Hollywood for several years for purely political reasons. Because in 1968, when she was invited to the White House for lunch, she told Lady Bird Johnson to her face, how can you solve the problem of violence in the ghettos when the government is causing violence in Vietnam. They of course immediately put the squelch on her, not only did she speak truth to power, she was a uppity black woman.
** Anita Bryant **. Lost her OJ and a TV show cause she didn’t know the difference between homosexuality and pedophila. Served her right.
** Rob Lowe ** had a tough time after being discovered on a sex tape with two under-aged females.
Speaking of ** Faye Dunaway **, she was set to take over for Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the LA production Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard when he decided to close the show, claiming he didn’t think she could do it. She settled out of court.
“Powder” was a good movie, but one of the scenes is rather creepy when you know the reputation of Victor Salva, who wrote and directed it.
As far as my wife is concerned (and I am sure she is not the only person who feels this way), Woody Allen qualifies as a child molestor. His career has certainly not come to a halt.
Viewed in that context, the ad campaign was very creepy. It referred to the protagonist being a misunderstood outsider attacked for being different. It was worded so broadly that several people (like the reviewer for Washington’s City Paper) thought he was trying to defend his pederasty through the ad campaign.
(a) coming “out” as a conservative would truly result in them being blacklisted by various non-conservative producers/directors/whoever, or
(b) these conservative actors/actresses only think that being an overt conservative would get them blacklisted because that’s what they’d do if the situation was reversed.
