Marc Lawrence Biography

American actor (1910–2005)

For the American film director, see Marc Lawrence (filmmaker). For other people, see Mark Lawrence (disambiguation).

Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence.

Early life

Lawrence was born in New York City, the son of a Polish Jewish mother, Minerva Norma (née Sugarman), and a Russian Jewish father, Israel Simon Goldsmith. He participated in plays in school, then attended the City College of New York. In 1930, he received a two-year scholarship to the repertory theater operated by Eva Le Gallienne.

Career

Lawrence's film debut came in 1933.

Lawrence's pock-marked complexion, brooding appearance and New York street-guy accent made him a natural for heavies, and he played scores of gangsters and mob bosses over the next six decades. He had become so familiar in the niche that Lawrence was once informed by studio executive Harry Cohn that infamous mobster Johnny Roselli called Lawrence "the best hood in films." Lawrence himself concurred that many Italian hoods told him he played them better than anyone else.

Later, Lawrence found himself under scrutiny for his political leanings. When called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he admitted he had once been a member of the Communist Party. He named Sterling Hayden, Lionel Stander, Anne Revere, Larry Parks, Karen Morley and Jeff Corey as Communists. He departed for Europe, where he continued to make films.

Following the demise of the blacklist, he returned to America and resumed his position as a familiar and talented purveyor of gangland types. He played gangsters in two James Bond movies: 1971's Diamonds Are Forever opposite Sean Connery, and 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun opposite Roger Moore. He also portrayed a henchman opposite Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (1976) and a stereotypical Miami mob boss alongside Jerry Reed and Dom DeLuise in the comedy Hot Stuff (1979).

Lawrence played Volnoth, a member of the Gatherers, in the 1989 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Vengeance Factor". He subsequently returned to the Star Trek franchise when he played Mr. Zeemo in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang", which aired in February 1999.

He played the elderly motel owner in From Dusk Till Dawn. His final film role was in Looney Tunes Back in Action (2003), appearing as an Acme Corporation vice president.

Lawrence directed Nightmare in the Sun (1965) and Pigs (1973).

Books

In 1991 Lawrence's autobiography was published en*led Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster (ISBN:0-9636700-0-X). Lawrence was also the subject of a novel, The Beautiful and the Profane (ISBN:978-1-4107-0292-0) (published in 2002).

Personal life

In 1942, he married Fanya Foss, a Ukrainian-American screenwriter and had 2 children. She died in 1995. His daughter Toni was married to Billy Bob Thornton from 1986 to 1988. In 2003, at the age of 93, Lawrence remarried Alicia, a Mexican woman. He lived in Palm Springs, California.

Death

After having been hospitalized for over a week after an illness, Lawrence died on November 28, 2005 at his home at the age of 95.

Selected filmography

1932 If I Had a Million as Henchman of Mike The Gangster (uncredited)
1933 Gambling Ship as Hood (uncredited)
1933 Her First Mate as Orderly With Message (uncredited)
1933 Lady for a Day as Nick, Mug At Reception (uncredited)
1933 White Woman as Connors
1934 Straight Is the Way as Monk's Henchmen (uncredited)
1934 Death on the Diamond as Bookies' Doorman (uncredited)
1934 Million Dollar Baby as Gangster
1935 G Men as Gangster Killed At Lodge (uncredited)
1935 Go Into Your Dance as Eddie Logan (uncredited)
1935 Strangers All as Communist Meeting Chairman (uncredited)
1935 Men of the Hour as Joe
1935 The Arizonian as Henchman Who Pistol-Whipped Clay (uncredited)
1935 Don't Bet on Blondes as Gangster #6 (uncredited)
1935 After the Dance as Tom, Prisoner (uncredited)
1935 Little Big Shot as Doré's Henchman
1935 Dr. Socrates as "Lefty" Croger, Gangster (uncredited)
1935 Three Kids and a Queen as Gangster (uncredited)
1936 Road Gang as Pete, Friendly Convict
1936 Don't Gamble with Love as Gambler (uncredited)
1936 Love on a Bet as County Fair Barker (uncredited)
1936 Robin Hood of El Dorado as Manuel (uncredited)
1936 Desire as Charles, The Valet (uncredited)
1936 Under Two Flags as Grivon (uncredited)
1936 Counterfeit as "Dint" Coleman
1936 Trapped by Television as Frank Griffin (uncredited)
1936 The Final Hour as Mike Magellon
1936 Blackmailer as "Pinky" (uncredited)
1936 The Cowboy Star as Johnny Sampson
1936 Charlie Chan at the Opera as Unknown Role (uncredited)
1936 Night Waitress as Dorn, The Henchman
1937 Racketeers in Exile as "Blackie" White
1937 Motor Madness as Gus Slater
1937 I Promise to Pay as "Whitehat", The Henchman
1937 Criminals of the Air as "Blast" Reardon
1937 San Quentin as Venetti
1937 What Price Vengeance? as Pete Brower
1937 It Can't Last Forever as Hoodlum (uncredited)
1937 A Dangerous Adventure as Calkins
1937 Charlie Chan on Broadway as Thomas Mitchell
1937 Life Begins with Love as Pearson (uncredited)
1937 Counsel for Crime as Edwin Mitchell
1937 Murder in Greenwich Village as "Rusty" Morgan
1937 The Shadow as "Kid" Crow
1938 Penitentiary as Jack Hawkins (uncredited)
1938 Who Killed Gail Preston? as Frank Daniels
1938 Squadron of Honor as Lawlor
1938 Convicted as Milton Militis
1938 I Am the Law as Eddie Girard
1938 The Spider's Web (Serial) as Steve Harmon
1938 Adventure in Sahara as Poule
1938 While New York Sleeps as "Happy" Nelson
1938 Charlie Chan in Honolulu as Johnny McCoy
1939 Homicide Bureau as Chuck Brown
1939 There's That Woman Again as Stevens (uncredited)
1939 The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt as The Henchman In Trenchcoat (uncredited)
1939 Sergeant Madden as "Piggy" Ceders
1939 Romance of the Redwoods as Joe
1939 Code of the Streets as Denver Collins / Halstead, The Henchman
1939 Blind Alley as Buck
1939 Ex-Champ as Bill Crosley, Olsen's Manager
1939 S.O.S. Tidal Wave as Melvin Sutter
1939 Dust Be My Destiny as Venetti
1939 Beware Spooks! as "Slick" Eastman
1939 The Housekeeper's Daughter as Floyd
1939 Invisible Stripes as "Lefty" Sloan
1940 Johnny Apollo as Bates
1940 Love, Honor and Oh-Baby! as Tony Luffo
1940 The Man Who Talked Too Much as "Lefty" Kyler
1940 The Golden Fleecing as "Happy" Dugan
1940 Brigham Young as Prosecutor
1940 The Great Profile as Tony
1940 Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum as Steve McBirney
1941 Tall, Dark and Handsome as Louie
1941 The Monster and the Girl as "Sleeper"
1941 The Man Who Lost Himself as Frank DeSoto
1941 Blossoms in the Dust as LaVerne
1941 The Shepherd of the Hills as Pete Matthews
1941 Lady Scarface as "Lefty" Landers
1941 Hold That Ghost as Charlie Smith
1941 A Dangerous Game as Joe
1941 Sundown as Abdi Hammud
1941 Public Enemies as Mike
1942 National Socialist German Workers' Party Agent as Joe Aiello
1942 Yokel Boy as "Trigger", The Henchman
1942 This Gun for Hire as Tommy
1942 Call of the Canyon as Horace Dunston
1942 Eyes of the Underworld as Gordon Finch
1942 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge as McGaffey
1943 Calaboose as "Sluggsy" Baker
1943 Submarine Alert as Vincent Bela
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident as Jeff Farnley
1943 Hit the Ice as Phil
1944 Tampico as Valdez
1944 Rainbow Island as Alcoa
1944 The Princess and the Pirate as Pedro
1945 Dillinger as "Doc" Madison
1945 Flame of Barbary Coast as Joe Disko
1945 Don't Fence Me In as Clifford Anson
1945 Club Havana as Joe Reed
1945 Life with Blondie as Pete, Blackie's Henchman
1946 Blonde Alibi as Joe DeRita
1946 The Virginian as Pete
1946 Inside Job as Donovan
1946 Cloak and Dagger as Luigi
1947 Yankee Fakir as Duke
1947 Joe Palooka in the Knockout as John Mitchell
1947 Unconquered as Sioto, The Medicine Man
1947 Captain from Castile as Corio
1948 I Walk Alone as Nick Palestro
1948 Key Largo as "Ziggy"
1948 Out of the Storm as "Red" Stubbins
1949 Jigsaw as Angelo Agostini
1949 Calamity Jane and Sam B* as Harry Dean
1949 Tough *ignment as Vince
1950 Black Hand as Caesar Xavier Serpi
1950 The Asphalt Jungle as Cobby
1950 The Desert Hawk as Samad
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion as Frankie, The Loan Shark
1951 Hurricane Island as Angus MacReady (uncredited)
1951 My Favorite Spy as Ben Ali
1952 Torment of the Past as Andrea Rossi
1952 La Tratta delle bianche as Manchedi
1952 I tre corsari as Van Gould
1952 Brothers of Italy as Il Capitano March, Un Ufficiale Austriaco
1953 Jolanda, the Daughter of the Black Corsair as Van Gould
1953 Noi peccatori as Camillo
1953 Legione straniera as Sergeant Schwartz
1953 Funniest Show on Earth as Il Proprietario Del Circo
1954 Vacation with a Gangster as Jack Mariotti
1954 Tragic Ballad as Felipe Alvaro
1955 New Moon as Pierre
1955 Suor Maria as Don Mario, Proprietario Del Night Club
1955 La catena dell'odio as Braschi
1956 Helen of Troy as Diomedes
1957 Kill Her Gently as William Connors
1963 Johnny Cool as Johnny Colini
1966 Due mafiosi contro Al Capone as Joe Minasi
1966 Johnny Tiger as William Billie
1966 Savage Pampas as Sergeant Barril
1966 7 monaci d'oro as "Lucky" Marciano, Capo Da Banda
1967 Du mou dans la gâchette as Magnum
1967 Custer of the West as Gold Miner
1968 Kong Island as Albert Muller
1969 Krakatoa, East of Java as Jacobs
1970 The Kremlin Letter as The Priest
1970 Dream No Evil as The Undertaker
1971 Diamonds Are Forever as Slumber Inc. Attendant
1972 In Pursuit of Treasure
1972 Daddy's Deadly Darling as Zambrini
1973 Frasier, the Sensuous Lion as Chiarelli
1974 The Man with the Golden Gun as Rodney
1976 Marathon Man as Erhard
1977 A Piece of the Action as Louie
1978 Foul Play as Stiltskin
1978 Goin' Coconuts as Webster
1979 Hot Stuff as Carmine
1979 Swap Meet as Mr. Booth
1980 Super Fuzz as "Torpedo"
1980 Cataclysm as Abraham Weiss / Dieter
1982 Cat and Dog as Don Salvatore Licuti
1985 Night Train to Terror as Mr. Weiss / Dieter (segment "The Case of Claire Hansen")
1986 The Big Easy as Vinnie "The Cannon" DiMotti
1989 Blood Red as Michael Fazio
1992 Ruby as Santos Alicante
1992 Newsies as Kloppman
1995 Four Rooms as Sam, The Bellhop
1996 From Dusk till Dawn as Old Timer Motel Owner
1996 Gotti as Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino
1999 End of Days as Old Man
2001 The Shipping News as Cousin Nolan
2003 Looney Tunes: Back in Action as Acme VP, Stating The Obvious (final film role)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marc Lawrence.

Marc Lawrence at IMDb
Marc Lawrence at AllMovie
Marc Lawrence at the Internet Broadway Database
Marc Lawrence at Memory Alpha

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