Actor. Born Josef Bromberger in Temeschburg, Austria-Hungary, now Timisoara, Romania, he came to the US as an infant, settling with his family in New York City. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School he worked at a variety of odd jobs before making his stage debut in 1926 in the Greenwich Village Playhouse. He later worked with Eve Le Galliennes Civic Repertory Theatre and the Group Theatre, playing leading roles in Broadway productions like “Jacobowsky and the Colonel” and “The Big Knife”. In 1936 he came to Hollywood under contract to 20th Century Fox, playing many character parts and occasionally leading roles in films, among them “Under Two Flags” (1936), “Suez (1938), “Jesse James” (1939), “The Mark of Zorro” (1940), “The Phantom of the Opera” (1943), “Cloak and Dagger” (1946), “Arch of Triumph” (1948) and “I Shot Jesse James” (1949). Accused of being a member of the American Communist Party, he was forced in June 1951 to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in Washington. Refusing to answer any questions in accordance with his Fifth Amendment rights, he was finally blacklisted from Hollywood. Seeking work in England he was appearing in a London theatre in “The Biggest Thief in Town” when he was found dead from a heart attack in his hotel room. Cremated at Golders Green in London his ashes were sent to New York City for burial. (bio by: Fritz Tauber)