- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJak Szold
- Nickname
- Jack
- John Berry was born on September 6, 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for A Captive in the Land (1990), Ça va barder (1955) and Don Juan (1956). He was married to Myriam Boyer and Gladys Berry. He died on November 29, 1999 in Paris, France.
- SpousesMyriam Boyer(1975 - November 29, 1999) (his death, 1 child)Gladys Berry(1940 - ?) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenJan Berry
- Was named as a member of the Communist Party by Hollywood 10 member Edward Dmytryk in Dmytryk's 1951 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, when the blacklisted director "named names" to revive his Hollywood career and effect a return from exile in Europe. After Dymytrk's testimony, the formerly disgraced director, who had served a prison term for defying HUAC in 1947, was allowed to resume his Hollywood career and direct movies in America, but Berry was blacklisted and went into exile in France. Ironically, Berry had directed the documentary The Hollywood Ten (1950).
- Guilty by Suspicion (1991) writer-director Irwin Winkler based the character of the director being investigated for communist sympathies in McCarthy-period Hollywood on Berry, who had appeared as the nightclub owner Ben in the Winkler-produced film 'Round Midnight (1986).
- The son of a prosperous restaurant owner, he was born in the Bronx and made his stage debut in a vaudeville act at the age of five. The family fortune was lost during the Great Depression and Berry was forced to make ends meet by telling jokes at a resort in the Catskills for $5 a week.
- Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Diahann Carroll in Claudine (1974).
- Mentored by John Houseman and Orson Welles, who helped turn his career from acting towards directing.
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