Mike Mazurki
Encyclopedia
Mike Mazurki was an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor and professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 who appeared in over 100 movies. His towering 6' 5" presence and intimidating face usually got him roles playing tough guys, thugs, strong men, and gangsters.

Mazurki was born as Mikhail Mazurkevych in Tarnopol
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...

, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ternopil, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

). He migrated with his family to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the age of six, living in Cohoes, New York, a city just outside of Albany, in old mill housing on Olmstead Street with his mother. He attended La Salle Institute in Troy, New York, for high school. He later graduated from Manhattan College
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...

 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He became a professional athlete in three sports, primarily wrestling but also football and basketball.

He was discovered by Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...

 and given a bit part in his film The Shanghai Gesture
The Shanghai Gesture
The Shanghai Gesture is a 1941 American United Artists film noir motion picture starring Gene Tierney and Walter Huston, with Victor Mature and Ona Munson....

(1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...

). This led to a long film and television career. Possibly his most memorable role was that of slow-witted thug Moose Malloy in the 1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....

 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Farewell, My Lovely, which is the title of the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel it is based on, and also the...

, opposite Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...

. He also played a wrestler called "The Strangler" in Night and the City
Night and the City
Night and the City is a film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, and starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around an ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong....

(1950
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...

). In fact, he continued to wrestle during his acting career. His slurred speech was reportedly due to a wrestling injury to his Adam's apple
Adam's apple
The laryngeal prominence—commonly known as the Adam's Apple—is a feature of the human neck. This lump, or protrusion, is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx...

.

Mazurki made guest appearances on many well-known television shows, among them My Friend Flicka
My Friend Flicka (TV series)
My Friend Flicka is a 39-episode western television series set at the fictitious Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming at the turn of the 20th century. The program was filmed in color but initially aired in black and white on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Fridays from February 10, 1956, to February 1, 1957. It was a...

(as a wrestler facing Gene Evans
Gene Evans
Gene Evans was an American actor.He was born in Holbrook, Arizona, but reared in Colton, California. His acting career began while he was serving in World War II. He performed with a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. Evans made his film debut in 1947 and appeared in dozens of movies and...

's character of Rob McLaughlin), Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...

, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...

, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

and Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

, to name just a few. He played a yacht hand in an episode of Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...

titled "The Case of the Missing Button," in which he threatened Mason and Paul Drake with a set of brass knuckles
Brass knuckles
Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal, usually steel despite their name, shaped to fit around the knuckles...

. He was also a regular on a short-lived sitcom, The Chicago Teddy Bears
The Chicago Teddy Bears
The Chicago Teddy Bears is an American sitcom that aired on CBS. The series was part of the network's 1971 fall lineup, premiering on September 17, 1971.-Synopsis:Unlike other shows set in Prohibition-era Chicago, The Chicago Teddy Bears was a sitcom...

.

In 1965, he co-founded and became the first president of the Cauliflower Alley Club
Cauliflower Alley Club
The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America....

, an association of professional wrestlers. A photograph of his cauliflower ear
Cauliflower ear
Cauliflower ear is a condition that occurs when the external portion of the ear suffers a blow, blood clot or other collection of fluid under the perichondrium...

 forms the logo of the organization. In 2005, he was posthumously awarded the New York State Award by the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum for founding the club.

Partial filmography

  • The Shanghai Gesture
    The Shanghai Gesture
    The Shanghai Gesture is a 1941 American United Artists film noir motion picture starring Gene Tierney and Walter Huston, with Victor Mature and Ona Munson....

    (1941)
  • The Missing Juror (1944) uncredited
  • The Canterville Ghost
    The Canterville Ghost
    "The Canterville Ghost" is a popular short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in the magazine The Court and Society Review in February 1887. It was later included in a collection of short stories entitled...

    (1944)
  • Murder, My Sweet
    Murder, My Sweet
    Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Farewell, My Lovely, which is the title of the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel it is based on, and also the...

    (1944)
  • Dick Tracy
    Dick Tracy
    Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...

    (1945)
  • Abbott and Costello in Hollywood
    Abbott and Costello in Hollywood
    Abbott and Costello in Hollywood is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. This film's full onscreen title is Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood.-Plot:...

    (1945)
  • Dakota
    Dakota (film)
    Dakota is a 1945 Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring John Wayne.-Cast:* John Wayne - John Devlin* Vera Ralston - Sandy Poli * Walter Brennan - Capt. Bounce of the Riverbird* Ward Bond - Jim Bender* Mike Mazurki - Bigtree Collins...

    (1945)
  • The Horn Blows at Midnight
    The Horn Blows at Midnight
    The Horn Blows at Midnight is a comedy fantasy film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Jack Benny. Its biggest claim to fame, apart from its star, is its failure at the box office, and this fact was exploited often for laughs in Benny's popular radio and television comedy series The Jack Benny...

    (1945)
  • Live Wires
    Live Wires
    Live Wires is a 1946 film starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the first film in the series after the comedy team of The East Side Kids was revamped and renamed as The Bowery Boys.-Plot:...

    (1946)
  • Sinbad the Sailor (1947)
  • Unconquered
    Unconquered
    Unconquered is a 1947 adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount. The film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the time of Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around...

    (1947)
  • Nightmare Alley (1947)
  • I Walk Alone
    I Walk Alone
    I Walk Alone is a 1948 film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, and Kirk Douglas. It was the directorial debut of Byron Haskin....

    (1948)
  • Rope of Sand
    Rope of Sand
    Rope of Sand was a 1949 adventure film directed by William Dieterle, produced by Hal B. Wallis, starringBurt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Corinne Calvet, Sam Jaffe, and John Bromfield.-Plot:...

    (1949)
  • The Devil's Henchman
    The Devil's Henchman
    The Devil's Henchman is a 1949 movie featuring Warner Baxter, Mary Beth Hughes, Mike Mazurki, and Regis Toomey. The film was written by Eric Taylor and directed by Seymour Friedman.-Cast:*Warner Baxter as Jess Arno*Mary Beth Hughes as Silky...

    (1949)
  • Night and the City
    Night and the City
    Night and the City is a film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, and starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around an ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong....

    (1950)
  • Dark City
    Dark City (1950 film)
    Dark City is a 1950 film noir. The casting of Charlton Heston—in his first Hollywood film appearance—as a petty hood is unusual in light of his subsequent career. The film also features Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, who both went on to co-star in Dragnet. The musical score was composed by Franz...

    (1950)
  • Ten Tall Men
    Ten Tall Men
    Ten Tall Men is a 1951 Technicolor comedy adventure film about the French Foreign Legion. It starred Burt Lancaster, Jody Lawrance and Gerald Mohr. Though co-written and directed by Willis Goldbeck, Goldbeck walked off the film due to disputes with Lancaster with the film being completed by Robert...

    (1951)
  • My Favorite Spy
    My Favorite Spy
    My Favorite Spy is a 1951 comedy film starring Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr. The movie was directed by Norman Z. McLeod.-Cast:*Bob Hope as Peanuts White/Eric Augustine*Hedy Lamarr as Lily Dalbray*Francis L...

    (1951)

  • New York Confidential
    New York Confidential (film)
    New York Confidential is a 1955 crime film starring Broderick Crawford and Richard Conte as New York gangsters. It is based on the 1948 book New York: Confidential! by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer.-Plot:...

    (1955)
  • Blood Alley
    Blood Alley
    Blood Alley is a 1955 seafaring adventure movie starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall set in China.-Background:The film was written by Albert Sidney Fleischman from his novel, directed by William Wellman and was produced by Wayne's Batjac Productions...

    (1955)
  • Kismet
    Kismet (1955 film)
    Kismet is an American musical film in Cinemascope and Eastman Color released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the fourth movie version of Kismet—the first was released in 1920 and the second in 1930 by Warner Brothers—and the second released by MGM...

    (1955)
  • Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
    Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
    Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier is a 1955 live-action Walt Disney adventure film starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. This film is an edited compilation of the first three stories from the Disney television series Davy Crockett :...

    (1955) as Bigfoot Mason
  • Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
    Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
    Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is a 1956 live-action Walt Disney adventure film starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. It was shot in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois...

    (1956)
  • Comanche
    Comanche (1956 film)
    Comanche is a 1956 western film directed by George Sherman and starring Dana Andrews. The film has a theme song "A Man Is As Good As His Word" sung by The Lancers.-Plot synopsis:...

    (1956)
  • Man in the Vault
    Man in the Vault
    Man in the Vault is a 1956 film noir about a locksmith, played by William Campbell, who is forced to help gangsters commit a robbery. It was based on the novel The Lock and the Key by Frank Gruber.-Cast:*William Campbell as Tommy Dancer...

    (1956)
  • Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
  • Some Like It Hot
    Some Like It Hot
    Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....

    (1959)
  • Zotz!
    Zotz!
    Zotz! is a 1962 fantasy/comedy film produced and directed by William Castle, about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancient civilization. The film is based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Walter Karig.-Plot:...

    (1962)
  • Five Weeks in a Balloon
    Five Weeks in a Balloon
    Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen is an adventure novel by Jules Verne.It is the first Verne novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with...

    (1962)
  • Donovan's Reef
    Donovan's Reef
    Donovan's Reef is a 1963 American film starring John Wayne. It was directed John Ford and filmed on location on Kauai, Hawaii.The cast included Elizabeth Allen, Lee Marvin, Dorothy Lamour, and Cesar Romero. The film marked the last time Ford and Wayne ever worked together on a...

    (1963)
  • 4 for Texas
    4 for Texas
    4 for Texas is a 1963 American western comedy starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg, Ursula Andress, and featuring screen thugs Charles Bronson and Mike Mazurki, with a cameo appearance by the Three Stooges...

    (1963)
  • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
    It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
    It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...

    (1963)
  • Cheyenne Autumn
    Cheyenne Autumn
    Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 western starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. Regarded as an epic film it tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878-9, although it is told in 'Hollywood style' using a great degree of artistic license...

    (1964)
  • 7 Women
    7 Women
    7 Women, also known as Seven Women, is a 1966 film drama made by MGM. It was directed by John Ford, produced by Bernard Smith and John Ford, from a screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick, based on the story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts. The music score was by Elmer Bernstein and the...

    (1966)
  • The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
    The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
    The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin is a 1967 Technicolor drama film directed by James Neilson, based on the novel By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman, starring Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette and Karl Malden. Roddy McDowall plays Griffin, the very proper butler of Bostonian Jack Flagg...

    (1967)
  • Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
    Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
    Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a 1976 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern, Teri Garr, and Art Carney...

    (1976)
  • The Magic of Lassie
    The Magic of Lassie
    The Magic of Lassie is a 1978 Wrather Corporation film. It features James Stewart in one of only two musical film roles that he played . Mickey Rooney and Alice Faye also make cameo appearances in the film...

    (1978)
  • The One Man Jury
    The One Man Jury
    -Cast:* Jack Palance ... Lieutenant Wade* Christopher Mitchum ... Sergeant Blake* Pamela Susan Shoop ... Wendy Sommerset* Jeff McCracken ... Billy Joe Kerman-External links:*...

    (1978)
  • Amazon Women on the Moon
    Amazon Women on the Moon
    Amazon Women on the Moon is a 1987 American satirical comedy film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget movies on late-night television...

    (1987)
  • Dick Tracy (1990)


External links

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