Peter Lorre
Encyclopedia
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American
actor
frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.
He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer
who preys on little girls in the German
film M
. Later he became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries, notably alongside Humphrey Bogart
and Sydney Greenstreet
, and as the star of the successful Mr. Moto
detective series.
), Rosenberg (German
), Kingdom of Hungary
, part of Austria-Hungary
, now Ružomberok
, Slovakia
. His parents were Alois Loewenstein and Elvira Freischberger. When he was a child his family moved to Vienna
where Lorre attended school. He began acting on stage in Vienna at the age of 17, where he worked with Richard Teschner, then moved to Breslau, and Zürich
. In the late 1920s, the young 5 in 5 in (165.1 cm) actor moved to Berlin
where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht
, most notably in his Mann ist Mann. He also appeared as Dr. Nakamura in the musical Happy End
by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill
, alongside Brecht's wife Helene Weigel
and co-stars Carola Neher
, Oskar Homolka and Kurt Gerron
.
The German-speaking actor became famous when Fritz Lang
cast him as a child killer in his 1931 film M. In 1932 he appeared alongside Hans Albers
in the science fiction film F.P.1 antwortet nicht about an artificial island in the mid-Atlantic
. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre took refuge first in Paris
and then London
, where he was noticed by Ivor Montagu
, Alfred Hitchcock
's associate producer for The Man Who Knew Too Much
(1934), who reminded the director about Lorre's performance in M
. They first considered him to play the assassin in the film, but wanted to use him in a larger role, despite his limited command of English
, which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically. He also was featured in Hitchcock's Secret Agent, in 1935.
Eventually, Lorre went to Hollywood, where he specialized in playing sinister foreigners, beginning with Mad Love
(1935), directed by Karl Freund
. He starred in a series of Mr. Moto
movies, a parallel to the better known Charlie Chan
series, in which he played John P. Marquand
's seminal character, a Japanese detective and spy. He did not enjoy these films — and twisted his shoulder during a stunt in Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation — but they were lucrative for the studio and gained Lorre many new fans. In 1939, he was picked to play the role that would eventually go to Basil Rathbone
in Son of Frankenstein
; Lorre had to decline the part due to illness.
In 1940, Lorre co-starred with fellow horror actors Bela Lugosi
and Boris Karloff
in the Kay Kyser
movie You'll Find Out
. Lorre enjoyed considerable popularity as a featured player in Warner Bros.
suspense and adventure films. Lorre played the role of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon
(1941) and portrayed the character Ugarte in the film classic Casablanca
(1942). Lorre branched out into comedy with the role of Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace
(filmed in 1941, released 1944). In 1946 he starred with Sydney Greenstreet
and Geraldine Fitzgerald
in Three Strangers
, a suspense film about three people who are joint partners on a winning lottery ticket.
In 1941, Peter Lorre 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 "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
, opposite Barry Nelson
as an American James Bond
. (In the spoof-film
version of Casino Royale, Ronnie Corbett
comments that SMERSH
includes among its agents not only Le Chiffre, but also "Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi
".) Also in 1954, Lorre starred alongside Kirk Douglas
and James Mason
in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
.
A famous story is told in Hollywood that in 1956, both Lorre and Vincent Price
attended Bela Lugosi
's funeral. According to Price, Lorre asked him "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?" However, according to Lugosi biographers Arthur Lennig and Gary Don Rhodes, neither actor attended Lugosi's funeral.
In 1959, Lorre appeared in NBC
's espionage
drama Five Fingers
, starring David Hedison
, in the episode "Thin Ice". In the early 1960s he worked with Roger Corman
on several low-budgeted, tongue-in-cheek, and very popular films. He appeared in a supporting role in the 1961 film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
. In 1961, he was interviewed on the NBC
program Here's Hollywood
.
(1934 – 13 March 1945, divorced); Kaaren Verne
(25 May 1945 – 1950, divorced) and Anne Marie Brenning (21 July 1953 – 23 March 1964, his death). In 1953, Anne Marie bore his only child, Catharine. His daughter Catharine made headlines after Hillside Strangler
serial killer
Kenneth Bianchi confessed to police investigators after his arrest that he and his cousin and partner in crime Angelo Buono
had stopped Catharine Lorre disguised as police officers with the intent of abducting and murdering her in 1977, but after learning that she was the daughter of Peter Lorre, the pair let her go. It was only after Bianchi was arrested that Catharine Lorre realized whom she had met. Catharine died in 1985 of complications arising from diabetes.
In 1963 an actor named Eugene Weingand, who was unrelated to Lorre, attempted to trade on his slight resemblance to the actor by changing his name to "Peter Lorie", but his petition was rejected by the courts. After Lorre's death, however, he referred to himself as Lorre's son.
Lorre had suffered for years from chronic gallbladder troubles, for which doctors had prescribed morphine. Lorre became trapped between the constant pain and addiction to morphine to ease the problem. It was during the period of the Moto films that Lorre struggled and overcame his addiction.
Overweight and never fully recovered from his addiction to morphine, Lorre suffered many personal and career disappointments in his later years. He died in 1964 of a stroke
. Lorre's body was cremated and his ashes interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood. Vincent Price
read the eulogy
at his funeral.
, at 6619 Hollywood Boulevard.
Lorre's distinctive accent and large-eyed face became a favorite target of comedians and cartoonists. For example, several Warner Bros.
cartoons used a caricature of Lorre's face with an impression by Mel Blanc
, including Birth of a Notion, Hair-Raising Hare
and Racketeer Rabbit
.
and Robin
appeared in daily newspapers. One story, The Two-Bit Dictator of Twin Mills, drawn by Batman co-creator Bob Kane
, featured a hitman
called Jojo who was, according to writer Al Schwartz
, made to look like Lorre.
won a Pegasus award for Best Classic Filk
Song in 2006 entitled "I Want to be Peter Lorre" which appears on his filk album "Homecoming: MarCon 2005", which includes his vocal impersonation of the actor.
The Jazz Butcher's song "Peter Lorre" was first featured on the group's Conspiracy album, which was released in May 1986.
The stop motion
film Corpse Bride
features "The Maggot", a small green worm who lives inside the title character's head. His features and voice (provided by Enn Reitel
) are caricatures of Peter Lorre.
"From the very beginning Tim wanted the Maggot to be a Peter Lorre-esque character, and we had a good time working with that and it went through various design changes," said co-director Mike Johnson
in the book Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: An Invitation to the Wedding.
On September 11, 2007 Brooklyn
-based punk band The World/Inferno Friendship Society
released a full-length album about Lorre called Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century
, which traces Lorre's film career, drug addiction, and death. It has been performed at the Famous Spiegeltent
. The album was subsequently adapted into a multi-media stage production directed by Jay Scheib, which premiered at Webster Hall
in New York City on January 9, 2009, and went on to play major arts festivals around the world, including Spoleto Festival USA
(Charleston, SC), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Noorderzon Festival (Groningen, Holland) and Theaterformen (Hanover, Germany).
Austrian-American
Austrian Americans are Americans of Austrian descent. According to the 2000 US census, there are 735,128, or 0.3% Americans of full or partial Austrian descent. The states with the largest Austrian American populations are New York , California , Pennsylvania , Florida and New Jersey...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.
He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer
Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten was a German serial killer dubbed The Vampire of Düsseldorf by the contemporary media. He committed a series of sex crimes, assaults and murders against adults and children, most notoriously from February to November 1929 in Düsseldorf.-Early life:Kürten was born into a...
who preys on little girls in the German
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
film M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
. Later he became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries, notably alongside Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca .-Biography:...
, and as the star of the successful Mr. Moto
Mr. Moto
Mr. Moto is a fictional Japanese secret agent created by the American author John P. Marquand. He appeared in six novels by Marquand published between 1935 and 1957. Marquand initially created the character for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death...
detective series.
Biography
Lorre was born as László Löwenstein into a Jewish family in Rózsahegy (HungarianHungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
), Rosenberg (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, now Ružomberok
Ružomberok
Ružomberok is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 30,000-Geography:...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. His parents were Alois Loewenstein and Elvira Freischberger. When he was a child his family moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
where Lorre attended school. He began acting on stage in Vienna at the age of 17, where he worked with Richard Teschner, then moved to Breslau, and Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. In the late 1920s, the young 5 in 5 in (165.1 cm) actor moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, most notably in his Mann ist Mann. He also appeared as Dr. Nakamura in the musical Happy End
Happy End (musical)
Happy End is a surrealistic three-act musical comedy by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Bertolt Brecht which first opened in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm on September 2, 1929. It closed after seven performances...
by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, alongside Brecht's wife Helene Weigel
Helene Weigel
Helene Weigel was a distinguished German actress. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht, and together they had a son Stefan Brecht and daughter Barbara Brecht-Schall .The daughter of a Jewish lawyer, she became a Communist Party member from 1930 and Artistic Director of the...
and co-stars Carola Neher
Carola Neher
- Biography :Neher was born in Munich to a music teacher in 1900. She started to work as a bank clerk in 1917. In the summer of 1920, she gave her debut performance at the Baden-Baden theater without a specific stage education, later also working at the theaters of Darmstadt, Nuremberg and at the...
, Oskar Homolka and Kurt Gerron
Kurt Gerron
Kurt Gerron was a German Jewish actor and film director.-Life:Born Kurt Gerson into a well-off merchant family in Berlin, he initially studied medicine but was called up for military service in World War I. Seriously wounded he qualified as a military doctor of the German Army...
.
The German-speaking actor became famous when Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
cast him as a child killer in his 1931 film M. In 1932 he appeared alongside Hans Albers
Hans Albers
Hans Philipp August Albers was a German actor and singer. He was the single biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century.- Life and work :...
in the science fiction film F.P.1 antwortet nicht about an artificial island in the mid-Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre took refuge first in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and then London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he was noticed by Ivor Montagu
Ivor Montagu
The Honorable Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu was a British filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, film critic, writer, table tennis player and apparent Soviet spy...
, Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's associate producer for The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a British suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period....
(1934), who reminded the director about Lorre's performance in M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
. They first considered him to play the assassin in the film, but wanted to use him in a larger role, despite his limited command of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically. He also was featured in Hitchcock's Secret Agent, in 1935.
Eventually, Lorre went to Hollywood, where he specialized in playing sinister foreigners, beginning with Mad Love
Mad Love (1935 film)
Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's...
(1935), directed by Karl Freund
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. was a cinematographer and film director most noted for photographing Metropolis , Dracula , and television's I Love Lucy .-Early life:...
. He starred in a series of Mr. Moto
Mr. Moto
Mr. Moto is a fictional Japanese secret agent created by the American author John P. Marquand. He appeared in six novels by Marquand published between 1935 and 1957. Marquand initially created the character for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death...
movies, a parallel to the better known Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan is a fictional Chinese-American detective created by Earl Derr Biggers in 1919. Loosely based on Honolulu detective Chang Apana, Biggers conceived of the benevolent and heroic Chan as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes, such as villains like Fu Manchu...
series, in which he played John P. Marquand
John P. Marquand
John Phillips Marquand was a American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938...
's seminal character, a Japanese detective and spy. He did not enjoy these films — and twisted his shoulder during a stunt in Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation — but they were lucrative for the studio and gained Lorre many new fans. In 1939, he was picked to play the role that would eventually go to Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
in Son of Frankenstein
Son of Frankenstein
Son of Frankenstein is the third film in Universal Studios' Frankenstein series and the last to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster as well as the first to feature Béla Lugosi as Ygor. It is a sequel to Bride of Frankenstein....
; Lorre had to decline the part due to illness.
In 1940, Lorre co-starred with fellow horror actors Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
in the Kay Kyser
Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early years:He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Paul Bynum Kyser and Emily Royster Kyser. Editor Vermont C. Royster was his cousin...
movie You'll Find Out
You'll Find Out
You'll Find Out is a 1940 comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Boris Karloff. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Original Song...
. Lorre enjoyed considerable popularity as a featured player in Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
suspense and adventure films. Lorre played the role of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
(1941) and portrayed the character Ugarte in the film classic Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
(1942). Lorre branched out into comedy with the role of Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version...
(filmed in 1941, released 1944). In 1946 he starred with Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca .-Biography:...
and Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
in Three Strangers
Three Strangers
Three Strangers is a Warner Bros. crime drama, starring Peter Lorre, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Sydney Greenstreet, featuring Joan Lorring and Alan Napier. It was directed by Jean Negulesco from a script by John Huston and Howard Koch.-Plot:...
, a suspense film about three people who are joint partners on a winning lottery ticket.
In 1941, Peter Lorre became a naturalized citizen of the United States. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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
Der Verlorene
Der Verlorene is a critically acclaimed German language art film in the film noir style. Based on a true story, Peter Lorre wrote, directed, and starred in this film, his only film as director or writer. The film's name has been used as the title of his biography.-Further reading:* * -External...
(The Lost One) (1951), a critically acclaimed art film in the 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...
style. He then returned to the United States where he appeared as a character actor in television and feature films, often spoofing his "creepy" image.
In 1954, he had the distinction of becoming the first actor to play a James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
villain when he portrayed Le Chiffre
Le Chiffre
Le Chiffre is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale. On screen Le Chiffre has been portrayed by Peter Lorre in the 1954 television adaptation of the novel for CBS's Climax! television series, by Orson Welles in the 1967 spoof of the novel and...
in a television adaptation
Casino Royale (Climax!)
Casino Royale is a 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre...
of Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
, opposite Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
as an American James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
. (In the spoof-film
Casino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
version of Casino Royale, Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
comments that SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
includes among its agents not only Le Chiffre, but also "Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
".) Also in 1954, Lorre starred alongside Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
and James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 adventure film starring Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax, and Peter Lorre as Conseil. It was the first science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Productions, as well as the only science-fiction...
.
A famous story is told in Hollywood that in 1956, both Lorre and Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
attended Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
's funeral. According to Price, Lorre asked him "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?" However, according to Lugosi biographers Arthur Lennig and Gary Don Rhodes, neither actor attended Lugosi's funeral.
In 1959, Lorre appeared in NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
drama Five Fingers
Five Fingers (TV series)
For other uses see 5 Fingers Five Fingers is an NBC adventure/drama series set in Europe during the Cold War loosely based on the 1952 film 5 Fingers, starring James Mason and Danielle Darrieux...
, starring David Hedison
David Hedison
Albert David Hedison, Jr. is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers, NBC insisted that he change his name...
, in the episode "Thin Ice". In the early 1960s he worked with Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
on several low-budgeted, tongue-in-cheek, and very popular films. He appeared in a supporting role in the 1961 film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is an American science fiction film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released by 20th Century Fox in 1961. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane...
. In 1961, he was interviewed on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
program Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood is an American celebrity interview program which aired on weekday afternoons on NBC at 4:30 Eastern time from September 26, 1960, to December 28, 1962.-Overview:...
.
Marriages and family
He was married three times: Celia LovskyCelia Lovsky
Celia Lovsky was an Austrian American actress. She was born Cäcilie Lvovsky in Vienna, daughter of Bretislav Lvovsky , a minor Czech opera composer...
(1934 – 13 March 1945, divorced); Kaaren Verne
Kaaren Verne
Kaaren Verne , was a German-born actress. Sometimes billed as Karen Verne, she was originally a stage actress and member of the Berlin State Theatre.-Biography:...
(25 May 1945 – 1950, divorced) and Anne Marie Brenning (21 July 1953 – 23 March 1964, his death). In 1953, Anne Marie bore his only child, Catharine. His daughter Catharine made headlines after Hillside Strangler
Hillside Strangler
The Hillside Strangler is the media epithet for two men, cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Kenneth Bianchi confessed to police investigators after his arrest that he and his cousin and partner in crime Angelo Buono
Angelo Buono, Jr.
Angelo Buono, Jr. was an American serial killer. Buono and his cousin Kenneth Bianchi together are known as the Hillside Stranglers.-Early life:...
had stopped Catharine Lorre disguised as police officers with the intent of abducting and murdering her in 1977, but after learning that she was the daughter of Peter Lorre, the pair let her go. It was only after Bianchi was arrested that Catharine Lorre realized whom she had met. Catharine died in 1985 of complications arising from diabetes.
In 1963 an actor named Eugene Weingand, who was unrelated to Lorre, attempted to trade on his slight resemblance to the actor by changing his name to "Peter Lorie", but his petition was rejected by the courts. After Lorre's death, however, he referred to himself as Lorre's son.
Health and death
Overweight and never fully recovered from his addiction to morphine, Lorre suffered many personal and career disappointments in his later years. He died in 1964 of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. Lorre's body was cremated and his ashes interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
in Hollywood. Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
read the eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
at his funeral.
Legacy and mimicry
Lorre has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, at 6619 Hollywood Boulevard.
Lorre's distinctive accent and large-eyed face became a favorite target of comedians and cartoonists. For example, several Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoons used a caricature of Lorre's face with an impression by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
, including Birth of a Notion, Hair-Raising Hare
Hair-Raising Hare
Hair-Raising Hare is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, released in 1946. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce...
and Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit is a 1946 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. It stars Bugs Bunny, who duels with a pair of racketeers or gangsters, Rocky and Hugo forerunners who resemble Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre...
.
Books and comics
In the early 1940s, the adventures of BatmanBatman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
and Robin
Robin (comics)
Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...
appeared in daily newspapers. One story, The Two-Bit Dictator of Twin Mills, drawn by Batman co-creator Bob Kane
Bob Kane
Bob Kane was an American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman...
, featured a hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
called Jojo who was, according to writer Al Schwartz
Al Schwartz
Al Schwartz was an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, television producer, and director. He was the brother of Sherwood Schwartz, the creator and producer of Gilligan's Island.-External links:...
, made to look like Lorre.
Films, television, and music
Musician and filker Tom SmithTom Smith (filker)
Tom Smith is a singer-songwriter from , who got his start in the filk music community. He is a fourteen-time winner of the Pegasus Award for excellence in filking, including awards for his "A Boy and His Frog", "307 Ale", and "The Return of the King ", and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in...
won a Pegasus award for Best Classic Filk
Filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
Song in 2006 entitled "I Want to be Peter Lorre" which appears on his filk album "Homecoming: MarCon 2005", which includes his vocal impersonation of the actor.
The Jazz Butcher's song "Peter Lorre" was first featured on the group's Conspiracy album, which was released in May 1986.
The stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
film Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride, often promoted as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, is a 2005 stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter ...
features "The Maggot", a small green worm who lives inside the title character's head. His features and voice (provided by Enn Reitel
Enn Reitel
Enn Reitel is a Scottish actor and impressionist who specialises in voice work.- Early life :Reitel's family arrived in Scotland as refugees from Estonia, German Empire...
) are caricatures of Peter Lorre.
"From the very beginning Tim wanted the Maggot to be a Peter Lorre-esque character, and we had a good time working with that and it went through various design changes," said co-director Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson (animator)
Mike Johnson is a stop motion animator who has worked on films such as James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas, short films such as an animation of The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and TV programmes such as The PJs...
in the book Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: An Invitation to the Wedding.
On September 11, 2007 Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
-based punk band The World/Inferno Friendship Society
The World/Inferno Friendship Society
The World/Inferno Friendship Society is a band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merges punk, soul, klezmer and jazz, while its collective membership features horns, piano and guitar. The ensemble has over 30 members, including a former member of Dexys Midnight Runners. About nine or ten members...
released a full-length album about Lorre called Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century
Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century
Addicted to Bad Ideas is the fifth album by The World/Inferno Friendship Society, and their second for Chunksaah Records. Subtitled "Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century", the release is a concept album inspired by the life and films of actor Peter Lorre....
, which traces Lorre's film career, drug addiction, and death. It has been performed at the Famous Spiegeltent
Spiegeltent
A Spiegeltent is a large travelling tent, constructed in wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue...
. The album was subsequently adapted into a multi-media stage production directed by Jay Scheib, which premiered at Webster Hall
Webster Hall
Webster Hall is a nightclub located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1886, its current incarnation was opened by the Ballinger Brothers in 1992...
in New York City on January 9, 2009, and went on to play major arts festivals around the world, including Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
(Charleston, SC), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Noorderzon Festival (Groningen, Holland) and Theaterformen (Hanover, Germany).
Filmography
- Die Verschwundene Frau (1929) (uncredited)
- Der weiße Teufel (1930) aka The White Devil
- Mann ist Mann (1931) aka A Man's a Man
- M (1931)
- Bomben auf Monte CarloMonte Carlo MadnesMonte Carlo Madnes is a 1931 German musical comedy film directed by Hanns Schwarz and starring Hans Albers, Anna Sten and Heinz Rühmann. It is based on the 1930 novel Bomben auf Monte Carlo by Fritz Reck-Malleczewen. A separate English language version Monte Carlo Madness and a French version Le...
(1931) aka Bombs Over Monte Carlo - Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (1931)
- Fünf von der Jazzband (1932)
- Schuß im Morgengrauen (1932)
- Der weiße Dämon (1932) aka Dope
- Stupéfiants (1932)
- F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932)
- Les Requins du pétrole (1933)
- Du haut en basHigh and Low (1933 film)High and Low is a 1933 French drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.-Cast:* Ariane Borg – * Pauline Carton – Seamstress* Janine Crispin – Marie de Ferstel * Christiane Delyne* Jean Gabin – Charles Boulla...
(1933) - Was Frauen träumen (1933)
- Unsichtbare Gegner (1933)
- The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)The Man Who Knew Too Much is a British suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period....
(1934) - Mad LoveMad Love (1935 film)Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's...
(1935) - Crime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment (1935 American film)Crime and Punishment is a 1935 film directed by Josef von Sternberg for Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was adapted by Joseph Anthony and S.K. Lauren from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same title...
(1935) - Secret Agent (1936)
- Crack-Up (1936)
- Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937)
- Think Fast, Mr. MotoThink Fast, Mr. MotoThink Fast, Mr. Moto is a 1937 film about a mysterious Japanese detective named Mr. Moto. It is the first of eight films in the Mr. Moto series, which are all based on Mr. Moto novels written by John P. Marquand. The film stars Peter Lorre as the title character, as well as Virginia Field and...
(1937) - Lancer SpyLancer SpyLancer Spy is a 1937 film about an Englishman who impersonates a German officer, receiving fame upon arriving in Germany. A female German spy is instructed to check on him but falls in love with him instead.-Cast:...
(1937) - Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)
- Mr. Moto's GambleMr. Moto's GambleMr. Moto's Gamble is the third film in the Mr. Moto series starring Peter Lorre as the title character. It was released in 1938. It was originally intended to be a Charlie Chan film called Charlie Chan at Ringside, but Warner Oland, who had played Chan in several previous films, left the set after...
(1938) - Mr. Moto Takes a ChanceMr. Moto Takes a ChanceMr. Moto Takes a Chance is the fourth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. The film is based on the character of Mr. Moto created by John P. Marquand, and an original story by Norman Foster and Willis Cooper called Look Out, Mr. Moto.-Plot:Over the ruins of Angkor Wat in...
(1938) - I'll Give a MillionI'll Give a MillionI'll Give a Million is a 1936 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Vittorio De Sica. It is based on the first screenplay by Cesare Zavattini.-Cast:* Vittorio De Sica - Gold* Assia Noris - Anna* Luigi Almirante - Blim...
(1938) - Mysterious Mr. MotoMysterious Mr. MotoMysterious Mr. Moto is the fifth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto produced in 1938 by Twentieth Century Fox. The film is based on the character of Mr. Moto created by John P. Marquand, and an original screenplay by Philip MacDonald and Norman Foster.-Synopsis:The film...
(1938) - Mr. Moto's Last WarningMr. Moto's Last WarningMr. Moto’s Last Warning is the sixth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. The film is an original story featuring a character created by John P. Marquand.-Plot:...
(1939) - Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939)
- Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)
- Strange CargoStrange Cargo (1940 film)Strange Cargo is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in a story about a group of fugitive prisoners from a French penal colony. The screenplay by Lawrence Hazard was based upon the 1936 novel, Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep, by Richard Sale. The film was...
(1940) - I Was an AdventuressI Was an AdventuressI Was an Adventuress is a 1940 Drama directed by Gregory Ratoff, starring Vera Zorina, Richard Greene, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre. Actress/ballerina Countess Tanya Vronsky is a phony countess, working in concert with two international con artists Andre Desormeaux and Polo .-Cast:* Vera...
(1940) - Island of Doomed MenIsland of Doomed MenIsland of Doomed Men is a black-and-white 1940 film, released by Columbia Pictures, which was directed by Charles Barton from a screenplay by Robert Hardy Andrews.-Plot:...
(1940) - Stranger on the Third FloorStranger on the Third FloorStranger on the Third Floor is a film noir thriller, featuring Peter Lorre, co-written by Nathaniel West, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The picture was directed by Boris Ingster....
(1940) - You'll Find OutYou'll Find OutYou'll Find Out is a 1940 comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Boris Karloff. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Original Song...
(1940) - Der Ewige Jude (1940) (archive footage)
- The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
- Mr. District Attorney (1941)
- They Met in BombayThey Met in BombayThey Met in Bombay is a 1941 American drama film adventure directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre.-Plot:...
(1941) - The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon (1941 film)The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
(1941) - All Through the NightAll Through the Night (film)All Through the Night is a light-hearted thriller film released by Warner Brothers in 1941, starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by Vincent Sherman.-Plot:An elderly baker named Miller is murdered by a sinister stranger...
(1941) - Invisible AgentInvisible AgentInvisible Agent is a 1942 science fiction film from Universal. This movie was a war-time propaganda production that was part of a Hollywood effort to boost morale at the home front. It loosely echoed a series of formula war-horror films produced during this period that typically featured a mad...
(1942) - The Boogie Man Will Get YouThe Boogie Man Will Get YouThe Boogie Man Will Get You is a 1942 comedy horror film, directed by Lew Landers and starring Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. One of six pictures Karloff made with Columbia...
(1942) - CasablancaCasablanca (film)Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
(1942) - The Constant NymphThe Constant Nymph (1943 film)The Constant Nymph is a 1943 romantic drama film starring Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, Dame May Whitty and Peter Lorre...
(1943) - Background to DangerBackground to DangerBackground to Danger is a 1943 film starring George Raft and featuring Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. Based on the novel of the same title by Eric Ambler and set in Turkey , the screenplay was credited to W.R. Burnett, although William Faulkner also contributed, and the movie...
(1943) - The Cross of LorraineThe Cross of LorraineThe Cross of Lorraine is a 1943 war film about French prisoners of war held by the Germans in World War II. It stars Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gene Kelly and was adapted from Hans Habe's novel A Thousand Shall Fall.-Cast:*Jean-Pierre Aumont as Paul...
(1943) - Passage to MarseillePassage to MarseillePassage to Marseille is a 1944 war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel Sans Patrie by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall...
(1944) - The Mask of DimitriosThe Mask of DimitriosThe Mask of Dimitrios is an American film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same name written by Eric Ambler . Ambler is known as a major influence on writers and an inventor of the modern thriller genre...
(1944) - Arsenic and Old LaceArsenic and Old Lace (film)Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version...
(1944) - The ConspiratorsThe ConspiratorsThe Conspirators is a 1944 film directed by Jean Negulesco. It stars Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid.-Cast:*Hedy Lamarr as Irene Von Mohr*Paul Henreid as Vincent Van Der Lyn*Sydney Greenstreet as Ricardo Quintanilla*Peter Lorre as Jan Bernazsky...
(1944) - Hollywood CanteenHollywood Canteen (1944 film)Hollywood Canteen is a 1944 Warner Bros. film starring Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, and Dane Clark. The film was written and directed by Delmer Daves, and is notable for featuring many stars in cameo roles...
(1944) - Hotel BerlinHotel BerlinHotel Berlin is a film set in Berlin near the close of the Second World War, made by Warner Brothers in late 1944 - early 1945. The film was released in March, 1945....
(1945) - Confidential AgentConfidential AgentConfidential Agent is a 1945 spy film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Herman Shumlin and produced by Robert Buckner with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay was by Robert Buckner, based on the novel The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene...
(1945) - Three StrangersThree StrangersThree Strangers is a Warner Bros. crime drama, starring Peter Lorre, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Sydney Greenstreet, featuring Joan Lorring and Alan Napier. It was directed by Jean Negulesco from a script by John Huston and Howard Koch.-Plot:...
(1946) - Black AngelBlack AngelBlack Angel is a 1946 film noir, based on the novel The Black Angel by Cornell Woolrich. The film was director Roy William Neill's last film.-Plot:...
(1946) - The ChaseThe Chase (1946 film)The Chase is an American film noir, shot in black and white, directed by Arthur Ripley. The screenplay is based on the Cornell Woolrich novel The Black Path of Fear...
(1946) - The VerdictThe Verdict (1946 film)The Verdict is a 1946 film-noir drama directed by Don Siegel and written by Israel Zangwill and Peter Milne, based on Zangwill's novel The Big Bow Mystery. The film stars Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in one of their nine film pairings, as well as Joan Lorring and George Coulouris. Ian Wolfe...
(1946) - The Beast with Five FingersThe Beast with Five FingersThe Beast with Five Fingers is a horror film directed by Robert Florey and with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak, based on a short story by W. F. Harvey first published in the New Decameron. The original music score was composed by Max Steiner...
(1946) - My Favorite BrunetteMy Favorite BrunetteMy Favorite Brunette is a 1947 movie spoofing movie detectives and the film noir style. Starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, it also features Lon Chaney, Jr...
(1947) - CasbahCasbah (film)Casbah is a musical film directed by John Berry, starring Yvonne DeCarlo and Tony Martin, and released by Universal Studios.-Plot:...
(1948) - Rope of SandRope of SandRope 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) - QuicksandQuicksand (1950 film)Quicksand is a United Artists film noir starring Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre in a story about a garage mechanic's descent into crime. The film has been described as "film noir in a teacup.....
(1950) - Double ConfessionDouble ConfessionDouble Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Peter Lorre and William Hartnell....
(1950) - Der VerloreneDer VerloreneDer Verlorene is a critically acclaimed German language art film in the film noir style. Based on a true story, Peter Lorre wrote, directed, and starred in this film, his only film as director or writer. The film's name has been used as the title of his biography.-Further reading:* * -External...
(1951) (also wrote and directed) - Beat the Devil (1953)
- Casino RoyaleCasino Royale (Climax!)Casino Royale is a 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre...
, a episode of the television series Climax! - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 adventure film starring Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax, and Peter Lorre as Conseil. It was the first science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Productions, as well as the only science-fiction...
(1954) - Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
- Meet Me in Las VegasMeet Me in Las VegasMeet Me in Las Vegas is an MGM musical comedy produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Roy Rowland filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope. The film has a running time of 112 minutes.-Cast and crew:...
(1956) (uncredited) - Congo CrossingCongo CrossingCongo Crossing is a 1956 adventure film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Virginia Mayo and George Nader. Most of the exterior sequences were shot in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.-Plot synopsis:...
(1956) - The Buster Keaton Story (1957)
- Silk StockingsSilk Stockings (film)Silk Stockings is a 1957 MGM musical film remake of Ninotchka. It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse...
(1957) - The Story of MankindThe Story of MankindThe Story of Mankind was written and illustrated by American journalist, professor, and author Hendrik Willem van Loon and published in 1921...
(1957) - The Sad SackThe Sad SackThe Sad Sack is a 1957 Paramount Pictures comedy film starring Jerry Lewis and Peter Lorre.-Plot:Lewis plays Private Meredith Bixby, who cannot fall in line with army procedure, even though he has had 17 months of training. A psychologist , is assigned to make him into a good soldier, and she...
(1957) - Hell Ship MutinyHell Ship MutinyHell Ship Mutiny is a 1957 American film directed by Lee Sholem and Elmo Williams.- Cast :*Jon Hall as Capt. Jim Knight*John Carradine as Malone*Peter Lorre as Commissioner Lamoret*Roberta Haynes as Princess Mareva*Mike Mazurki as Ross, chief henchman...
(1957) - The Big CircusThe Big CircusThe Big Circus is a 1959 film starring Victor Mature as a circus owner struggling with financial trouble and a murderous unknown saboteur.-Cast:*Victor Mature as Henry Jasper 'Hank' Whirling*Red Buttons as Randy Sherman*Rhonda Fleming as Helen Harrison...
(1959) - Scent of MysteryScent of MysteryScent of Mystery is a 1960 mystery film that featured the one and only use of Smell-O-Vision, a system that timed odors to points in the film's plot. It was the first film in which aromas were integral to the story, providing important details to the audience...
(1960) - Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaVoyage to the Bottom of the SeaVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea is an American science fiction film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released by 20th Century Fox in 1961. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane...
(1961) - Tales of Terror (1962)
- Five Weeks in a BalloonFive Weeks in a Balloon (film)Five Weeks in a Balloon is a 1962 science fiction adventure film loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne filmed in CinemaScope. It was produced and directed by Irwin Allen; his last feature film in the 1960s before moving to producing several science fiction television series. ...
(1962) - The RavenThe Raven (1963 film)The Raven is a B movie horror-comedy produced and directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff as a trio of rival sorcerers. Part of a series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations produced by Corman through American International Pictures, the film was written by...
(1963) - The Comedy of TerrorsThe Comedy of TerrorsThe Comedy of Terrors is an American International Pictures comedy horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, and Joe E. Brown . The film also features Orangey the cat, billed as "Rhubarb the Cat"...
(1964) - Muscle Beach PartyMuscle Beach PartyMuscle Beach Party is the second of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures. It was made in 1964 and was directed by William Asher, who also directed four other films in this series...
(1964) - The Patsy (1964)
External links
- Watch Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang's M
- The Lorre Library of Sound
- The Peter Lorre Companion
- Photographs of Peter Lorre
- The Lodger on Mystery in the Air, 1947, starring Peter Lorre and Agnes MooreheadAgnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
- Listen to Jack Benny Show 1941-03-09 (402) Guest Peter Lorre - Murder at the Racquet Club
- Listen to Jack Benny Podcast 1946-03-24 (579) Guest Peter Lorre - I Stand Condemned
- Mystery in the Air (1947)