Born in New York City. Former journalist and radio writer whose first notable film work was as screenwriter on Robert Rossen's BODY AND SOUL (1947), starring John Garfield. Polonsky was then hired by the film's producer, Bob Robertson, to direct his next feature, another Garfield vehicle called FORCE OF EVIL (1948). The result was a gritty, socially conscious gangster drama which has since come to be regarded as a classic of its kind. Blacklisted after a 1951 HUAC hearing, Polonsky was temporarily unable to continue working in Hollywood. He supported himself by writing TV scripts under an assumed name before returning to big-screen work in the late 1960s. His second feature, 1969's TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE, was one of the few Hollywood westerns to deal honestly with the white man's persecution of the American Indian. ROMANCE OF A HORSETHIEF (1971), a farcical account of Jewish ghetto life in pre-Revolutionary Russia, was generally received as a kind of thinking person's FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Polonsky's subsequent film work was intermittent.  Nominated for Writing (Original Screenplay) 1947: BODY AND SOUL 1 nomination