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Full articleAbraham Polonsky (December 5, 1910 – October 26, 1999) was an American screenwriter, director, novelist, and former lawyer whose career in Hollywood was defined by socially critical film noirs such as the screenplay for Body and Soul (1947) and his directorial debut Force of Evil (1948).
Born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Polonsky graduated from City College with a degree in English before earning a law degree from Columbia University in 1935, after which he practiced law while beginning to write radio scripts, novels, and essays influenced by his Marxist worldview. He joined the Communist Party of the United States around 1935–1936 but later resigned in opposition to Joseph Stalin's policies, though he maintained a commitment to Marxist theory. Transitioning to screenwriting in the mid-1940s, Polonsky earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Body and Soul, a boxing drama that critiqued exploitation under capitalism.
In 1951, Polonsky was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to confirm or deny his prior Communist Party membership or identify associates, resulting in his blacklisting from the film industry until 1968, during which he worked under pseudonyms and faced financial hardship. He returned to directing with Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), a Western examining racial tensions, and Romance of a Horsethief (1971), but his output remained limited compared to pre-blacklist promise, with later credits including unproduced or pseudonymous scripts amid ongoing political defiance. Polonsky's work and blacklist experience highlighted tensions between artistic expression and political loyalty in mid-20th-century America, where his open Marxism shaped narratives of moral corruption in power structures.
In brief
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (December 5, 1910 – October 26, 1999) was an American film director, screenwriter, essayist and novelist. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Body and Soul (1947). The following year, he wrote and directed Force of Evil (1948), which was later hailed by Martin Scorsese and others as one of the finest achievements of American film noir.
However, it was to be Polonsky's last credited film for more than twenty years. In April 1951, he refused to cooperate or "name names" to the House Un-American Activities Committee and was blacklisted by the movie studios.
