With his sharp glare, pockmarked cheeks, clipped speech pattern and menacing air, Marc Lawrence had certainly carved a reputation for himself as one of the screen's finest character actors for villainous
roles. Lawrence, whose career was harmed by the
Hollywood blacklist in the '50s, died of natural causes on November 27 at his home in Palm Springs. He was 95.
Born Max Goldsmith on February 17, 1910, in the Bronx, Lawrence had his heart set on a career in drama right out of high school. He enrolled at City College of New York to study theatre, and in 1930, he worked under famed stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. Anxious for a career in movies, Lawrence moved to Hollywood in
1932 and found work immediately as a contract player with Warner Bros. (an ideal studio for the actor since they specialized in crime dramas). He was cast as a heavy in his first film,
If I Had a Million (1932). Although his first few parts were uncredited, Lawrence's roles grew more prominent: a sinister henchman in the Paul Muni vehicle in
Dr.
Socrates (1935); a conniving convict aiding Pat O'Brien in
San Quentin (1937); a menacing thug stalking Dorothy Lamour in
Johnny Apollo (1940); the shrewdly observant chauffeur in Alan Ladd's breakthrough hit
This Gun For Hire (1942); and one of his most memorable roles as Ziggy, a fedora wearing mobster in the Bogart-Bacall noir classic
Key Largo (1948).
Lawrence, when given the opportunity, could play against type: as the prosecuting attorney challenging Tyrone Power in
Brigham Young (1940); a noble aristocrat in the Greer Garson-Walter Pidgeon period opus
Blossoms in the Dust; and most impressively, as a deaf mute simpleton in the rustic drama
The Shepherd of the Hills (both 1941).
Better still was Lawrence's skill at comedy, where his deadpan toughness worked terrifically as a straight man against the likes of Joe E. Brown in
Beware Spooks (1939); Abbott and Costello in
Hit the Ice (1943); Penny Singleton in
Life with Blondie (1945); and Bob Hope in
My Favorite Spy (1951).
After that, Lawrence's career took a turn downward spin when he was labeled a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood witch hunts of the early '50s.
He was exiled in Europe for a spell (1951-59), and when he came back, the film industry turned a blind eye to him, but television overcompensated for that. Here he played effective villains (what else?) in a series of crime caper programs:
Peter Gunn,
Johnny Staccato,
The Untouchables,
Richard Diamond, Private Detective; and eventually made a welcome return to the big screen as a returning exiled gangster in William Asher's underrated mob thriller
Johnny Cool (1963).
It wasn't long before Lawrence found himself back in the fray playing in some big box-office hits over the next two decades:
Diamonds Are Forever (1971),
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974),
Marathon Man (1976),
Foul Play (1978); and
The Big Easy (1987). Sure he was cast as a gangster, but nobody could play a rough and tumble mob boss with more style or conviction.
Interestingly, one of his finest performances in recent years was in television, as a severely ill old man unwilling to accept his fate in a fourth season episode of
ER (1997-98). His last screen role was just two years ago, as a nimble minded VP in
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).
In 1991, Lawrence published a memoir about his venerable career,
Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster that received much critical acclaim. He has also developed a cult following due to his appearances in such offbeat items as
From Dusk to Dawn and
Pigs aka
Daddy's Deadly Darling, the 1972 horror film he directed and starred in with his daughter Toni. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; two children from a previous marriage, Toni and Michael; and a stepdaughter Marina.
by Michael T. Toole
