Peter Lorre

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Image:PeterLorre.jpg Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964), born Ladislav (László) Löwenstein, was a Hungarian actor especially known for playing roles with sinister overtones in Hollywood crime films and mysteries.

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Background

He was born into a Jewish family in Rózsahegy/Rosenberg, Austria-Hungary, now Ružomberok, Slovakia. He began acting on stage in Vienna, Austria; Breslau, Germany; and Zürich, Switzerland. In the late 1920s he moved to Berlin where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Lorre became famous when Fritz Lang cast him as a child killer in his 1931 film M.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the Jewish Lorre took refuge first in Paris and then London where he played a charming villain in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Eventually, he went to Hollywood where he specialized in playing wicked or wily foreigners. He starred in a series of Mr. Moto movies, a parallel to the better known Charlie Chan series, in which he played a Japanese detective. He enjoyed great popularity as a featured player in Warner Bros. suspense and adventure films such as The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). In 1941, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

After World War II Lorre's acting career in Hollywood experienced a downturn, whereupon he concentrated on radio and stage work. In Germany he co-wrote, directed and starred in Der Verlorene (The Lost One) (1951), a critically acclaimed art film in the film noir style. He then returned to the United States where he appeared as a character actor in television and feature films, often spoofing his former "creepy" image. In 1954, he had the distinction of becoming the first actor to play a James Bond villain when he portrayed Le Chiffre in a television adaptation of Casino Royale. In the early 1960s he worked with Roger Corman on several low-budgeted, tongue-in-cheek, and very popular films. He died in 1964 of a stroke at the age of 59, his body was cremated and the ashes were interned at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.

Lorre has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6619 Hollywood Boulevard.

According to Vincent Price, when he and Peter Lorre went to view Bela Lugosi's body during Bela's funeral, Lorre, upon seeing Lugosi dressed in his famous Dracula cape, quipped, "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?"

Lorre is the subject of songs by several bands, notably The World/Inferno Friendship Society.

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Filmography

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Emulating Lorre

The practice of emulating Peter Lorre's unforgettable voice, look, and mannerisms is quite notable throughout television and cinema, dating from impersonations in various cartoons such as Looney Tunes and characters such as Ren from Ren and Stimpy, Morocco Mole from Secret Squirrel, Marlon Fraggle from Fraggle Rock, Dr. N. Gin from the Crash Bandicoot series and Beavis from "Beavis and Butt-head". The script for Godspell includes a line which is suggested as being done in the style of Peter Lorre. Even today, films show his distinct characteristics in characters, such as the maggot in Corpse Bride.

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See also

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External links

ca:Peter Lorre de:Peter Lorre es:Peter Lorre fr:Peter Lorre he:פיטר לורה ja:ピーター・ローレ fi:Peter Lorre sv:Peter Lorre

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