Reginald Rose wrote the first version of 12 Angry Men for live television broadcast in 1954; it was directed by Frank Schaffner, and only a partial recording survives. The play was loosely based on Rose's own experience serving on a jury. Rose combined that experience with the themes of justice and democracy that underlay all of his work; in relationship to the racial social upheaval taking place in America at that time and the Army-McCarthy hearings that had ended only recently, in which many prominent Americans (including a significant number of artists) were accused of being affiliated with the Communist Party.
Rose collaborated with legendary film director Sidney Lumet to create...
