Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914–December 8, 1990) was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theatre. He was born in New York City.

After working as a playwright with the Works Progress Administration, acting on stage, and directing hundreds of plays, Ritt became a successful television director. In 1952, at the peak of McCarthyism, he was blacklisted and could no longer work in TV. He returned to theatre for several years before directing his first movie, Edge of the City, in 1957; he went on to direct 25 more films. His film The Front was a fictionalized version of the experience of Ritt and other writers and performers who were blacklisted.

Ritt died at age 76 in Santa Monica, California.

Selected films

• The Long Hot Summer (1958)
• Hud (1963)
• The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)
• The Great White Hope (1970)
• Molly Maguires (1970)
• Sounder (1972)
• The Front (1976)
• Norma Rae (1979)
• Murphy's Romance (1985)
• Stanley and Iris (1990)

External link