Editing Peter Lorre (section)

== Acting career ==

=== In Europe (1922–1934) ===
[[File:Mostro1.jpg|upright|thumb|{{center|Lorre in ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931)}}]]
[[File:Mostro2.jpg|upright|thumb|{{center|Lorre (left) in ''M'' (1931)}}]]

Lorre began acting on stage in Vienna aged 17, where he worked with Viennese [[Art Nouveau]] artist and [[puppeteer]] [[:de:Richard Teschner|Richard Teschner]]. He then moved to [[Breslau]] and later to [[Zürich]]. In the late 1920s, the actor<ref>[http://www.peterlorrebook.com/faq01.html#tall "Per Lorre FAQ"], Stephen D. Youngkin's Peter Lorre website</ref> moved to Berlin, where he worked with [[Bertolt Brecht]], including a role in Brecht's ''[[Man Equals Man]]'' and as Dr. Nakamura in the musical ''[[Happy End (musical)|Happy End]]''.

The actor became much better known after director [[Fritz Lang]] cast him as [[pedicide|child-killer]] Hans Beckert in ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931), a film reputedly inspired by the [[Peter Kürten]] case.<ref name="Packer88">Sharon Packer [https://books.google.com/books?id=CX4goUP_yh0C&pg=PA88 ''Movies and the Modern Psyche''], Westport, CN: Praeger, 2007, p. 88</ref> Lang said that he had Lorre in mind for the part and did not give him a screen test because he was already convinced Lorre was perfect for the part.<ref>Barry Keith Grant (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=xxX-epJIzo0C&pg=PA78 ''Fritz Lang: Interviews''], University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 78</ref>  He also stated that the actor gave his best performance in ''M'' and that it was among the most distinguished in film history.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=64}} Sharon Packer observed that Lorre played the "loner, [and] schizotypal murderer" with "raspy voice, bulging eyes, and emotive acting (a holdover from the silent screen) [which] always make him memorable."<ref name="Packer88" />

In 1932, Lorre 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]], associate producer for ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1934),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Brent |date=2019-11-19 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-man-who-knew-too-much-1934 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Brenton Film |language=en-GB}}</ref> who reminded the film's director, [[Alfred Hitchcock]], about Lorre's performance in ''M''. They considered him to play the [[assassin]], but wanted to use him in a larger role despite his limited command of English,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/104984 |title=The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically.  In ''[[The Guardian]],'' September 2014, Michael Newton wrote, "Lorre cannot help but steal each scene; he's a physically present actor, often, you feel, surrounded as he is by the pallid English, the only one in the room with a body."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Michael |title=Peter Lorre: master of the macabre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/12/peter-lorre-master-macabre-bfi |access-date=20 June 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=12 September 2014}}</ref>

Lorre and his first wife, actress [[Celia Lovsky]], boarded the [[Cunard-White Star Line]]r [[RMS Majestic (1914)|RMS Majestic]] in Southampton on July 18, 1934, to sail for New York a day after shooting had been completed on ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', having gained visitor's visas to the United States.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=98}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.peterlorrebook.com/faq01.html | title=The Lost One – A Life of Peter Lorre }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://epdf.pub/the-lost-one-a-life-of-peter-lorre.html | title=The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre - PDF Free Download }}</ref>

After his first two American films, Lorre returned to England to feature in Hitchcock's ''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'' (1936).<ref name="French">Philip French [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/peter-lorre-by-philip-french-m-huston-bogart-hitchcock-bacall "Peter Lorre: a great screen actor remembered"], ''The Observer'', August 31, 2014.</ref>

=== First years in Hollywood (1935–1940) ===
Lorre settled in Hollywood and was soon under contract to [[Columbia Pictures]], which had difficulty finding parts suitable for him. After some months of research, Lorre decided on ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' by [[Dostoevsky]] as a suitable project with himself in the central role. Columbia's head [[Harry Cohn]] agreed to make the film adaptation on the condition that he could lend Lorre to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], possibly as a means of recouping the cost of Lorre not appearing in any of his films.<ref>Sarah Thomas [https://books.google.com/books?id=2zQuleUmBXQC&pg=PA56 ''Peter Lorre, Face Maker: Stardom and Performance Between Hollywood and Europe''], Berghahn Books, 2012, p. 56</ref>

For MGM's ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' (1935), set in Paris and directed by [[Karl Freund]], Lorre's head was shaved for the role of Dr. Gogol, a demented surgeon who replaces the wrecked hands of a concert pianist with those of an executed knife murderer. An actress who works at the nearby [[Grand Guignol]] theater, who happens to be the pianist's wife, is the subject of Gogol's unwelcome infatuation.<ref>Bartłomiej Paszylk [https://books.google.com/books?id=SWCx_jpxkdwC&pg=PA34 ''The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey''], Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009, pp. 34–36</ref> "Lorre triumphs superbly in a characterization that is sheer horror", ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' commented. "There is perhaps no one who can be so repulsive and so utterly wicked. No one who can smile so disarmingly and still sneer. His face is his fortune".<ref>Gregory William Mank [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zyyf9E7OAlkC&pg=PA147 ''Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre's Golden Age''], Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994 [2001], p. 147</ref>
[[File:Crime and Punishment (film) 1935. Josef von Sternberg, director. L to R Edward Arnold, Peter Lorre.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]] and Lorre in ''[[Crime and Punishment (1935 American film)|Crime and Punishment]]'' (1935)]]
Lorre followed ''Mad Love'' with the lead role in ''[[Crime and Punishment (1935 American film)|Crime and Punishment]]'' (also 1935) directed by [[Josef von Sternberg]]. "Although Peter Lorre is occasionally able to give the film a frightening pathological significance," wrote [[Andre Sennwald]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' on the film's release, "this is scarcely Dostoievsky's drama of a tortured brain drifting into madness with a terrible secret."<ref>John Baxter [https://books.google.com/books?id=nuSpdN_zj5YC&pg=PA197 ''Von Sternberg''], Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2010, p. 197</ref> Columbia offered him a five-year contract at $1,000 a week ({{Inflation|US|1000|1935|r=0|fmt=eq}}), but he declined.<ref name="ShipmanGMS2">David Shipman ''The Great Movie Stars: 2, The International Years'', London: Macdonald, 1989, pp. 336–38</ref>

Returning from England after appearing in a second Hitchcock picture (''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'', 1936), he was offered and accepted a 3-year contract with [[20th Century Fox]].<ref name="ShipmanGMS2" /> Starring in a series of [[Mr. Moto]] movies, Lorre played [[John P. Marquand]]'s character, a Japanese detective and spy. Initially positive about the films, he soon grew frustrated. "The role is childish," he said, and eventually tended to dismiss the films entirely.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|pp=156–57}} He twisted his shoulder during a stunt in ''[[Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation]]'' (1939),{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=156}} the penultimate entry of the series. In 1939, he attended a lunch at the request of some visiting Japanese officials; Lorre wore a badge that read "Boycott Japanese goods."<ref>Leonard Lyons. "The New Yorker". ''The Washington Post'' (1923–1954) [Washington, D.C.] July 1, 1939, p. 6</ref>
[[File:Think Fast, Mr. Moto trailer.png|thumb|right|With [[Sig Ruman]] in ''[[Think Fast, Mr. Moto]]'' (1937)]]
Late in 1938, [[Universal Pictures]] wanted to borrow Lorre from Fox for the top-billed titular role ultimately performed by [[Basil Rathbone]] in ''[[Son of Frankenstein]]'' (1939) starring [[Boris Karloff]] as [[Frankenstein's monster]] and [[Bela Lugosi]] as [[Igor (character)|Ygor]]. Lorre declined the role because he thought his menacing parts were now behind him, although he was ill at this time.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=164}} He had tested successfully in 1937 for the role of [[Quasimodo]] in an aborted MGM version of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame]]'', according to a Fox publicist one of two roles Lorre most wanted to play (the other was [[Napoleon]]).{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=163}} Frustrated by broken promises from Fox, Lorre managed to end his contract.

After a brief period as a freelance, he signed for two pictures at [[RKO]] in May 1940.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|pp=164–68}} In the first of these, Lorre appeared as the anonymous lead in the B-picture ''[[Stranger on the Third Floor]]'' (1940), reputedly the first [[film noir]].<ref>Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'', New York & WoodstocK: Overlook Press, 1992, p. 269</ref> The second RKO film, also in 1940, was ''[[You'll Find Out]]'', a musical comedy mystery vehicle for bandleader [[Kay Kyser]] in which Lorre spoofed his sinister image alongside horror stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=170}}

=== Mainly at Warner Bros. (1941–1946) ===
[[File:GutmanCairoMaltFalc1941Trailer.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Sydney Greenstreet]] (left) and Lorre in ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' (1941), the first of their nine films together]]
[[File:CreditLorreMaltFalc1941Trailer.jpg|upright|thumb|Lorre in the 1941 trailer for ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'']]
[[File:Maltese-Falcon-Tell-the-Truth-1941.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Mary Astor]], [[Barton MacLane]], Lorre, and [[Ward Bond]] in ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'']]
[[File:Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart The Maltese Falcon Still.jpg|thumb|upright|With Humphrey Bogart in ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1941)]]
In 1941, Lorre became a naturalized citizen of the United States.<ref>Jennifer Fay [https://books.google.com/books?id=jzNtC1VK-48C&pg=PA65 ''Theaters of Occupation: Hollywood and the Reeducation of Postwar Germany''], Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, p. 65</ref> Director [[John Huston]] saved him from more B-pictures by casting him in ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]''.<ref name="Thomas90">Sarah Thomas [https://books.google.com/books?id=2zQuleUmBXQC&pg=PA90 ''Peter Lorre, Face Maker: Stardom and Performance Between Hollywood and Europe''], Berghahn Books, 2012, p. 90</ref>{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=178}} Although [[Warner Bros.]] was lukewarm, Huston was keen for him to play Joel Cairo, observing that Lorre "had that clear combination of braininess and real innocence, and sophistication... He's always doing two things at the same time, thinking one thing and saying something else."{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=178}} Lorre himself reminisced fondly in 1962 about the "stock company" he now found himself working with: [[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Sydney Greenstreet]] and [[Claude Rains]]. In his view, the four of them had the rare ability to "switch an audience from laughter to seriousness."{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=162}}

Lorre was contracted to Warner on a picture-by-picture basis until 1943 when he signed a five-year contract, renewable each year, which lasted until 1946.<ref name="Thomas90" />

The year after ''Maltese Falcon'', he portrayed the character Ugarte in ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942). While Ugarte is a small part, it is he who provides Rick with the "Letters of Transit", a key plot device. Lorre made nine movies with Sydney Greenstreet counting ''The Maltese Falcon'' and ''Casablanca'', a team which came to be called "Little Pete-Big Syd", although they did not always have much screen time in joint scenes.<ref>Wesley Alan Britton [https://books.google.com/books?id=2YzSFuZeZZkC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46 ''Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage''], Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006, p. 46</ref> Most of these motion pictures were variations on ''Casablanca'', including ''[[Background to Danger]]'' (1943, with [[George Raft]]); ''[[Passage to Marseille]]'' (1944), reuniting them with Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains; ''[[The Mask of Dimitrios]]'' (1944); ''[[The Conspirators (1944 film)|The Conspirators]]'' (1944, with [[Hedy Lamarr]] and [[Paul Henreid]]); ''[[Hollywood Canteen (film)|Hollywood Canteen]]'' (1944); ''[[Three Strangers]]'' (1946), a suspense film about three people who are joint partners on a winning lottery ticket, with third-billed Lorre cast against type by director [[Jean Negulesco]] as the romantic lead, also starring [[Geraldine Fitzgerald]]; and Greenstreet and Lorre's final film together, suspense thriller ''[[The Verdict (1946 film)|The Verdict]]'' (1946), director [[Don Siegel]]'s first feature, with Greenstreet and Lorre finally billed first and second, respectively.

Lorre returned to comedy with the role of Dr. Einstein in [[Frank Capra]]'s version of ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace (film)|Arsenic and Old Lace]]'' (released in 1944) starring [[Cary Grant]] and [[Raymond Massey]]. Writing in 1944, film critic [[Manny Farber]] described what he called Lorre's "double-take job", a characteristic dramatic flourish "where the actor's face changes rapidly from laughter, love or a security that he doesn't really feel to a face more sincerely menacing, fearful or deadpan."<ref>Farber, Manny, The New Republic, July 10, 1944</ref>

Lorre's last film for Warner was ''[[The Beast with Five Fingers]]'' (1946), a horror film in which he played a crazed astrologer who falls in love with a character played by [[Andrea King]]. Daniel Bubbeo, in ''The Women of Warner Brothers'', thought Lorre's "wildly over-the top performance" had "elevated the movie from minor horror to first-rate camp."<ref>Daniel Bubbeo [https://books.google.com/books?id=OfwMkz8vpIgC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124''The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies''], Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002, p. 124</ref>

Lorre said his continuing friendship with Bertolt Brecht, in exile in California since 1941, had led studio head [[Jack L. Warner]] to 'graylist' him, and his contract with Warner Bros. was terminated on May 13, 1946. Warner would be a "friendly" witness at his appearance before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] in May 1947.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=244}} Lorre himself was sympathetic to the short-lived [[Committee for the First Amendment]], set up by John Huston and others, and added his name to advertisements in the trade press in support of the committee.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|pp=298–299}}

=== After World War II (1947–1964) ===
[[File:Peter Lorre in Quicksand.jpg|thumb|left|Lorre in ''[[Quicksand (1950 film)|Quicksand]]'', 1950]]
After World War II and the end of his Warner contract, Lorre's acting career in Hollywood experienced a downturn<ref name="Billson">Anne Billson [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/10703031/Peter-Lorre-one-of-cinemas-most-deliciously-sinister-presences.html "Peter Lorre: one of cinema's most deliciously sinister presences"], ''The Sunday Telegraph'', March 23, 2014</ref>  He concentrated on radio and stage work. In 1949, he filed for bankruptcy.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=309}} In the autumn of 1950, he traveled to [[West Germany]] to make the film noir ''[[Der Verlorene]]'' (''The Lost One'', 1951) which Lorre co-wrote, directed and starred in. According to Gerd Gemünden in ''Continental Strangers: German Exile Cinema, 1933–1951'', with the exception of [[Josef von Báky]]'s ''Der Ruf'' (''[[The Last Illusion]]'', 1949), it is the only film by an emigrant from Germany which uses a return to the country "addressing questions of guilt and responsibility; of accountability and justice." While it gained some critical approval, audiences avoided it and it did badly at the box office.<ref name="Gemünden161">Gerd Gemünden [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NGrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 ''Continental Strangers: German Exile Cinema, 1933–1951''], New York: Coluimbia University Press, 2014, pp. 161–62</ref>
[[File:Vincent Price holding replica of Peter Lorre's head.jpg|right|thumb|[[Vincent Price]] holding a replica of Lorre's head to publicize ''[[Tales of Terror]]'' (1962)]]
In February 1952, Lorre returned to the United States,<ref name="Gemünden161" /> where he resumed appearances as a character actor in television and feature films, often parodying his "creepy" image. He was the first actor to play a ''[[James Bond]]'' villain<ref name="French" /> when he portrayed [[Le Chiffre]] in a 1954 [[Casino Royale (Climax!)|television adaptation]] of [[Ian Fleming]]'s novel ''[[Casino Royale (novel)|Casino Royale]]'', opposite [[Barry Nelson]] as an American [[James Bond (film character)|James Bond]] referred to as "Jimmy Bond". Lorre starred alongside [[Kirk Douglas]] and [[James Mason]] in ''[[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)|20,000 Leagues Under the Sea]]'' (1954) around this time. Lorre appeared in [[NBC]]'s espionage drama ''[[Five Fingers (American TV series)|Five Fingers]]'' (1959), starring [[David Hedison]], in the episode "Thin Ice", and, in 1960, in ''[[Rawhide (TV series)|Rawhide]]'' as Victor Laurier in "The Incident of the Slavemaster" and in ''[[Wagon Train]]'' as Alexander Portlass in "The Alexander Portlass Story". Lorre appeared in six episodes of ''[[Playhouse 90]]''<ref name="health problems">{{cite news |title=Peter Lorre Says He's Very Well / Stars Tonight On Playhouse 90|work=[[Mansfield News Journal]]|author=Scheuer, Steven H.|author-link=Steven H. Scheuer|date=February 24, 1960|accessdate=May 11, 2022| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59445140/peter-lorre-says-hes-very-well-stars/}}</ref> as well as two episodes of ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' broadcast in 1957 and 1960, the latter a version of the [[Roald Dahl]] short story "[[Man from the South#Television and radio adaptations|Man from the South]]" starring [[Steve McQueen]],<ref name="Billson" /> Lorre and McQueen's wife [[Neile Adams]]. He had a supporting role in the film ''[[Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea]]'' (1961).

In Lorre's last years, he worked with [[Roger Corman]] on several low-budget films, including two of the director's [[Edgar Allan Poe]] cycle: ''[[Tales of Terror]]'' (1962) with [[Vincent Price]] and [[Basil Rathbone]]; and ''[[The Raven (1963 film)|The Raven]]'' (1963), again with Price, as well as Boris Karloff and [[Jack Nicholson]]. He again worked with Price, Karloff and Rathbone in the [[Jacques Tourneur]]-directed ''[[The Comedy of Terrors]]'' (1963). He also appeared in a memorable 1962 episode of ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]'', "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing", with [[Lon Chaney Jr.]] and Boris Karloff.