Recent Obituaries, Classic Film Only. [View All]

[CBHagman]

Hi, gang. I decided to start a general obituary thread for those of us who take an interest in the stories of the people involved in making classic films, whether writers, producers, composers, actors, or directors. It's more efficient than doing a new thread every time someone from the Hollywood of old leaves us.

Today I begin with Marc Lawrence, age 95, an actor who appeared in many classic movies, including Key Largo and The Ox-Bow Incident.

What I didn't realize was that he was called before HUAC and did name names, having himself joined the Communist Party. Apparently he felt guilty about doing so and also wound up temporarily leaving the U.S. due to a desire to avoid the blacklist anyway.

Here are some links with his story:

http://forums.turnerclassicmovies.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=74122&tstart=-1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492908/

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/arts/03lawrence.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1133712315-+Wa/YbrgWGUpZceFTBfPlQ

Here's a little bit on Lawrence, from the Associated Press obit placed in the New York Times:

"Born in New York City in 1910, Mr. Lawrence acted in plays through high school before attending City College of New York. After years of stage performances in Eva Le Gallienne's company, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1932.

"Over the next 60 years, Mr. Lawrence played bad guys in dozens of films. He 'was perhaps the only character actor of the 1930's and 1940's still being cast in similar gangsterish roles in the 1980's and 1990's,' the movie historian Leonard Maltin wrote.

"Mr. Lawrence also occasionally stepped outside the rogue genre, taking on roles like a mountaineer in 'The Shepherd of the Hills' in 1941 and an old hotel owner in 'From Dusk Till Dawn' in 1996.

"In the 1950's, Mr. Lawrence was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he admitted he had once been a member of the Communist Party. He also reluctantly implicated several co-workers as Communist sympathizers. His movie career in the United States came to a halt.

"Mr. Lawrence then departed for Europe, where he took on diverse roles in dozens of Italian movies in the 60's and also directed crime films and spaghetti westerns."