# Marc Lawrence

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. His pock-marked complexion, brooding appearance, and New York street-guy accent made him a natural for heavies, and he would portray scores of gangsters and mob bosses over the next six decades. He was once informed by studio executive Harry Cohn that infamous mobster Johnny Roselli called Lawrence "the best hood in films". Lawrence himself added that many Italian hoods told him he played them better than anyone else.
In 1951, Lawrence found himself under scrutiny for his political past. After being visited at his L.A. home by two government agents who accused him of being a Communist Party USA (CPUSA) member, Lawrence was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). On April 24, 1951, he appeared before the HUAC and admitted he had belonged to the CPUSA in the late 1930s. He named fourteen of his film industry associates as Communists, including fellow actors J. Edward Bromberg, Morris Carnovsky, Jeff Corey, Howard da Silva, Lloyd Gough, Sterling Hayden, Larry Parks, Anne Revere, and Lionel Stander. Despite being a cooperative witness, Lawrence did not fully escape the blacklist, and so he and his wife, screenwriter Fanya Foss, and their two children departed for Italy in 1951. They lived abroad for six years. During that time, he appeared in numerous Italian films and also landed the role of Diomedes in Robert Wise's Helen of Troy (1956).
Once the blacklist eased for Lawrence in the late 1950s, he and his family moved back to the U.S. He initially obtained guest spots on TV series such as The Detectives and The Untouchables. He later resumed his position in films 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 also had occasional directing credits, including on Nightmare in the Sun (1965) and Pigs (1973), as well as on episodes of TV series such as Lawman, The Roaring 20's, 77 Sunset Strip, and Maverick. Among his later acting jobs, he played Volnoth, a member of the Gatherers, in the 1989 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Vengeance Factor". He was the elderly motel owner in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). He returned to the Star Trek franchise when he portrayed Mr. Zeemo in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang", which aired in February 1999. His final film acting performance was in Looney Tunes Back in Action (2003), appearing as an Acme Corporation vice president.

## Books

Lawrence's autobiography, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster (ISBN 0-9636700-0-X), was published in 1991. He 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. They had two children. Foss died in 1995. His daughter Toni was married to Billy Bob Thornton from 1986 to 1988. In 2003, at the age of 93, Lawrence married a Mexican woman named Alicia, who had a daughter from a prior marriage.

## Death

On November 28, 2005, Marc Lawrence died of heart failure at his Palm Springs home. He was 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 Nazi 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 Bass as Harry Dean
* 1949 Tough Assignment 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 Girls Marked Danger as Manchedi
* 1952 The Three Pirates 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)