Peter Lorre
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Peter Lorre was a Hungarian-American actor who worked in film and theater from the early 20th century until his death in 1964, becoming known for distinctive character roles that made him memorable to audiences. He matters because he was an influential figure in cinema history whose unique presence and performances helped shape the development of character acting in Hollywood's golden age.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1904-06-26
- Died
- 1964-03-23
- Works
- 5
Top works
- Classic Radio's Greatest Mystery Shows, Vol. 1 Lib/E
- Sia Calendar 2022
- Adele Calendar 2022
- Boston Blackie
- Der Verlorene
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Film & TV
Acting · Rózsahegy (now Ružomberok), Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia)
Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner. He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M. Later he became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries, notably alongside Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet, and as…
Known for
- Way of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies — Self - (archive footage)2022
- A Physical History of 'M' — Hans Beckert (archive footage)2015
- Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film — Doctor Gogol (archive footage)2014
- Moto Is Missing — Mr. Moto (archive footage)2007
Article
Peter Lorre ( German: [ˈpeːtɐ ˈlɔʁə]; born László Löwenstein, Hungarian: [ˈlaːsloː ˈløːvɛ(n)ʃtɒjn]; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, appearance, and accented voice, he was frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner. He was caricatured throughout his life and his cultural legacy remains in the media today.
He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before moving to Germany, where he worked first on the stage, then in film, in Berlin during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Lorre, who was Jewish, left Germany after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Lorre caused an international sensation in the Weimar Republic–era film M (1931), where he portrayed a serial killer who preys on little girls. His first English-language film was Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), made in the United Kingdom.
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1904 births1964 deaths20th-century American Jews20th-century American male actors20th-century Hungarian Jews20th-century Hungarian male actorsAmerican male film actorsAmerican male radio actorsAmerican people of Hungarian-Jewish descentBurials at Hollywood Forever CemeteryEmigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United StatesEmigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States