Edward G. Robinson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward G. Robinson
Robinson in 1948
Born
Emanuel Goldenberg

(1893-12-12)December 12, 1893
DiedJanuary 26, 1973(1973-01-26) (aged 79)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeBeth El Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActor
Years active1913–1973
Spouses
Gladys Lloyd
(m. 1927; div. 1956)
Jane Robinson
(m. 1958)
ChildrenEdward G. Robinson Jr.
Awards

Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893 – January 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays,[1] and more than 100 films, during a 50-year career,[2] and is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as gangsters in such films as Little Caesar and Key Largo. During his career, Robinson received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in House of Strangers.

During the 1930s and 1940s, he was an outspoken public critic of fascism and Nazism, which were growing in strength in Europe in the years which led up to World War II. His activism included contributing over $250,000 to more than 850 organizations that were involved in war relief, along with contributions to cultural, educational, and religious groups. During the 1950s, he was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare, but he was cleared of any deliberate Communist involvement when he claimed that he was "duped" by several people whom he named (including screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, according to the official Congressional record, "Communist infiltration of the Hollywood motion-picture industry".[3][4] As a result of being investigated, he found himself on Hollywood's graylist, people who were on the Hollywood blacklist maintained by the major studios, but could find work at minor film studios on what was called Poverty Row.

Robinson's roles included an insurance investigator in the film noir Double Indemnity, Dathan (the adversary of Moses) in The Ten Commandments, and his final performance in the science-fiction story Soylent Green.[5] Robinson received an Academy Honorary Award for his work in the film industry, which was awarded two months after he died in 1973. He is ranked number 24 in the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classic American cinema. Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited him as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.[6][7]

Early years and education[edit]

Robinson was born Emmanuel Goldenberg (Yiddish: עמנואל גאלדבערג) on December 12, 1893, in a Yiddish-speaking Romanian Jewish family in Bucharest, the fifth son of Sarah (née Guttman) and Yeshaya Moyshe Goldenberg (later called Morris in the U.S.), a builder.[8]

According to the New York Times, one of his brothers was attacked by an anti-semitic gang during a "schoolboy pogrom".[9] In the wake of that violence, the family decided to emigrate to the United States.[2] Robinson arrived in New York City on February 21, 1904.[10] "At Ellis Island I was born again," he wrote. "Life for me began when I was 10 years old."[2] In America, he assumed the name of Emanuel. He grew up on the Lower East Side,[11]: 91  and had his Bar Mitzvah at First Roumanian-American Congregation.[12] He attended Townsend Harris High School and then the City College of New York, planning to become a criminal attorney.[13] An interest in acting and performing in front of people led to him winning an American Academy of Dramatic Arts scholarship,[13] after which he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson (the G. standing for his original surname).[13]

He served in the United States Navy during World War I, but was never sent overseas.[14]

Career[edit]

Robinson in his breakout role, Little Caesar (1931)
Robinson in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944)
Robinson and Lynn Bari in Tampico (1944)
All My Sons (1948): Louisa Horton, Robinson, Chester Erskine (producer) and Burt Lancaster
Florence Henderson and Robinson on the set of Song of Norway (1969)

Theatre[edit]

In 1915, Robinson made his Broadway debut in Roi Cooper Megrue's "Under Fire".[15] He made his film debut in Arms and the Woman (1916).

In 1923, he made his named debut as E. G. Robinson in the silent film, The Bright Shawl.[2]

The Racket[edit]

He played a snarling gangster in the 1927 Broadway police/crime drama The Racket, which led to his being cast in similar film roles, beginning with The Hole in the Wall (1929) with Claudette Colbert for Paramount.

One of many actors who saw their careers flourish rather than falter in the new sound film era, he made only three films prior to 1930, but left his stage career that year and made 14 films between 1930 and 1932.

Robinson went to Universal for Night Ride (1930) and MGM for A Lady to Love (1930) directed by Victor Sjöström. At Universal he was in Outside the Law and East Is West (both 1930), then he did The Widow from Chicago (1931) at First National.

Little Caesar[edit]

At this point, Robinson was becoming an established film actor. What began his rise to stardom was an acclaimed performance as the gangster Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello in Little Caesar (1931) at Warner Bros.

Robinson signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros., casting him in another gangster film, Smart Money (1931), his only movie with James Cagney. He was reunited with Mervyn LeRoy, director of Little Caesar, in Five Star Final (1931), playing a journalist, and played a Tong gangster in The Hatchet Man (1932).

Robinson made a third film with LeRoy, Two Seconds (1932) then did a melodrama directed by Howard Hawks, Tiger Shark (1932).

Warner Bros. tried him in a biopic, Silver Dollar (1932), where Robinson played Horace Tabor; a comedy, The Little Giant (1933); and a romance, I Loved a Woman (1933).

Robinson was then in Dark Hazard (1934) and The Man with Two Faces (1934).

He went to Columbia for The Whole Town's Talking (1935), a comedy directed by John Ford. Sam Goldwyn borrowed him for Barbary Coast (1935), again directed by Hawks.

Back at Warner Bros. he did Bullets or Ballots (1936) then he went to Britain for Thunder in the City (1937). He made Kid Galahad (1937) with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. MGM borrowed him for The Last Gangster (1937), then he did a comedy A Slight Case of Murder (1938). Again with Bogart in a supporting role, he was in The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) and then he was borrowed by Columbia for I Am the Law (1938).

World War II[edit]

At the time World War II broke out in Europe, he played an FBI agent in Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), the first American film that portrayed Nazism as a threat to the United States.

He volunteered for military service in June 1942 but was disqualified due to his age which was 48,[16] although he became an active and vocal critic of fascism and Nazism during that period.[17]

MGM borrowed him for Blackmail, (1939). Then, to avoid being typecast, he played the biomedical scientist and Nobel laureate Paul Ehrlich in Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), and played Paul Julius Reuter in A Dispatch from Reuters (1940).[18] Both films were biographies of prominent Jewish public figures. In between, he and Bogart starred in Brother Orchid (1940).[18]

Robinson was teamed up with John Garfield in The Sea Wolf (1941), and George Raft in Manpower (1941). He went to MGM for Unholy Partners (1942), and made a comedy Larceny, Inc. (1942).

Post-Warner Bros.[edit]

Robinson was one of several stars in Tales of Manhattan (1942) and Flesh and Fantasy (1943).

He did war films: Destroyer (1943) at Columbia, and Tampico (1944) at Fox. At Paramount, he was in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944), with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, where his riveting soliloquy on insurance actuarial tables (written by Raymond Chandler) is considered a career showstopper;[clarification needed] and at Columbia, he was in Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944). He then performed with Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea in Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945), where he played a criminal painter.

At MGM, he was in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), and then Orson Welles' The Stranger (1946), with Welles and Loretta Young. Robinson followed it with another thriller, The Red House (1947), and starred in an adaptation of All My Sons (1948).

Robinson appeared for director John Huston as the gangster Johnny Rocco in Key Largo (1948), the last of five films that he made with Humphrey Bogart, and the only one in which Robinson played a supporting role to Bogart's character in the film. It is also the only film with Bogart where Bogart's character killed Robinson's character in a gunfight, instead of the opposite. Around the same time, he was cast in starring roles for Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) and House of Strangers (1949).

Greylisting[edit]

Robinson found it hard to get work after his greylisting.[citation needed] He starred in modest-budget films: Actors and Sin (1952), Vice Squad (1953), with brief appearances by second-billed Paulette Goddard, Big Leaguer (1953) with Vera-Ellen, The Glass Web (1953) with John Forsythe, Black Tuesday (1954) with Peter Graves, The Violent Men (1955) with Glenn Ford and Barbara Stanwyck, in the well-received Tight Spot (1955) with Ginger Rogers and Brian Keith, A Bullet for Joey (1955) with George Raft, Illegal (1955) with Nina Foch, and in Hell on Frisco Bay (1956) with Alan Ladd.

His career's rehabilitation received a boost in 1954, when the anti-communist film director Cecil B. DeMille cast him as the traitorous Dathan in The Ten Commandments. The film was released in 1956, as was his psychological thriller Nightmare. After a subsequent short absence from the screen, Robinson's film career — augmented by an increasing number of television roles — re-started in 1958/1959, when he was second-billed, after Frank Sinatra, in the 1959 release A Hole in the Head.

Supporting actor[edit]

Robinson went to Europe for Seven Thieves (1960). He had support roles in My Geisha (1962), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), Sammy Going South (1963), The Prize (1963), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), and The Outrage (1964).

He was second-billed, under Steve McQueen, with his name above the title, in The Cincinnati Kid (1965). McQueen had idolized Robinson while growing up, and opted for him when Spencer Tracy insisted on top billing for the same role. Robinson was top-billed in The Blonde from Peking. He also appeared in Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh and Klaus Kinski.

Robinson was originally cast in the role of Dr. Zaius in Planet Of The Apes (1968) and he even went so far as to film a screen test with Charlton Heston. However, Robinson dropped out of the project before its production began due to heart problems and concerns over the long hours that he would have needed to spend under the heavy ape makeup. He was replaced by Maurice Evans.

His later appearances included The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968) starring Robert Wagner and Raquel Welch, Never a Dull Moment (1968) with Dick Van Dyke, It's Your Move (1968), Mackenna's Gold (1969) starring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif, and the Night Gallery episode “The Messiah on Mott Street" (1971).

The last scene that Robinson filmed was a euthanasia sequence, with his friend and co-star Charlton Heston, in the science fiction film Soylent Green (1973); he died 84 days later.

Heston, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, presented Robinson with its annual award in 1969, "in recognition of his pioneering work in organizing the union, his service during World War II, and his 'outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession.'"[11]: 124 

Robinson was never nominated for an Academy Award, but in 1973 he was awarded an honorary Oscar in recognition that he had "achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts and a dedicated citizen ... in sum, a Renaissance man".[2] He had been notified of the honor, but he died two months before the award ceremony took place, so the award was accepted by his widow, Jane Robinson.[2]

Radio[edit]

From 1937 to 1942, Robinson starred as Steve Wilson, editor of the Illustrated Press, in the newspaper drama Big Town.[19] He also portrayed hardboiled detective Sam Spade for a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Maltese Falcon. During the 1940s he performed on CBS Radio's "Cadena de las Américas" network broadcasts to South America in collaboration with Nelson Rockefeller's cultural diplomacy program at the U.S. State Department's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.[20]

Political activism[edit]

During the 1930s, Robinson was an outspoken public critic of fascism and Nazism, donating more than $250,000 to 850 political and charitable organizations between 1939 and 1949. He was host to the Committee of 56, which gathered at his home on December 9, 1938, signing a "Declaration of Democratic Independence," which called for a boycott of all German-made products.[17] After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, while he was not a supporter of Communism, he appeared at Soviet war relief rallies in order to give moral aid to America's new ally, which he said could join "together in their hatred of Hitlerism".[11]: 107 

Although he attempted to enlist in the military when the United States formally entered World War II, he was unable to do so because of his age;[16] instead, the Office of War Information appointed him as a Special Representative based in London.[11]: 106  From there, taking advantage of his multilingual skills, he delivered radio addresses in over six languages to European countries that had fallen under Nazi domination.[11]: 106  His talent as a radio speaker in the U.S. had previously been recognized by the American Legion, which had given him an award for his "outstanding contribution to Americanism through his stirring patriotic appeals".[11]: 106  Robinson was also an active member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee, serving on its executive board in 1944, during which time he became an "enthusiastic" campaigner for Roosevelt's reelection that same year.[11]: 107  During the 1940s, Robinson also contributed to the cultural diplomacy initiatives of Roosevelt's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in support of Pan-Americanism through his broadcasts to South America on the CBS "Cadena da las Américas" radio network.[20]

In early July 1944, less than a month after the Invasion of Normandy by Allied forces, Robinson traveled to Normandy to entertain the troops, becoming the first movie star to go there for the USO.[11]: 106 [21] He personally donated $100,000 ($1,500,000 in 2015 dollars) to the USO.[11]: 107  After returning to the U.S., he continued his active involvement in the war effort by going to shipyards and defense plants in order to inspire workers, in addition to appearing at rallies in order to help sell war bonds.[11]: 107 

After the war ended, Robinson publicly spoke out in support of democratic rights for all Americans, especially in demanding equality for Black workers in the workplace. He endorsed the Fair Employment Practices Commission's call to end workplace discrimination.[11]: 109  Black leaders praised him as "one of the great friends of the Negro and a great advocator of Democracy".[11]: 109  Robinson also campaigned for the civil rights of African Americans, helping many to overcome segregation and discrimination.[22]

During the years when Robinson spoke out against fascism and Nazism, he was not a supporter of Communism, but he did not criticize the Soviet Union, which he saw as an ally against Hitler. However, the film historian Steven J. Ross observes "activists who attacked Hitler without simultaneously attacking Stalin were vilified by conservative critics as either Communists, Communist dupes, or, at best, as naive liberal dupes."[11]: 128  In addition, Robinson learned that 11 out of the more than 850 charities and groups that he had helped over the previous decade were listed as Communist front organizations by the FBI.[23] As a result, he was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1950 and 1952, and he was also threatened with blacklisting.[24]

As shown in the full House Un-American Activities Committee transcript for April 30, 1952, Robinson repudiated some of the organizations that he had belonged to in the 1930s and 1940s.[24][25] and stated that he felt he had been duped or made use of unawares "by the sinister forces who were members, and probably in important positions in these [front] organizations."[11]: 121  When asked whom he personally knew who might have "duped" him, he replied, "Well, you had Albert Maltz, and you have Dalton Trumbo, and you have ... John Howard Lawson. I knew Frank Tuttle. I didn't know [Edward] Dmytryk at all. There are the Buchmans, that I know, Sidney Buchman and all that sort of thing. It never entered my mind that any of these people were Communists."[26] Despite accusing these persons of being duplicitous towards him about their political aims, Robinson never directly accused anyone of being a Communist. His own name was cleared, but in the aftermath, his career noticeably suffered; he was offered smaller roles infrequently. In October 1952, he wrote an article titled "How the Reds made a Sucker Out of Me", and it was published in the American Legion Magazine.[27] The chair of the committee, Francis E. Walter, told Robinson at the end of his testimonies that the Committee "never had any evidence presented to indicate that you were anything more than a very choice sucker."[11]: 122 

Personal life[edit]

Robinson and his son Manny in a 1962 episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Robinson married stage actress Gladys Lloyd Cassell in 1927. The couple had a son, Edward G. Robinson, Jr., known as Manny, (1933–1974), and a daughter from Robinson's wife's first marriage.[28] The couple divorced in 1956. In 1958, Robinson married Jane Bodenheimer, a dress designer professionally known as Jane Arden. He lived in Palm Springs, California.[29]

In contrast to the gangsters he portrayed in film, Robinson was a soft-spoken and cultured man.[2] He was a passionate art collector, eventually building up a significant private collection. In 1956, however, he was forced to sell his collection to pay for his divorce settlement with Gladys Robinson; his finances had also suffered due to underemployment in the early 1950s.[11]: 120 

Death[edit]

Robinson died of bladder cancer at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles[30] on January 26, 1973. Services were conducted at Temple Israel in Los Angeles where Charlton Heston delivered the eulogy.[2] More than 1,500 friends of Robinson attended, with another 500 people outside.[11] His body was flown to New York where it was entombed in a crypt in his family's mausoleum at Beth-El Cemetery in Brooklyn.[31] His pallbearers were Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis, Mervyn Leroy, George Burns, Sam Jaffe, Frank Sinatra, Jack Karp and Alan Simpson.[2]

In popular culture[edit]

Robinson as a gangster in Little Caesar (1931)

In October 2000, Robinson's image was imprinted on a U.S. postage stamp, the sixth in its Legends of Hollywood series.[11]: 125 [32]

Robinson has been the inspiration for a number of animated television characters, usually caricatures of his most distinctive 'snarling gangster' guise. An early version of the gangster character Rocky, featured in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Racketeer Rabbit, shared his likeness. This version of the character also appears briefly in Justice League, in the episode "Comfort and Joy", as an alien with Robinson's face and non-human body, who hovers past the screen as a background character.

Similar caricatures also appeared in The Coo-Coo Nut Grove, Thugs with Dirty Mugs and Hush My Mouse. Another character based on Robinson's tough-guy image was The Frog (Chauncey "Flat Face" Frog) from the cartoon series Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. The voice of B.B. Eyes in The Dick Tracy Show was based on Robinson, with Mel Blanc and Jerry Hausner sharing voicing duties. The Wacky Races animated series character 'Clyde' from the Ant Hill Mob was based on Robinson's Little Caesar persona.

Voice actor Hank Azaria has noted that the voice of Simpsons character police chief Clancy Wiggum is an impression of Robinson.[33]

Robinson was portrayed by actor Michael Stuhlbarg in the 2015 biographical drama film Trumbo.[34]

Selected filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Co-stars Notes
1916 Arms and the Woman Factory Worker Uncredited, some sources only[35]
1923 The Bright Shawl Domingo Escobar Richard Barthelmess, William Powell and Mary Astor Credited as E.G. Robinson
1929 The Hole in the Wall The Fox Claudette Colbert
1930 Outside the Law Cobra Collins
A Lady to Love Tony
East Is West Charlie Yong Lupe Vélez and Lew Ayres
Night Ride Tony Garotta Joseph Schildkraut
Die Sehnsucht jeder Frau Tony German language version of A Lady to Love[36]
The Kibitzer co-written original play only
An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Brothers Silver Jubilee Himself Short subject
The Widow from Chicago Dominic Neil Hamilton
1931 How I Play Golf by Bobby Jones No. 10: Trouble Shots Himself Short subject
Uncredited
Little Caesar Little Caesar – Alias 'Rico' Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
The Stolen Jools Gangster Wallace Beery and Buster Keaton Segment "At the Police Station"
Short subject
Smart Money Nick Venizelos James Cagney and Boris Karloff
Five Star Final Randall Boris Karloff
1932 The Hatchet Man Wong Low Get Loretta Young
Two Seconds John Allen
Tiger Shark Mike Mascarenhas Richard Arlen
Silver Dollar Yates Martin Bebe Daniels
1933 The Little Giant Bugs Ahearn Mary Astor
I Loved a Woman John Mansfield Hayden Kay Francis
1934 Dark Hazard Jim 'Buck' Turner
The Man with Two Faces Damon Welles / Jules Chautard Mary Astor
1935 The Whole Town's Talking Arthur Ferguson Jones/"Killer" Mannion Jean Arthur
Barbary Coast Luis Chamalis Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Walter Brennan, Brian Donlevy and Harry Carey
1936 Bullets or Ballots Detective Johnny Blake Joan Blondell and Humphrey Bogart
1937 Thunder in the City Dan Armstrong Ralph Richardson
A Day at Santa Anita Himself Short subject
Uncredited
Kid Galahad Nick Donati Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Harry Carey
The Last Gangster Joe Krozac James Stewart
1938 A Slight Case of Murder Remy Marco
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse Dr. Clitterhouse Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp, Maxie Rosenbloom and Ward Bond
I Am the Law Prof. John Lindsay
1939 Verdensberømtheder i København Himself Documentary
Confessions of a Nazi Spy Edward Renard George Sanders, Paul Lukas and Ward Bond
Blackmail John R. Ingram Gene Lockhart
1940 Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet Dr. Paul Ehrlich Ruth Gordon and Donald Crisp
Brother Orchid 'Little' John T. Sarto Ann Sothern, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp and Ralph Bellamy
A Dispatch from Reuter's Julius Reuter Eddie Albert and Gene Lockhart
1941 The Sea Wolf 'Wolf' Larsen Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Gene Lockhart and Barry Fitzgerald
Manpower Hank McHenry Marlene Dietrich, George Raft and Ward Bond
Polo with the Stars Himself – Watching Polo Match Short subject
Uncredited
Unholy Partners Bruce Corey Edward Arnold
1942 Larceny, Inc. Pressure' Maxwell Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson, Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason
Tales of Manhattan Avery L. 'Larry' Browne Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton
Moscow Strikes Back Narrator Documentary
1943 Magic Bullets Narrator Short subject
Documentary
Destroyer Steve Boleslavski Glenn Ford
Flesh and Fantasy Marshall Tyler Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck Episode 2
1943 Tampico Capt. Bart Manson Victor McLaglen
Double Indemnity Barton Keyes Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck
Mr. Winkle Goes to War Wilbert Winkle
The Woman in the Window Professor Richard Wanley Joan Bennett and Raymond Massey
1945 Our Vines Have Tender Grapes Martinius Jacobson Agnes Moorehead
Journey Together Dean McWilliams Richard Attenborough
Scarlet Street Christopher Cross Joan Bennett
1946 American Creed Himself Short subject
The Stranger Mr. Wilson Loretta Young and Orson Welles
1947 The Red House Pete Morgan
1948 All My Sons Joe Keller Burt Lancaster
Key Largo Johnny Rocco Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor
Night Has a Thousand Eyes John Triton
1949 House of Strangers Gino Monetti Susan Hayward, Richard Conte and Efram Zimbalist, Jr.
It's a Great Feeling Himself Doris Day and Jack Carson Uncredited
1950 Operation X George Constantin
1952 Actors and Sin Maurice Tillayou Segment "Actor's Blood"
1953 Vice Squad Capt. 'Barnie' Barnaby Paulette Goddard
Big Leaguer John B. 'Hans' Lobert Carl Hubbell
The Glass Web Henry Hayes John Forsythe
1954 Black Tuesday Vincent Canelli Peter Graves
For the Defense Matthew Considine TV movie
1955 The Violent Men Lew Wilkison Glenn Ford and Barbara Stanwyck
Tight Spot Lloyd Hallett Ginger Rogers
A Bullet for Joey Inspector Raoul Leduc George Raft
Illegal Victor Scott Jayne Mansfield
1956 Hell on Frisco Bay Victor Amato Alan Ladd
Nightmare Rene Bressard
The Ten Commandments Dathan Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, John Derek and Vincent Price
1957 The Heart of Show Business Narrator Short subject
1959 A Hole in the Head Mario Manetta Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker and Thelma Ritter
1960 Seven Thieves Theo Wilkins Rod Steiger and Joan Collins
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" Daniel Webster NBC-TV movie
The Right Man Theodore Roosevelt TV movie
Pepe Himself
1962 My Geisha Sam Lewis Shirley MacLaine
Two Weeks in Another Town Maurice Kruger Kirk Douglas and Claire Trevor)
1963 Sammy Going South Cocky Wainwright Alternative title: A Boy Ten Feet Tall
The Prize Dr. Max Stratman Paul Newman
1964 Robin and the 7 Hoods Big Jim Stevens Rat Pack and Bing Crosby Uncredited
Good Neighbor Sam Simon Nurdlinger Jack Lemmon and Neil Hamilton
Cheyenne Autumn Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán and James Stewart
The Outrage Con Man Paul Newman, Claire Bloom and William Shatner
1965 Who Has Seen the Wind? Captain TV movie
The Cincinnati Kid Lancey Howard Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Joan Blondell and Cab Calloway
1966 Batman Cameo
1967 All About People Narrator Short subject
The Blonde from Peking Douglas – chef C.I.A.
Grand Slam Prof. James Anders Janet Leigh
Operation St. Peter's Joe Ventura
1968 The Biggest Bundle of Them All Professor Samuels Robert Wagner and Raquel Welch
Never a Dull Moment Leo Joseph Smooth Dick Van Dyke
It's Your Move Sir George McDowell
1969 Mackenna's Gold Old Adams Gregory Peck
U.M.C. Dr. Lee Forestman Alternative title: Operation Heartbeat
TV movie
1970 The Old Man Who Cried Wolf Emile Pulska Martin Balsam and Ed Asner TV Movie
Song of Norway Krogstad Florence Henderson
1971 Mooch Goes to Hollywood Himself – Party guest Uncredited
Night Gallery Abe Goldman Season 2, episode 13a "The Messiah on Mott Street"
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Cameo
1972 Neither by Day Nor by Night Father
1973 Soylent Green Sol Roth Charlton Heston and Joseph Cotten

Radio appearances[edit]

Year Program Episode/source
1940 Screen Guild Theatre Blind Alley[37]
1946 Suspense The Man Who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson aka The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson[38][39]
1946 This Is Hollywood The Stranger[40]
1950 Screen Directors Playhouse The Sea Wolf[40]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Edward G. Robinson – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". IBDB. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Edward G. Robinson, 79, Dies; His 'Little Caesar' Set a Style; Man of Great Kindness Edward G. Robinson Is Dead at 79 Made Speeches to Friends Appeared in 100 Films". The New York Times. January 27, 1973. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  3. ^ "Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : Hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session". 1951.
  4. ^ "Actor Edward G. Robinson Confesses to HUAC — "I Was a Sucker"". Today in Civil Liberties History. March 12, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  5. ^ Obituary Variety, January 31, 1973, p. 71.
  6. ^ Robey, Tim (February 1, 2016). "20 great actors who've never been nominated for an Oscar". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  7. ^ Singer, Leigh (February 19, 2009). "Oscars: the best actors never to have been nominated". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  8. ^ Parish, James Robert; Marill, Alvin (1972). The Cinema of Edward G. Robinson. South Brunswick, New Jersey: A. S. Barnes. p. 16. ISBN 0-498-07875-2.
  9. ^ "Edward G. Robinson, 79, Dies; His "Little Caesar" Set a Style", New York Times January 27, 1973, by Alden Whitman
  10. ^ 1904 passenger list for Manole Goldenberg. "Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Ross, Steven (2011). Hollywood Left and Right. How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-19-518172-2. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  12. ^ Epstein (2007), p. 249
  13. ^ a b c Pendergast, Tom. Ed. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Vol. 4, pp. 229–230
  14. ^ Beck, Robert (September 2, 2008). Edward G. Robinson Encyclopedia. McFarland. ISBN 9780786438648. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  15. ^ "Edward G. Robinson – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB".
  16. ^ a b Wise, James: Stars in Khaki: Movie Actors in the Army and Air Services. Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55750-958-1. p. 228.
  17. ^ a b Ross, pp. 99–102
  18. ^ a b Schatz, Thomas. Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s. University of California Press, November 23, 1999, p. 99.
  19. ^ Dunning, John (1998). "Big Town". On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  20. ^ a b Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda Deborah R. Vargas. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2012 p. 152-153 ISBN 978-0-8166-7316-2 Edward G. Robbinson, OCIAA, CBS radio, Pan-americanism and Cadena de las Americas on google.books.com
  21. ^ [1] video of Robinson with the troops in France, timestamp 25:50
  22. ^ Lotchin, Roger W. (2000). The Way We Really Were: The Golden State in the Second Great War. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252068195.
  23. ^ Miller, Frank. Leading Men, Chronicle Books and TCM (2006) p. 185
  24. ^ a b Sabin, Arthur J. In Calmer Times: The Supreme Court and Red Monday, p. 35. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
  25. ^ Bud and Ruth Schultz, It Did Happen Here: Recollections of Political Repression in America, p. 113. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
  26. ^ https://archive.org/stream/communistinfiltr07unit/communistinfiltr07unit_djvu.txt House Un-American Activities Committee transcript
  27. ^ Ross, Stephen J. "Little Caesar and the McCarthyist Mob", USC Trojan Magazine. Los Angeles: University of Southern California, August 2011 issue. Accessed on January 10, 2013. "Little Caesar and the McCarthyist Mob | Autumn 2011 | Trojan Family Magazine | USC". Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  28. ^ "Edward G. Robinson, Jr. Is Dead; Late Screen Star's Son Was 40". The New York Times. February 27, 1974. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  29. ^ Meeks, Eric G. (2012). The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 91. ISBN 978-1479328598.
  30. ^ Gansberg, p. 246, 252–253.
  31. ^ Beck, Robert (2002). The Edward G. Robinson Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 131.
  32. ^ Edward G. Robinson stamp, 2000
  33. ^ Joe Rhodes (October 21, 2000). "Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves". TV Guide.
  34. ^ Vancheri, Barbara (November 25, 2015). "Michael Stuhlbarg plays Edward G. Robinson in 'Trumbo'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  35. ^ Arms and the Woman at the American Film Institute Catalog
  36. ^ Die Sehnsucht Jeder Frau at the American Film Institute Catalog
  37. ^ "Sunday Caller". Harrisburg Telegraph. February 24, 1940. p. 17. Retrieved July 20, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  38. ^ "The Man Who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson". Harrisburg Telegraph. October 12, 1946. p. 17. Retrieved October 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  39. ^ "Suspense .. Episodic log".
  40. ^ a b "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 42, no. 3. Summer 2016. p. 39.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]