- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRose Kefer
- Height5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)
- Born in New York City, Rose Hobart responded to the lure of the theater at a young age, went on stage at 15, then drifted to Hollywood and embarked on a movie career. Hobart film-debuted in the 1930 Fox version of "Liliom" and went on to appear in over 40 additional films, both in the A and B category. But by the late 1940s, her political views and pro-union stance caused her to be blacklisted. After a period of inactivity, she returned to acting in the 1960s on TV's Peyton Place (1964). For many years she resided at the Motion Picture and Television Country House, not far from Hollywood, where she enjoyed editing the House Newsletter.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
- SpousesBarton H. Bosworth(October 10, 1948 - 19??) (1 child)William Mason Grosvenor, Jr.(October 9, 1932 - February 17, 1941) (divorced)Benjamin Winter(? - 1929) (divorced)
- Hobart believed she was blacklisted because she was a board member of the Actors Lab and was appearing at the same time in a controversial play about miscegenation, "Deep Are the Roots". However, Lee J. Cobb reportedly named her before the HUAC (House Un-American Affairs Committee) as a member of the Communist Party, which resulted in her blacklisting.
- In 1994, she published an autobiography, "A Steady Digression to a Fixed Point".
- Edited "Haven News", the journal of the Motion Picture Country Home.
- When artist Joseph Cornell re-cut East of Borneo (1931) into an avant-garde silent short, he re-titled it Rose Hobart (1936) after the female lead.
- Her father was first cellist for the New York Symphony and first violinist for the Metropolitan.
- "I remember when a casting director simply told me that I had been blacklisted. I was livid. I also knew that I had done it to myself. I had spoken out against what I considered unfair treatment of people in Hollywood.'' - to the Los Angeles Times (1991) on being blacklisted.
- [In a 1984 "Films in Review" interview on her blacklisting) I've been accused of everything from being a Communist to a lesbian, but I was only interested in making things better for people.
- [on originally being cast for the lead role in Waterloo Bridge (1931)] I was under contract to Universal and James Whale wanted me. Then I was told they weren't going to pick up my option and I was so mad I refused to do it. I wanted to do it and wish I had.
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