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The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

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The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

Editorial review of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre courtesy of Amazon.com

Often typecast as a menacing figure, Peter Lorre achieved Hollywood fame first as a featured player and later as a character actor, trademarking his screen performances with a delicately strung balance between good and evil. His portrayal of the child murderer in Fritz Langs masterpiece M (1931) catapulted him to international fame. Lang said of Lorre: He gave one of the best performances in film history and certainly the best in his life. Today, the Hungarian-born actor is also recognized for his riveting performances in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942). Lorre arrived in America in 1934 expecting to shed his screen image as a villain. He even tried to lose his signature accent, but Hollywood repeatedly cast him as an outsider who hinted at things better left unknown.

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Boris Karloff doing his children's radio show at WNEW

Boris Karloff biography

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William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 — 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English  actor.

He was widely known for his roles in horror films, particularly for his portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1931),  Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which resulted in his immense popularity. His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  (1966). He also had a memorable role in the original Scarface (1932). For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Nan Gray in Dracula's Daughter

Nan Grey

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Biography of Nan Grey (July 25, 1918 – July 25, 1993)

Nan Grey was born Eschal Loleet Grey Miller on July 25, 1918 in Houston, Texas.  On a vacation to Hollywood with her mother, a friend persuaded her to take a screen test.  She began a career in motion pictures starting that same year.

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Peter Cushing as Dr. Franck, Frankenstein's new alias -- and new body as well

Peter Cushing biography

Peter Cushing in Revenge of Frankenstein

Peter Cushing, OBE (26 May 1913 — 11 August 1994) was an English actor and a BAFTA TV Award Best Actor winner in 1956. He is mainly known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, among many other roles. He appeared frequently opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally Vincent Price. A familiar face on both sides of the Atlantic, Cushing’s best-known roles outside the Hammer productions include Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars movie (1977) and Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks — Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966), films based on the Doctor Who television series.

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Vincent Price as Robar, captain of the Albatross, The Master of the World

Vincent Price biography

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Vincent Price biography (1911-1993)

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. (May 27, 1911 — October 25, 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic performances in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.

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Peter Lorre as the Commodore in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Peter Lorre biography

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Peter Lorre biography (1904-1964)

Peter Lorre caused an international sensation with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M (1931). He later became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries (in particular with Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet), and, though frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner, became star of the successful Mr. Moto detective series.

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Lon Chaney Jr. biography

Lon Chaney Jr. biography

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Lon Chaney, Jr. (February  10, 1906 — July   12, 1973), born Creighton Tull Chaney, son of the iconic silent film actor Lon Chaney, was an American actor known for playing the titular role in the 1941 film The Wolf Man and its various crossovers, as well as portraying other monsters such as The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Count Alucard (son of Dracula) in numerous horror films produced by Universal Studios.  He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939). Originally referenced in films as Creighton Chaney, he was later credited as “Lon Chaney, Jr.” in 1935, and after 1941’s Man Made Monster, beginning as early as The Wolf Man later that same year, he was almost always billed under his more famous father’s name as Lon Chaney. Chaney had English, French and Irish ancestry. His career in movies and television spanned four decades, from 1931 to 1971.

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John Barrymore

John Barrymore biography

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John Barrymore

John Barrymore, American stage and screen actor whose rise to super-stardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical family in America, he was also its most acclaimed star. His father was Maurice Blyth (or Blythe; family spellings vary), a stage success under the name ‘Maurice Barrymore’. His mother, Georgie Drew, was the daughter of actor John Drew. Although well known in the theater, Maurice and Georgie were eclipsed by their three children, John, Lionel Barrymore, and Ethel Barrymore, each of whom became legendary stars.

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Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life

Lust for Life

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Lust for Life (1956) starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, directed by Vincente Minelli

 In short, Kirk Douglas shines in his performance as Vincent van Gogh. Kirk Douglas gave many great performances in his career, but none better than in  Lust for Life. He portrays the Dutch painter, a brilliant artist that was tragically tormented by depression and mental illness.

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