Award Winning Yorktown Photographers Mate becomes Hollywood Actor

 survives Japanese attacks on the Yorktown and the Red Scare Black List after the war

Jeff Corey was born in New York on 10th August, 1914. Jeff Corey was the recipient of three citations for his work as a motion picture combat photographer in World War II. In October 1945 he received a citation from Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and photography officer Captain Edward Steichen with the following commendation,

"His sequence of a Kamikaze attempt on the Carrier Yorktown, done in the face of grave danger, is one of the great picture sequences of the war in the Pacific, and reflects the highest credit upon Corey and the U.S. Navy Photographic Service."


In 1947 the House Unamerican Activities Committee began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry.
Over 320 actors and film professionals were placed on a black list  that stopped them from working in Hollywood. This included Corey, who had attended Communist Party meetings in the 1930s.

Blacklisted, he did not appear in another film until The Yellow Canary (1963). Other films include The Balcony (1963), Mickey One (1965), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), In Cold Blood (1967), The Boston Strangler (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Little Big Man (1970).

Picture caption: Actor Dustin Hoffman and Yorktown photographer veteran Jeff Corey playing "Wild Bill Hickok" in the movie Little Big Man

 

 Corey enjoyed traveling, and meeting his fans at autograph conventions. Mr. Corey continued to work on a number of creative projects, among them being a book on his life and experiences as an actor.

Former Yorktown photographer Jeff Corey with actor John Wayne in Wake of the Red Witch 1948

Our Shipmate, Jeff Corey, found a new career as a drama teacher for students including James Dean and Jack Nicholson after being blacklisted during the communist scare of the 1950s, died Friday August 16, 2002 of complications from a fall. He was 88.
 


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