He graduated to leading roles & around 1948 was nominative for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul. Garfield was given the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7065 Hollywood Blvd.

Included around liberal politics, Garfield became caught higher in the McCarthy Communist scare of the late 1940s and, even though he denied with ever been a Communist, his forced testimony prior to the House Un-American Activities Committee damaged his career and he was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses.

Heart problems, aggravated per stress of his blacklisting, led to his early demise at a age of 39.

Academy Award Nominations
1948 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Body and Soul 1939 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Four Daughters

Filmography
Four Daughters (1938) Swingtime in the Movies (1939) (short subject) They Made Me a Criminal (1939) Blackwell's Island (1939) Juarez (1939) Daughters Courageous (1939) Dust Be My Destiny (1939) Four Wives (1939) Castle on the Hudson (1940) Saturday's Children (1940) Flowing Gold (1940) East of the River (1940) The Sea Wolf (1941) Out of the Fog (1941) Dangerously They Live (1942) Tortilla Flat (1942) Air Force (1943) Show Business at War (1943) (short subject) The Fallen Sparrow (1943) Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) Destination Tokyo (1943) Between Two Worlds (1944) Hollywood Canteen (1944) The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) (Cameo) Pride of the Marines (1945) The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Nobody Lives Forever (1946) Humoresque (1946) Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party (1946) (short subject) Body and Soul (1947) Gentleman's Agreement (1947) Screen Snapshots: Out-of-This-World Series (1947) (short subject) Daisy Kenyon (1947) (Cameo) Difficult Years (1948) (narrator within Western version) Force of Evil (1948) We Were Strangers (1949) Jigsaw (1949) (Cameo) Under My Skin (1950) The Breaking Point (1950) He Ran All the Way'' (1951) (also producer)