Happy Birthday, Peter Lorre!

Updated on June 26, 2012 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

Our good friend Beckoning Chasm noticed that today, June 26th, is the 108th anniversary of the birth of László Löwenstein, aka Peter Lorre. Mr. Lorre was born in Rózsahegy, Hungary, on June 26th, 1904.

Mr. Lorre’s work has brought me much pleasure over the years, as indicated by my current Tuesdays with Lorre series. Although I have been covering the more obscure (or at least harder to see) films in Mr. Lorre’s oeuvre, he does have a number of iconic performances to his credit. Let’s have a vote as to everyone’s favorite.

M (my favorite)
Mad Love
Mr. Moto (various)
The Maltese Falcon
Casablanca
Arsenic and Old Lace (2nd favorite)
The Raven

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    It’s hard to pick just one.  I might go with “Arsenic.”  Also, “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”

  • bgbear_rogerh

    although he did not match the book description, he did a perfect Joel Cairo. 

  • Gamera977

    Lorre was always entertaining but I don’t think I could nail myself down to any performance being my favorite though.

  • Beckoning Chasm

     I agree, it would be easier to count the films in which he was wasted (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea comes to mind) or otherwise ill-used (Quicksand).

  • sandra

    I have a fondness for the Mr Moto movies.  Nowadays, I believe it is not considered PC to like them, as they are considered racist, but Moto was always the smartest person in them, much smarter than any white folks.  Mr Moto was a fascinating character: a gentle, scholarly, cat-loving little man who was also a ruthless killer.(In THANK YOU, MR MOTO he stabs a man through and through six or eight times, then cooly buries the body in the sand beneath his tent !)  Lorre handles the contradiction so smoothly that you don’t even realize it exists, until you think about it.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    His whole screen persona was such a unique, indelible creation, that I bet a lot of people would mention performances such as the guy who sings the second part of Spike Jones “My Old Flame,” Nick Danger’s Rocky Rococo, and Ren Hoek as great Lorre performances.

  • Most people who point to older films as somehow being racist, I’d argue have never watched them. There was a slew of Oriental detective movies in the 30’s and 40’s, and it’s hard to figure why some people think they were putting down Orientals, given that they were always the heroes of the films!

  • I’d have to go with MAD LOVE as his most hypnotic performance. I first saw the film as a tyke when it aired on TNT one fine evening. Even then I knew it was a great film, and I get even more out of it now.

    On the other hand, it’s hard not totally enjoy his role as Dr. Einstein in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. He’s just as depraved and ruthless as his partner, but you’re still happy to see him get away at the end. That flinch of his when one cop gives his description to another cop while he’s standing right there is nothing short of priceless!

  • ‘Mad Love’ was Peter Lorre at his Peter Lorre-est. Just seeing him bald and crazy was a joy to behold.

  • Monoceros4

     The original “Man Who Knew Too Much” is a much underrated film; I prefer it to the remake in many ways. Good choice.

  • aikidocop72

    Maltese Falcon- the scene where he half explains the fight between him and Mary Astor to the police and just decides to wander off halfway thru kills me every time…

  • Comedy of Terrors was great.  He gets the girl in that.

  • sandra

    Man Who Knew Too Much was Lorre’s first film in English.  Lorre said that the greatest piece of acting he ever did was convincing Hitchcock that he understood English well enough to play the part ;-).  He fooled Hitch, so he learned his lines phonetically by day, and studied English frantically at night .  Somehow, it worked.   I too prefer the original version to the remake:  the mother of the kidnapped child doesn’t just wander around singing “Che sera, sera’, she grabs a rifle and shoots the villain dead !

  • MrTongoRad

    I have to admit that I found the original run of Ren and Stimpy incredibly amusing way back when, and if you were of a certain age you just knew that Ren’s voice was modeled after Peter Lorre. In one episode they really drive the point home by riffing on Lorre’s Joel Cairo character  “You eediot! You bloated sack of wet protoplasm!”, that sort of thing. I dunno, in a way, that kind of cemented in my mind that character as being the most quotable in Lorre’s legacy, and it’s who I think of first when it comes to Lorre.

  • The Rev.

    I haven’t seen all of these, but I’d pick Mad Love as my favorite from the ones I have.  He was just fantastically creepy in that.