Marc Lawrence

Panoramica

Data di nascita
17 febbraio 1910 · New York, New York, Stati Uniti
Data di morte
27 novembre 2005 · Palm Springs, California, Stati Uniti (cause naturali)
Nome alla nascita
Max Goldsmith
Altezza
1,78 m

Biografia

Famiglia

Coniugi
Genitori

Marchi registrati

Frequently played gangsters.

Quiz

Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn once told Lawrence that Johnny Roselli, a notorious gangster, had said that he was the best hood in films. Lawrence himself was often told by Italian hoods in his native New York that he played them better than anyone else; ironically, Lawrence was Jewish.
He was a friend of legendary mob boss Lucky Luciano. He would visit Luciano in Italy where the mobster had been deported following his prison term for running a prostitution ring. Whenever Lawrence would see the mobster, Lucky would always ask for him to talk in an "exaggerated" New York accent, which Lawrence would do. The reason was that Luciano missed New York and meeting New Yorkers and hearing their accents would always make him feel better.
Despite a prolific career covering nearly 70 years, consisting hundreds of motion picture appearances and many more television spots, his name was not included in the necrology of deceased film actors in the previous year at the 2006 Academy Awards (Oscar) Show.
Named actor Jeff Corey, a former Communist Party member who had left behind the party and the ideology, as a communist before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Corey, who was subsequently blacklisted from 1951 through 1962, was bitter over Lawrence's action for the rest of his long life.
During the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, Lawrence testified that Lionel Stander told him that joining the Communist Party would make him more attractive to women. During his testimony, Stander denounced Lawrence as a psychopath and presented a letter that gave Lawrence's mental history and revealed that he had been hospitalized after a mental breakdown just prior to his HUAC testimony.

Citazioni

[regarding his short-term membership in the Communist party in the 1930s] I went to about five or six meetings. When I got bored at home I'd go to a meeting.
I had this effect on people. I remember walking along the street and seeing Eddie Cantor's name up on one of the theaters, so I stopped by the ticket seller and asked him, 'When does Eddie go on?' He looked at me and went pale and said, 'You-you-you-you're the guy in that picture up the street!' He was petrified of me. So I went and watched that movie again and thought to myself 'Christ Almighty, what an ugly [expletive]!' Holes in my face, black eyes that pierce right through you. Here I thought I looked like Ronald Colman and the ticket seller was right.
I was typed as the arch gangster. It's this face -- what could I do about it?
The time I met Lucky Luciano in Italy, I swear to God, I thought he was imitating me.