EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Information from IMDb
Date of Birth
12 December 1893,
Bucharest, Romania
Date of Death
26 January 1973,
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)
Birth Name
Emmanuel Goldenberg
Nickname
Eddie
Manny
Height
5' 7" (1.70 m)
Spouse
Jane Robinson (16 January 1958 - 26 January 1973) (his death)
Gladys Lloyd (21 January 1927 - 20 July 1956) (divorced) 1 child
Trade Mark
Prideful, nasty and violent characters involved in the underworld
Unconventional, almost catfish-like mug
His short, squat frame
Trivia
Son, Emmanuel (Manny) (b. 1933, d. 1974).
Born at 5:00 a.m. LMT.
Interred at Beth El Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, USA, in the Goodman Mausoleum.
Incredibly, never even nominated for an Academy Award. He was awarded a special "Lifetime Achievement" Oscar two months after his death. His wife, who accepted for him, commented on how thrilled he was to learn he would be given the award.
Was originally slated to play Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes (1968) but dropped out due to heart problems.
Pictured on a 33¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 24 October 2000.
Portrayed Steve Wilson, crusading editor of The Illustrated Press, on CBS Radio's "Big Town" (1937-1943).
Father of Edward G. Robinson Jr..
Died two weeks after he had finished filming Soylent Green (1973).
The inspiration for the voice of Chief Clancy Wiggum (Hank Azaria) on "The Simpsons" (1989).
Although best known for playing fierce, shady little men, Robinson was well liked by almost everyone off-screen, having been a sensitive, quiet, artistic type when not performing.
Was nominated for Broadway's 1956 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Middle of the Night."
Was named #24 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute
According to the March 31, 1941, issue of "Time" magazine, he and Melvyn Douglas bid $3,200 for the fedora hat that Franklin D. Roosevelt had worn during his three successful campaigns for the presidency. They acquired the hat at a special Hollywood auction to benefit the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Both Robinson and Douglas were identified as "loyal Democrats". Robinson would later be "grey-listed" during the McCarthy Red Scare hysteria of the 1950s and have to make his living on stage.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
Lived in a Yiddish community in Romania until he was 9.
Donated $100,000 to the United Service Organization (USO) during WW2. Like many celebrities, Robinson also pitched in at the Hollywood Canteen and, being multilingual (he reportedly spoke seven languages fluently), worked on broadcasts to countries occupied by the Nazis.
Spoke seven other languages besides English, including Yiddish, Romanian and German.
When he died in 1973, he left an estate valued at $2,500,000 which largely consisted of rare works of art.
In 1949, he was investigated by the California Senate's Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities (colloquially known as the "Tenney Committee" after Committee Chairman Jack Tenney). The Tenney Committee investigated alleged communists in California. Jack Tenney denounced Robinson for being "frequently involved in Communist fronts and causes".
Robinson's fellow student and close friend at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts was Joseph Schildkraut, who remembered, "I looked at the girls, but Manny stuck to his work.".
Robinson suffered a heart attack while filming "A Boy Ten Feet Tall" in Africa,.
Other alumni of his P.S. 21 in Manhattan were George Gershwin, Jacob Javits, an Paul Muni.
Although it has been said that Robinson chose his stage name after an actor he had seen and admired, later he said he was just trying to keep his birth initials. He was unsure as to why he had settled on Robinson but would have chosen a shorter name if allowed to do it again as it takes a long time to write Robinson in an autograph.
Mini Biography
Edward G. Robinson arrived in the United States at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began work in stock, with his new name, in 1913. Broadway was two years later; he worked steadily there for 15 years. His work included "The Kibitzer", a comedy he co-wrote with Jo Swerling. His film debut was a small supporting part in the silent The Bright Shawl (1923), but it was with the coming of sound that he hit his stride. His stellar performance as snarling, murderous thug Rico Bandello in Little Caesar (1931)--all the more impressive since in real life Robinson was a sophisticated, cultured man with a passion for fine art--set the standard for movie gangsters, both for himself in many later films and for the industry. He portrayed the title character in several biographical works, such as The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) and This Man Reuter (1940). Psychological dramas included Flesh and Fantasy (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944)and Scarlet Street (1945). Another notable gangster role was in Key Largo (1948). He was "absolved" of allegations of Communist affiliation after testifying as a friendly witness for the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy hysteria of the early 1950s. In 1956 he had to sell off his extensive art collection in a divorce settlement and also had to deal with a psychologically troubled son. In 1956 he returned to Broadway in "Middle of the Night". In 1973 he was awarded a special, posthumous Oscar for lifetime achievement.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan
Personal Quotes
If I were just a bit taller and I was a little more handsome or something like that, I could have played all the roles that I have played, and played many more. There is such a thing as a handicap, but you've got to be that much better as an actor. It kept me from certain roles that I might have had, but then, it kept others from playing my roles, so I don't know that it's not altogether balanced.
[on Double Indemnity (1944)] It was, in fact, the third lead. I debated accepting it. Emanuel Goldberg told me that at my age it was time to begin thinking of character roles, to slide into middle and old age with the same grace as that marvelous actor Lewis Stone . . . The decision made itself . . It remains one of my favorites.
I have not collected art. Art collected me. I never found paintings. They found me. I have never even owned a work of art. They owned me.
To last you need to be real.
To be entrusted with a character was always a big responsibility to me.
To my mind, the actor has this great responsibility of playing another human being . . . it's like taking on another person's life and you have to do it as sincerely and honestly as you can.
Ah yes, I remember well what it was like to be a true collector, that soft explosion in the heart, that thundering inner "Yes!" when you see something you must have or die. For over 30 years I made periodic visits to Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" in a Washington museum, and stood before that magnificent masterpiece hour after hour, day after day, plotting ways to steal it.
I remember just before going onto the soundstage, I'd look in my dressing room mirror and stretch myself to my full 5'5" or 5'6" - whatever it was - to make me appear taller and to make me able to dominate all the others and to mow them down with my size.
Of course, I started as a collector. A true collector. I can remember as if it were only yesterday the heart-pounding excitement as I spread out upon the floor of my bedroom The Edward G. Robinson Collection of Rare Cigar Bands. I didn't play at collecting. No cigar anywhere was safe from me. My father and uncles and all their friends turned their lungs black trying to satisfy my collector's zeal. And then came cigarette cards, big-league baseball players. I was an insatiable fiend, and would cheerfully trade you three Indian Joes for one of that upstart newcomer, Ty Cobb.
Paintings never really belong to one of us. If we are fortunate, as I have been, we are allowed at most a lovely time of custody.
Acting and painting have much in common. You begin with the external appearance and then strip away the layers to get to the essential core. This is reality and that is how an artist achieves truth. When you are acting, you are playing a part, you are being somebody else. You are also, at the same time, being yourself.
Some people have youth, some have beauty - I have menace.
The sitting around on the set is awful. But I always figure that's what they pay me for. The acting I do for free.
[on Humphrey Bogart] I always felt sorry for him -- sorry that he had imposed upon himself the character with which he had become identified.
Salary
Blackmail (1939) $8,500/week
Key Largo (1948) $12,500/week
Filmography
Actor
1973 Soylent Green...Sol Roth
1972 Lo B'Yom V'Lo B'Layla...Father
1971 Night Gallery (TV series)– The Messiah on Mott Street/The Painted Mirror (1971) … Abraham Goldman (segment "The Messiah on Mott Street")
1970 The Silent Force (TV series)– The Courier (1970)
1970 Song of Norway...Krogstad
1969-1970 Bracken's World (TV series)
Cameo / Elstyn Draper
– The Mary Tree (1970) … Elstyn Draper
– Panic (1969) … Cameo
1970 The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (TV movie)...Emile Pulska
1969 The Name of the Game (TV series)– Laurie Marie (1969)
1969 Medical Center (TV series)– U.M.C. (1969) … Dr. Lee Forestman
1969 Mackenna's Gold...Old Adams
1968 Uno scacco tutto matto...Sir George McDowell
1968 Never a Dull Moment...Leo Joseph Smooth
1968 The Biggest Bundle of Them All...Professor Samuels
1967 Operazione San Pietro...Joe Ventura
1967 Ad ogni costo...Prof. James Anders
1967 La blonde de Pékin...Douglas - chef C.I.A.
1967 Batman (TV series)– Batman's Satisfaction (1967) … Edward G. Robinson (uncredited)
1967 All About People (short)...Narrator
1965 The Cincinnati Kid...Lancey Howard
1965 Who Has Seen the Wind? (TV movie)...Captain
1964 The Outrage...Con Man
1964 Cheyenne Autumn...the Secretary of the Interior
1964 Good Neighbor Sam...Simon Nurdlinger
1964 Robin and the 7 Hoods...Big Jim Stevens (uncredited)
1963 The Prize...Dr. Max Stratman/Prof. Walter Stratman
1963 Sammy Going South...Cocky Wainwright
1962 Two Weeks in Another Town...Maurice Kruger
1962 The DuPont Show of the Week (TV series)– Cops and Robbers (1962) … Narrator
1962 My Geisha...Sam Lewis
1961 The Detectives (TV series)– The Legend of Jim Riva (1961) … 'Big Jim' Riva
1961 General Electric Theater (TV series)– The Drop-Out (1961) … Bert Alquist
1960 Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse (TV series)...Frog (1960)
1960 Seven Thieves...Theo Wilkins
1960 Sunday Showcase (TV series)– The Devil and Daniel Webster (1960) … Daniel Webster
1960 The Right Man (TV movie)...Theodore Roosevelt
1959 A Hole in the Head...Mario Manetta
1959 Zane Grey Theater (TV series)– Heritage (1959) … Victor Bers
1959 Goodyear Theatre (TV series)– A Good Name (1959) … Harry Harper
1958 Playhouse 90 (TV series)– Shadows Tremble (1958) … Oscar Bromek
1956 The Ten Commandments...Dathan (as Edward G Robinson)
1956 Nightmare...Rene Bressard
1955 Hell on Frisco Bay...Victor Amato
1955 The Ford Television Theatre (TV series)
Baron / John Derwent
– A Set of Values (1955) … Baron
– ..... and Son (1955) … John Derwent
1955 Celebrity Playhouse (TV series)– For the Defense (1955) … Matthew Considine
1955 Illegal...Victor Scott
1955 A Bullet for Joey...Insp. Raoul Leduc
1955 Tight Spot...Lloyd Hallett
1955 Rough Company...Lew Wilkison
1954 Black Tuesday...Vincent Canelli
1954 Climax! (TV series)– Epitaph for a Spy (1954)
1954 For the Defense (TV movie)...Matthew Considine
1953 The Glass Web...Henry Hayes
1953 Lux Video Theatre (TV series)– Witness for the Prosecution (1953) … Sir Wilfrid Robarts
1953 Big Leaguer...John B. 'Hans' Lobert
1953 The Girl in Room 17...Capt. 'Barnie' Barnaby
1952 Actor's and Sin...Maurice Tillayou (Actor's Blood sequence)
1950 My Daughter Joy...George Constantin
1949 House of Strangers...Gino Monetti
1948 Night Has a Thousand Eyes...John Triton
1948 Key Largo...Johnny Rocco
1948 All My Sons...Joe Keller
1947 The Red House...Pete Morgan
1946 The Stranger...Mr. Wilson
1945 Scarlet Street...Christopher Cross
1945 Journey Together...Dean McWilliams
1945 Our Vines Have Tender Grapes...Martinius Jacobson
1944 The Woman in the Window...Professor Richard Wanley
1944 Arms and the Woman...Wilbert Winkle
1944 Double Indemnity...Barton Keyes
1944 Tampico...Capt. Bart Manson
1943 Flesh and Fantasy...Marshall Tyler (Episode 2)
1943 Destroyer...Steve Boleslavski
1942 Tales of Manhattan...Avery L. 'Larry' Browne
1942 Larceny, Inc....'Pressure' Maxwell
1941 Unholy Partners...Bruce Corey
1941 Manpower...Hank 'Gimpy' McHenry
1941 The Sea Wolf...'Wolf' Larsen
1940 This Man Reuter...Julius Reuter
1940 Brother Orchid...Little John Sarto
1940 The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet...Dr. Paul Ehrlich
1939 Blackmail...John R. Ingram
1939 Confessions of a Nazi Spy...Edward Renard
1938 I Am the Law...John Lindsay
1938 The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...Dr. Clitterhouse
1938 A Slight Case of Murder...Remy Marco
1937 The Last Gangster...Joe Krozac
1937 Kid Galahad...Nick Donati
1937 Thunder in the City...Daniel 'Dan' Armstrong
1936 Bullets or Ballots...Johnny Blake
1935 Barbary Coast...Luis Chamalis
1935 Passport to Fame...Arthur Ferguson Jones
1934 The Man with Two Faces...Damon Welles/Jules Chautard
1934 Dark Hazard...Jim 'Buck' Turner
1933 I Loved a Woman...John Mansfield Hayden
1933 The Little Giant...Bugs Ahearn
1932 Silver Dollar...Yates Martin
1932 Tiger Shark...Mike Mascarenhas
1932 Two Seconds...John Allen
1932 The Honourable Mr. Wong...Wong Low Get
1931 Five Star Final...Randall
1931 Smart Money...Nick Venizelos
1931 The Slippery Pearls (short)...Gangster (as Edward Robinson)
1931 Little Caesar...Little Caesar - Alias 'Rico'
1930 The Widow from Chicago...Dominic
1930 East Is West...Charlie Yong
1930 Outside the Law...Cobra Collins
1930 Die Sehnsucht jeder Frau...Tony
1930 A Lady to Love...Tony
1930 Night Ride...Tony Garotta
1929 The Hole in the Wall...The Fox
1923 The Bright Shawl...Domingo Escobar (as E.G. Robinson)
1916 Arms and the Woman...Factory Worker
