Today Marks the 108th birthday of one of the all time greatest most underrated and imitated actors of all time! The great Peter Lorre born on June 26th in the country of Hungry, Lorre got his big start playing the child murder in the classic Fritz Lang movie M, eventually he went to England were he actually got to work with Alfred Hitchcock in two of his movies the first being the thriller THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH in 1934 were he played the bad guy Abbott, and the second being the spy movie SECRET AGENT in 1936 were he played The General who supposed to be a good guy but was more of a anti hero, you just got to see it to understand what I mean. The two movies were phenomenal both in the sense of Lorres performance and Hitchcock`s directing. A bit of trivia on the first movie, when Lorre did it he hardly knew any English at all and pretty did all his lines phonetically,so had got the role by just nodding and laughing at everything Hictchock said.
Lorre has also become a icon in the Horror movies. My personal all time favourite of his was the 1935 horror film MAD LOVE, this movie is one the best horror films i`ve ever seen and Lorre is at his all time best in it. Its just simply a crazy one of a kind horror film. Other horror films of his included THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU a comedy horror film that also stared Boris Karloff, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS a great psychological horror film, and THE COMEDY OF TERRORS yet another horror comedy that also starred Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, and Vincent Price. And thouse are just a few of his many great horror films that he starred in.
Peter Lorre didn't just get type-casted in Horror films like his fellow country man Bela Lugosi, his roles branched into many different genres such as Science Fiction in movies such as VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and 20,000 THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Mystery's and Crime movies such as THE MALTESE FALCON, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT and YOU`LL FIND OUT. Not only that he`s had a role in the timeless classic CASABLANCA and he`s even gotten a Looney Tunes character made after him!
Yes, Peter Lorre is a one of a kind actor, who`s just an incredibly interesting person and who`s filmography is so vast. He worked with some of the greatest minds in Hollywood such as Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Boris Karloff, Humphrey Bogart, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, and many others. He`s been countlessly imitated from his time to the present. But everyone knows there will always be one Peter Lorre.
PETER LORRE BORN JUNE 26th 1904- DIED MARCH 23rd 1964
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