Peter Lorre

Advertise Here

Purchase Peter Lorre Products Here

June 26, 1904

March 23, 1964 (age 59) in Los Angeles, California, USA (stroke)
Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, USA, in the Cathedral Mausoleum.

László Löwenstein

Annemarie Brenning (21 July 1953 - 23 March 1964) (his death) 1 child

Kaaren Verne (25 May 1945 - 1950) (divorced)

Celia Lovsky (1934 - 13 March 1945) (divorced)

Actor

1964 The Patsy

1964 Muscle Beach Party

1963 The Comedy of Terrors

1963 Kraft Suspense Theatre (TV series)

1963 77 Sunset Strip (TV series)

1963 The DuPont Show of the Week (TV series)

1963 The Raven

1962 Route 66 (TV series)

1962 Five Weeks in a Balloon

1962 Tales of Terror (segment "The Black Cat")

1961 The Gertrude Berg Show (TV series)

1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

1961 The Best of the Post (TV series)

1961 Checkmate (TV series)

1960 Rawhide (TV series)

1954-1960 The Red Skelton Show (TV series)

1960 Wagon Train (TV series)

1956-1960 Playhouse 90 (TV series)

1960 Scent of Mystery

1957-1960 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series)

1959 Five Fingers (TV series)

1959 The Big Circus

1958 The Milton Berle Show (TV series)

1958 Collector's Item (TV movie)

1957 Hell Ship Mutiny

1957 The Sad Sack

1957 The Story of Mankind

1957 Silk Stockings

1954-1957 Climax! (TV series)

1957 The Buster Keaton Story

1956 The 20th Century-Fox Hour (TV series)

1956 Around the World in Eighty Days

1956 Congo Crossing

1955-1956 Studio 57 (TV series)

1956 Meet Me in Las Vegas (uncredited)

1956 Screen Directors Playhouse (TV series)

1955 The Star and the Story (TV series)

1955 The Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater (TV series)

1955 Producers' Showcase (TV series)

1955 The Best of Broadway (TV series)

1955 Young Couples Only (TV short)

1955 Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents (TV series)

1954 20000 Leagues Under the Sea

1954 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV series)

1953 The United States Steel Hour (TV series)

1953 Beat the Devil

1952 Suspense (TV series)

1952 Lux Video Theatre (TV series)

1951 Der Verlorene

1950 Double Confession

1950 Quicksand

1949 Rope of Sand

1948 Casbah

1947 My Favorite Brunette

1946 The Beast with Five Fingers

1946 The Verdict

1946 The Chase

1946 Black Angel

1946 Three Strangers

1945 Confidential Agent

1945 Hotel Berlin

1944 The Conspirators

1944 Arsenic and Old Lace

1944 The Mask of Dimitrios

1944 Passage to Marseille

1943 The Cross of Lorraine

1943 Background to Danger

1943 The Constant Nymph

1942 Casablanca

1942 The Boogie Man Will Get You

1942 Invisible Agent

1941 All Through the Night

1941 The Maltese Falcon

1941 They Met in Bombay

1941 Mr. District Attorney

1941 The Face Behind the Mask

1940 You'll Find Out

1940 Stranger on the Third Floor

1940 Island of Doomed Men

1940 I Was an Adventuress

1940 Strange Cargo

1939 Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

1939 Mr. Moto in Danger Island

1939 Mr. Moto's Last Warning

1938 Mysterious Mr. Moto

1938 I'll Give a Million

1938 Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

1938 Mr. Moto's Gamble

1937 Thank You, Mr. Moto

1937 Lancer Spy

1937 Think Fast, Mr. Moto

1937 Nancy Steele Is Missing!

1936 Crack-Up

1936 Secret Agent

1935 Crime and Punishment

1935 Mad Love

1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much

1933 High and Low

1933 Unsichtbare Gegner

1933 Was Frauen träumen

1933 Les requins du pétrole

1932 F.P.1 antwortet nicht

1932 Stupéfiants

1932 Der weiße Dämon

1932 Schuß im Morgengrauen

1932 Fünf von der Jazzband

1931 Die Koffer des Herrn O.F.

1931 Bomben auf Monte Carlo

1931 M

1931 Mann ist Mann (short)

1930 The White Devil

1929 Die verschwundene Frau (uncredited)

Director

1951 Der Verlorene

Writer

1951 Der Verlorene (novel / screenplay)

Appearances

1964 Hollywood and the Stars (TV series)

1963 The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (TV series)

1963 The Jack Benny Program (TV series)

1962 Tonight Starring Jack Paar (TV series)

1961 Here's Hollywood (TV series)

1960 I've Got a Secret (TV series)

1952-1960 What's My Line? (TV series)

1956 The Bob Hope Show (TV series)

1954-1955 Disneyland (TV series)

1955 The George Gobel Show (TV series)

1953 The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (TV series)

1953 The Dave Garroway Show (TV series)

1953 The Jackie Gleason Show (TV series)

1952 Four Star Revue (TV series)

1949 Cavalcade of Stars (TV series)

1949 We, the People (TV series)

1949 The Milton Berle Show (TV series)

1944 Hollywood Canteen

German Film Awards

1952 Won Certificate Honorable Mention for: Der Verlorene (1951). For a feature film.

Walk of Fame

Won Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6619 Hollywood Blvd.

[ View All Photos ]

With his bulging eyes, hunched posture, and high-pitched whine, Peter Lorre was the screen's ultimate "weak man." Most of his characters are cowards, unable to contain fits of outrage and prepared to sell their soul. Yet he always portrayed them as cultured, intelligent, and with an alluring smile. Given that, it is no surprise that Lorre invented the psychopath for cinema. In his first movie, Fritz Lang's chilling M (1931), Lorre plays a whistling child molester with such a haunting conviction and eerie realism that his performance became the model for every screen serial killer since. The part made him instantly famous.

After he fled Germany when Hitler came to power, it took Lorre a few years to find his feet on the international scene. But after two successful collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Secret Agent (1936), he became well entrenched in Hollywood. It was inevitable that he would play mostly crooked or feeble foreigners for the rest of his career, but there were exceptions: in the Mr. Moto serials (1937-1939) he proved he could be righteous and straight, and the lovely comedy I Was An Adventuress (1940) revealed that he was funny, too. Still, it is when Lorre portrayed people cornered or ready to jump ship, unpredictable and sweaty, that he was at his best. Three movies demonstrate that beyond any doubt: in The Maltese Falcon (1941), Lorre is the epitome of greed as Joel Cairo, ready to backstab anyone who comes in his way. In Casablanca (1942), he adds a tragic, romantic ring to a part that in the hands of any other actor would have been a merely functional role. Lorre's ambiguity is one of the main reasons for the movie's everlasting cult reputation. And in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Lorre's Dr. Einstein added a unique mix of lunacy and desperation to an already zany story.

After World War II, Lorre focused on TV appearances and independent horror features, such as The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) and The Raven (1963). He died a naturalized U.S. citizen, having directed one film, Der Verlorene (1951) (The Last One), about a Nazi scientist who kills his wife, a dark, ironic comment on the psychopath psyche that had made his fame.

Impersonating Lorre

Peter Lorre's silken voice and distinctive accent was instantly recognizable and became much imitated. It also led to a successful career in radio, where he had his own shows. Lorre's unforgettable qualities engendered many impersonations in cartoons, such as the character Ren from Ren and Stimpy, Morocco Mole from Secret Squirrel, and Mr. Gruesome from The Flintstones. In the 1940s Spike Jones's hit record cover version of "My Old Flame" featured voice actor Paul Frees doing a Lorre impression. Lorre once quipped: "All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice."

All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice

As a young man in Vienna, he was a student of the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Lorre is the inspiration for the ghost mascot of the General Mills cereal, Boo Berry.

Salary

Beat the Devil (1953) $15,000

Casablanca (1942) $500