The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre: The Man, The Actor
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Celia Lovsky said that Peter was "happily
unhappy" at Warner Bros. In The Maltese Falcon, Bogart put it to him
another way: "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it." As was so
often the case, Lorre's art imitated his life. Warner Bros. may well have
been a prison for a creative artist (as contract player Geraldine Fitzgerald
put it), but it kept Lorre in the public eye and paid him, if not handsomely
then at least reasonably, for his effort.
On top of that, it paired him with two actors he described as truly great:
Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet. Ironically, Lorre's highest paid
compliment to Bogart often applied to his own work as an actor – "If
you can cover a person that you play so well you become that person, then you
must be a very great actor, because Bogie, inside, he wasn't a tough man, he
was a very soft-hearted, nice man."
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The Maltese Falcon — Warner Bros.,
1941, directed by John Huston, with Peter Lorre as "Joel Cairo", one of
many in search of the fabulous gem-encrusted golden Falcon statuette.
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A Mexican lobby card advertising El Halcon Maltes
(1941), which translates as The Maltese Hawk.
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The Boogie Man Will Get You — Columbia,
1942, directed by Lew Landers, with Peter Lorre as "Dr. Lorentz",
justice of the peace, mayor, coronor, loan officer, insurance salesman,
and notary public – not to mention sheriff – in the small
town of Jenksville.
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An American one-sheet poster advertising the original
release of The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942).
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Passage to Marseille — Warner Bros.,
1944, directed by Michael Curtiz, with Peter Lorre as "Marius", the best
safecracker in Paris, a virtuoso among the pickpockets, and a patriot of
la France.
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A poster for the Mexican release of Pasaje Para
Marsella (1944) or Passage For Marseille. While most
foreign artwork shows the cast apparently dressed for Casablanca
(Warner Bros., 1942) – notably Peter Lorre in a white dinner
jacket and black bowtie – their costumes are correct in this poster.
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A Mexican lobby card for Marsella (Marseille,
1944). The ad-lines read, "Men without mother country in a world in
flames. In a dramatic odyssey by forests and seas, they fight for freedom
like those who have lost it. They live their most dangerous adventure and
they discover their most charming idyll."
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An American lobby card for the 1956 re-release of
Passage to Marseille, with Helmut Dantine and Peter Lorre in
the jungle prison camp in French Guiana.
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Arsenic and Old Lace — Warner Bros.,
1944, directed by Frank Capra, with Peter Lorre as "Dr. Einstein",
personal plastic surgeon to an international serial killer.
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A lobby card advertising the original American release
of Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), with Raymond Massey and Peter
Lorre drinking a toast to "[Massey's] dear, dead brother", the bound
and gagged Cary Grant.
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Except where noted, all images are from the collection of
Stephen Youngkin. For a larger view, click on the thumbnail. A new window
will open.
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The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005)
by Stephen Youngkin – now in its third printing and winner of the
Rondo Award for "Best Book of 2005" – is available in bookstores
everywhere, as well as these on-line merchants.
The Films of Peter Lorre (1982), also by
Youngkin, is out of print, but copies may be purchased through Amazon
and Barnes & Noble below. Interested in Lorre's radio and television
performances? Check out Radio Showcase and Movies Unlimited. Netflix has
Lorre movies for rent.
University Press of Kentucky
Powell's Books
Overstock.com
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
US fans: Amazon.com
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Canadian fans: Amazon.ca
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UK fans: Amazon.uk
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US fans: Amazon.com
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The Films of Peter Lorre
Barnes & Noble Bookstores
Radio Showcase
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US fans: Amazon Gift Certificate
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Canadian fans: Amazon Gift Certificate
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Movies Unlimited
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