He was deemed 4-F by the US Army due to a childhood case of pleurisy, which left him with a weak lung and deemed him unfit for military service. He did, however, work in several war-related films during the war, most notably "The Ox-Bow Incident" and "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," both of which deal with themes of injustice and the dangers of mob mentality, relevant themes to the war effort.