Robinson (actor) - Memidex dictionary/thesaurus www​.britannica​.com​/E​Bchecked​/topic​/505705​/Edward-G-Robinson American Heritage Dictionary: Robinson | Brooks Calbert, Jr. Robinson | Edward G. Robinson | Edwin Arlington Robinson | Frank Robinson | Jack Roosevelt Robinson | James Harvey Robinson | Mary Robinson | Ray Robinson American baseball player noted for his defensive skills. In 23 seasons with ... | Romanian-born American actor known for his portrayal of gangsters in ... (23 of 269 words, 8 definitions, pronunciation) Edward G. Robinson | American actor | Britannica.com Edward G. Robinson Rodney Stephen Steiger Edward G. Robinson, original name Emanuel Goldenberg (born Dec. 12, 1893, Bucharest , Rom.—died Jan. 26, 1973, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.), American stage and film actor who skillfully played a wide range of character types but who is best known for his portrayals of gangsters and criminals.

Robinson was born in Romania but emigrated with his parents at age 10 and grew up on New York’s Lower East Side. He gave up early dreams of becoming either a rabbi or a lawyer and while a student at City College settled on acting . After winning a scholarship (1911) to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his stage debut in Paid in Full (1913). His knowledge of many languages helped him win a multilingual part in Under Fire (1915), his Broadway debut. He continued acting each Broadway season for the next decade, and in 1927 he had his first starring role, in the play The Racket. Two years later he appeared in The Kibitzer, a three-act comedy he wrote with Jo Swerling. Though he had appeared in two silent films—Arms and the Woman (1916) and The Bright Shawl (1923)—it was not until the advent of sound that Robinson’s movie career began in earnest. After a few undistinguished dramas, he starred as the trigger-happy gangster Enrico Bandello in Little Caesar (1931).

It was the perfect part for Robinson and made him an instant star. Robinson’s dynamic performance, like that of James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931), made the film stand apart from the usual underworld story, and both films marked the start of a long series of gangster pictures with which the Warner Brothers studio would become most associated throughout the 1930s and ’40s. Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931). © 1931 Warner Brothers, Inc.; photograph, Museum of Modern Art, Film Stills Archive Short, chubby, with “the face of a depraved cherub and a voice which makes everything he says seem violently profane,” as Time magazine described him in 1931, Robinson was content that his career would consist of rough-and-tumble roles and character parts; he was happy to turn what would have otherwise been physical drawbacks into instantly identifiable trademarks.

He continued playing “tough mugs” in film after film: a con man in Smart Money (1931), a cigar-chomping newspaper editor in Five Star Final (1931), a convicted murderer in Two Seconds (1932), and a spoof of his own Little Caesar image in The Little Giant (1933). The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), in which he played the dual roles of a timid bank clerk and a ruthless hoodlum, showed Robinson capable of fine, understated comedy, whereas in Bullets or Ballots (1936), he at last got to play somebody on the right side of the law, an undercover policeman. In 1937 he began a five-year run on the popular radio series Big Town, playing a newspaper editor. Britannica Stories Emmanuel Goldenberg | Article about Emmanuel Goldenberg by The Free Dictionary Emmanuel Goldenberg | Article about Emmanuel Goldenberg by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Edward G. Robinson Actor Robinson, Edward G., 1893–1973, American movie actor, b. Bucharest, Romania, as Emmanuel Goldberg.

He made his stage debut in New York City in 1915. A short, tough-looking man, Robinson played both vicious gangsters and amiable men, the latter frequently led astray by unfaithful women. His most famous role was as the snarling mobster in Little Caesar (1931). He played criminals in such movies as Five Star Final (1931), Kid Galahad (1937), and Key Largo (1948), and more sympathetic parts in Double Indemnity (1944), The Stranger (1946), Tight Spot (1955), and Soylent Green (1973). Bibliography See his autobiography (1974). Robinson, Edward G. (b. Emmanuel Goldenberg) (1893–1973) movie actor; born in Bucharest, Romania. Coming to the U.S.A. at age 10, he took up acting at City College of New York; he made his stage debut in 1913 and his Hollywood debut in 1923.

Short, squat, with an inimitable mouth and imitable voice, he became a star in Little Caesar (1931) and for some years seemed typecast as a criminal. But he moved on to play a wide variety of roles and although his career was set back when he was attacked in the early 1950s by the House Un-American Activities Committee, he recovered and was voted a Special Academy Award in 1972. He was also known as a collector of 19th- and 20th-century art, although he had to sell it in 1956 to satisfy a divorce settlement. Edward G. Robinson - Buy, Rent, and Watch Movies & TV on Flixster Edward G. Robinson Bucharest, Romania Bio: Born Emmanuel Goldenberg, Edward G. Robinson was a stocky, forceful, zesty star of Hollywood films who was best known for his gangsters roles in the '30s. A "little giant" of the screen with a pug-dog face, drawling nasal voice, and a snarling expression, he was considered the quintessential tough-guy actor.

Having emigrated with his family to the U.S.… More Bio: Born Emmanuel Goldenberg, Edward G. Robinson was a stocky, forceful, zesty star of Hollywood films who was best known for his gangsters roles in the '30s. A "little giant" of the screen with a pug-dog face, drawling nasal voice, and a snarling expression, he was considered the quintessential tough-guy actor. Having emigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was ten, Robinson planned to be a rabbi or a lawyer, but decided on an acting career while a student at City College, where he was elected to the Elizabethan Society. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts on a scholarship, and, in 1913, began appearing in summer stock after changing his name to "Edward G." (for Goldenberg). Robinson debuted on Broadway in 1915, and, over the next 15 years, became a noted stage character actor, even co-writing one of his plays, The Kibitzer (1929).

He appeared in one silent film, The Bright Shawl (1923), but not until the sound era did he begin working regularly in films, making his talkie debut in The Hole in the Wall (1929) with Claudette Colbert. It was a later sound film, 1930's Little Caesar, that brought him to the attention of American audiences; portraying gangster boss Rico Bandello, he established a prototype for a number of gangster roles he played in the ensuing years. After being typecast as a gangster he gradually expanded the scope of his roles, and, in the '40s, gave memorable "good guy" performances as in a number of psychological dramas; he played federal agents, scientists, Biblical characters, business men, bank clerks, among other characters. The actor experienced a number of personal problems during the '50s. He was falsely linked to communist organizations and called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (eventually being cleared of all suspicion). Having owned one of the world's largest private art collections, he was forced to sell it in 1956 as part of a divorce settlement with his wife of 29 years, actress Gladys Lloyd.

Robinson continued his career, however, which now included television work, and he remained a busy actor until shortly before his death from cancer in 1973. His final film was Soylent Green (1973), a science fiction shocker with Charlton Heston. Two months after his death, Robinson was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his outstanding contribution to motion pictures," having been notified of the honor before he died. He was also the author of a posthumously published autobiography, All My Yesterdays (1973). Rico's End: A Short Biography of Edward G. Robinson “The best actor never to win the ®Oscar!” Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) Eddie never got the Oscar he so richly deserved, noting especially his chilling performance as Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf, a pity! He must be regarded as one America's finest film actors. In Caesar Enrico Bandello, he created the prototype for the modern American movie gangster. For the wonderful memories he gave me, this site if dedicated. Information about Eddie is extremely difficult to obtain, any additions are welcome.

Emanuel Goldenberg, forceful, authoritative character star of Hollywood films, memorable for his tough impersonation of gangster boss Rico Bandello in Little Caesar (1930) and many other characterizations of underworld types in Warner’s crime cycle of the 30s. In the US from age–10, he grew up on New York’s Lower East Side and gave up plans to become a rabbi or a lawyer in favor of acting during studies at City College, where he was elected to the Elizabethan Society. He won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and, changing his name to Edward G. (for Goldenberg) Robinson, began appearing in stock in 1913. He made it to Broadway in 1915 and over the next 15 years appeared with increasing recognition in a wide variety of plays, including The Kibitzer (1929), a three–act comedy that he also wrote with Jo Swerling. He made an isolated film appearance during the silent era, playing a supporting role in The Bright Shawl (1923), but it was only after the advent of sound that he began to be seen regularly in movies.

After his great success with Little Caesar (1930), a performance that became a prototype for screen gangster portrayals, Robinson was typecast for several years in similar roles, but he gradually broadened his range and proved himself a highly skilled actor in a great variety of parts. He gave memorable performances in two screen biographies Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940), the story of the German scientist who developed a cure for venereal disease, and A Dispatch From Reuters (1940), the chronicle of the man who pioneered the telegraphic news agency. Some of his best portrayals where in psychological dramas of the 40s, notably Flesh and Fantasy (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945). Robinson’s personal life was beset by problems in the 50s. Despite a well–known record of activity for patriotic causes during and after WWII, his name was linked by Red Channels with Communist–front organizations. He was called to testify before the House Un–American Activities Committee but was cleared of all suspicion and won a clean bill of health.

In 1956 he was forced to sell his famous art collection, one of the world’s largest privately owned, as part of his divorce settlement with his wife of 29 years, actress Gladys Lloyd. During this period he was also troubled by the maladjustment of his only son, who got into frequent frictions with the law and attempted suicide several times. Despite the personal setbacks, Robinson continued his busy acting career on television as well as in films. In 1956 he returned to Broadway after a long absence, scoring a success in the role of an elderly widower who marries a young bride in Paddy Chayefsky’s Middle of the Night. His film appearances during the 60s were mainly in the supporting capacity. In the Academy Award ceremonies that took place shortly after his death of cancer in 1973, Robinson was awarded a special Oscar in recognition of his achievements in films, in a magnificent career that spanned five decades of cinema. His life provided the basis for the 1979 play Manny, by Raymond Serra, who also played the title role.

New York Times, January 27, 1973: By ALDEN WIMAN “HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 26, Edward G. Robinson, whose tough, sinister appearance on movie screens concealed the soul of a gentle man, died today at the age of 79. Robinson succumbed at Mount Sinai Hospital where he had undergone tests in recent weeks. The cause of death was not immediately determined.” “Edward G. Robinson was a skilled actor of the stage and screen whose vivid portrayal of motion picture gangsters, among them Little Caesar, during the nineteen–thirties marked powerful mobsters who ruled the underworld during the Prohibition era. So effective was Robinson interpretation of the gangster that many of the underworld characters found themselves affecting the Robinson character chomping down on cigar butts while snarling orders out of the sides of their mouths.” “But while Robinson was making his mark on others, he himself, remained strangely unaffected. In real life he was a man of great kindness and courtesy whose generosity scarcely knew bounds.

Between 1939 and 1949 he made more than 850 contributions totaling $250,000 from relief and entertainment agencies, to cultural educational and religious groups. His art collection comprised perhaps the outstanding group of privately owned paintings in the United States. During the course of a marital settlement it was sold in 1957 for $3,250,000.” “Robinson was born Dec,. 12, 1893, as Emanuel Goldenberg in Bucharest, Rumania. One of Robinson’ brothers was hit on the head with a rock during a schoolboy pogrom and years later, in America, died probably from the effects of the blow. To escape this persecution the family managed to scrape together the fare for steerage passage and came to the United States. “At Ellis Island I was born again,” Robinson wrote later. “Life for me began when I was 10 years old.” Made Speeches to Friends As a boy, as soon as he had mastered English, he made speeches to his family and friends. His favorite was Theodore Roosevelt’s second inaugural address, which he had committed to memory.

He hoped to become a criminal lawyer “to defend the human beings who were abused and exploited.” With this purpose he entered Townsend Harris High School and after that City College. It was at City College that the youth decided to forego his law career to be an actor. He loved to perform before people. But Robinson’s study of the theater told him that there had been many little men in the theater. He won a scholarship at the American Academy of Dramatic Art with a sizzling and effective delivery of the Brutus and Cassius quarrel scene from Julius Caesar. He was 19 when he entered dramatic school and shortly thereafter changed his name to Robinson “a name I had heard while sitting in the balcony of the Criterion Theater.” He played in stock in Cincinnati, in vaudeville as a Chinese man in a skit at Hammerstein’s. He finally broke into the legitimate theater in 1915 in a play called Under Fire. He got the part because he was multilingual, an attribute called for in the script. Role followed role and the youngster received many good notices. He joined the Theater Guild and played a great variety of roles.

In such productions as The Adding Machine, The Brothers Karamazov, Right You Are, If You Think You Are, and Juarez and Maximilian. He was starred for the first time in The Kibitzer, a play of which he was the co–author. In January, 1927, Robinson married Gladys Lloyd, an actress. Robinson had experimented with several screen roles in silent pictures but he was not happy with the result. With the addition of sound to the shadows, however, Robinson’s interest was renewed and he tried his first talking–picture The Hole in the Wall, There followed The Widow from Chicago and a short time later, in 1931, Little Caesar. Of Little Caesar a critic for The New York Times wrote: “Little Caesar becomes at Robinson’s hands a figure out of a Greek tragedy, a cold, ignorant, merciless killer, driven on and on by an insatiable lust for power, the plaything of a force that is greater than himself.

The film contained a climatic line that itself became a classic, Little Caesars parting words as he lay slumped under a billboard after he had been shot by the police…” “Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?” It was sometimes said that Robinson was selected to play the role of Little Caesar because of a resemblance to Al Capone, the Chicago vice baron. Robinson doubted this theory, and there was no real–life resemblance. Hollywood makeup artists, however, always managed to make Robinson look as sinister as Capone was reputed to be. A more reasonable theory was that Hollywood sought him out because of his success as Nick Scarsi, a character in !splay called The Racket. is play was so real, Robinson once remarked, that it could not be produced in Chicago, in any event, his portrayal of Little Caesar came to be considered a classic, and there followed others in the curled lip mold Smart Money, Five Star Final, Bullets or Ballots, The actor thought Five Star Final, one of his finest tough guy pictures. In it he played Randall, the editor of a muckraking tabloid.

This film, released in 1931, along with many of his other movies, has been revived from time to time on television. Robinson’ first real departure from his two–fisted type of role on the screen was Dr. EhrlichMagic’s Bullet in 1940, and even this film about syphilis was billed as “the war against the greatest public enemy of all.” Appeared in 100 Films From 1929 to 1966 Robinson appeared in more than 100 films. His name, until recent years, usually meant good box office. in all, his films grossed well over $50–million, and this figure is a modest estimate. His own earnings were high and he lived appropriately. Robinson was the first Hollywood star to entertain in France after the invasion of Normandy. He sold war bonds and it was said he turned his regular weekly radio dramatic show Big Town into a soap box in favor of the American way.

The American Legion gave the program a citation and he was commended for his “outstanding contribution to Americanism through his stirring patriotic appeals…” But because he had allowed his name to be linked with so many causes, inevitably there were those with a Communist tinge. Robinson was named in Red Channels in connection with 11 Communist front organizations. But Robinson carried his case to the House Un–American Activities Committee and eventually won a clean bill of health. After 28 years as a movie actor Robinson returned to the stage in Middle of the Night and scored a success. At the age of 63 he was a forceful and vital figure on the stage and the youthful cast said that they found it difficult to match his boundless energy. In Middle of the Night he portrayed an aging widower who married a much younger woman. Early in 1958, while he was still appearing in the Paddy Chayefsky play, Robinson was married to Jane Bodenheimer, a 38–year–old dress designer known professionally as Jane Arden. After his stage success, the actor performed occasionally on television and played featured roles in several other movies.

In all he appeared in 40 Broadway plays and more than 100 films. Among his most recent movies were A Boy Ten Feet Tall, Cheyenne Autumn, The Cincinnati Kid and Sammy Going South. It was while making this picture in 1964 that he suffered a mild heart attack. Robinson was an excellent actor and was to have received a special Oscar for his “outstanding contribution to motion pictures” at the Academy Awards ceremony March 27, It would have been his first Oscar. Emanuel Goldenberg | Article about Emanuel Goldenberg by The Free Dictionary Emanuel Goldenberg | Article about Emanuel Goldenberg by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Edward G. Robinson Actor Robinson, Edward G., 1893–1973, American movie actor, b. Bucharest, Romania, as Emmanuel Goldberg. He made his stage debut in New York City in 1915. A short, tough-looking man, Robinson played both vicious gangsters and amiable men, the latter frequently led astray by unfaithful women. His most famous role was as the snarling mobster in Little Caesar (1931).

He played criminals in such movies as Five Star Final (1931), Kid Galahad (1937), and Key Largo (1948), and more sympathetic parts in Double Indemnity (1944), The Stranger (1946), Tight Spot (1955), and Soylent Green (1973). Bibliography See his autobiography (1974). Robinson, Edward G. (b. Emmanuel Goldenberg) (1893–1973) movie actor; born in Bucharest, Romania. Coming to the U.S.A. at age 10, he took up acting at City College of New York; he made his stage debut in 1913 and his Hollywood debut in 1923. Short, squat, with an inimitable mouth and imitable voice, he became a star in Little Caesar (1931) and for some years seemed typecast as a criminal.

But he moved on to play a wide variety of roles and although his career was set back when he was attacked in the early 1950s by the House Un-American Activities Committee, he recovered and was voted a Special Academy Award in 1972. He was also known as a collector of 19th- and 20th-century art, although he had to sell it in 1956 to satisfy a divorce settlement. Edward G. Robinson - Biography - IMDb Edward G. Robinson Biography Showing all 55 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (24) | Personal Quotes (16) | Salary (4) Overview (5) 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) 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 Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) and A Dispatch from Reuter's (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 <stephan@cc.wwu.edu> Spouse (2) Son, Emmanuel (Manny) (b. 1933, d. 1974). Born at 5:00 a.m. LMT. Interred at Beth El Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, in the Goodman Mausoleum. Incredibly, never nominated for an Academy Award. He was awarded an Honorary 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. 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 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, among them Yiddish, Romanian and German), 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). Tenney claimed that Robinson, an unabashed progressive Democrat, was "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'. Other alumni of his P.S. 21 in Manhattan were George Gershwin , Paul Muni and US Sen. Jacob Javits . 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. He was considered for the role of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972) before Marlon Brando was cast. Was mentioned in Green Acres: The Deputy (1966). Personal Quotes (16) 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 [ Auguste 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. [om writer/director Richard Brooks ] As feisty, individual, unpredictable and honest as any man I've ever known. [on being cast in The Ten Commandments (1956)] Cecil B. DeMille restored my self-respect. Salary (4) edbio Two Biographies Of Edward G. Robinson 1893-1973. Born Emmanuel Goldenberg, Edward G.

Robinson arrived in the United States at age 10 from Romania. In his teens he took an interest in acting and abandoned his plans to become a rabbi or a lawyer. He entered films in 1923, but it wasn't until his portrayal of gangster Rico Bandello in the film LITTLE CAESAR, in 1931, that Robinson achieved worldwide recognition as a screen tough guy. Under contract to Warner Bros., he continued to play film gangsters in such films as KEY LARGO. Robinson was a gifted and highly versatile actor, appearing in a variety of sympathetic and character roles in films like DOUBLE INDEMNITY, SCARLET STREET and OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES. In 1973 he was awarded a special posthumous Oscar® for lifetime achievement. Edward G. Robinson, 1893-1973 Born in Rumania, actor Edward G. Robinson became an American movie hero, his career covering 5 decades and nearly 100 films. Famed for his gangster roles, Robinson starred in successful comedies, heavy dramas, and on Broadway.

Robinson died weeks before he would have accepted a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award on January 26th, 1973 in Hollywood California. Entering the world as Emmanuelle Goldenberg in Bucharest, Rumania on December 12th, 1893, the actor and his family came to America in 1904, settling in New York's Lower East Side. As a child, he developed manias for theater and collecting, both remaining lifelong passions, though as 10-year-old Manny Goldenberg he little suspected that he would expand from cigar bands and baseball cards to Renoirs. While he held a perpetual fascination with theater, he entered New York's City College while debating between careers as a rabbi or a lawyer, though election to the school's Elizabethan Society soon settled the dilemma. After being awarded a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the actor took his professional name, Edward G(oldenberg) Robinson. Robinson went from summer stock to Broadway theater productions in less than two years, establishing himself as a character actor and working steadily in New York for 15 years.

After completing his classes at the Academy, he made his debut in films with an uncredited extra role in the 1916 silent film "Arms and the Woman", before taking a costarring role opposite Mary Astor in the 1923 melodrama "The Bright Shawl", the first of several films in which the two played characters of brother and sister. Robinson left New York in 1929, having taken his first writer's credit for the play "The Kibitzer", which won good reviews on Broadway, and married actress Gladys Lloyd. The Robinsons headed to Hollywood where he took his first lead in a talkie, "The Hole in the Wall" and secured a contract with Warner Brothers Studios. During the first year of his contract, Robinson made a handful or films that went relatively unnoticed before he was cast in the 1930 Mervyn LeRoy gangster story "Little Caesar". The film, which also starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., was later credited with launching not only Robinson's film career, but a mania for gangster pictures which defined the Prohibition era.

Robinson's early career was consequently dominated by beer and bullets films which not only secured his place as a matinee idol, but bolstered a number of tough-guy actors, including James Cagney ("Smart Money"), Boris Karloff ("Five Star Final"), and a frequent co-star of Robinson's, Humphrey Bogart. Robinson and Bogart teamed for 5 successful films, including "Kid Galahad" with Bette Davis and the classic "Key Largo" with legendary actor Lionel Barrymore. As the Prohibition period ended, Hollywood shifted from lionizing bootleggers to building up "G Men". While the trend ended the glory days of some film stars, Robinson's versatility and deft turn with comedy carried him to greater success with such films as "The Last Gangster" with James Stewart and "A Slight Case of Murder". Robinson proved able at nearly any role that came his way, and often voiced his personal sense of responsibility in interpreting the lives and works of others. His devotion to his craft resulted in critical acclaim for such roles as the lead in the controversial bio-pic, "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet" and the Arthur Miller drama "All My Sons".

He starred with Orson Welles in "The Stranger", and after a decade of playing crooks, killers and swindlers, Robinson scored a hit as an investigator on the trail of a murderer in the 1944 film "Double Indemnity". The same year he became an unlikely hero in "Mr. Winkle Goes to War", playing a henpecked householder who accepts an accidental draft notice just to escape a nagging wife. Robinson ended the 1940s with a Cannes Film Festival Best Actor honor for his 1949 film, "House of Strangers". That victory preceded a dark decade for the actor, who, during the 1950s, was among the film industry figures accused of Communist sympathies by Senator McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee. Robinson spent weeks being dragged through the media as well as Congressional investigation hearings before the charges against him were proven to be groundless.

Robinson was dragged through courts and media again when he divorced from his wife of nearly 30 years, Gladys Lloyd accusing him of causing the failure of her own acting career (though 4 of her 6 movie credits were in her husband's early films) and of causing the mental illness of their only child, Emmanuelle "Manny" Robinson. In addition to enduring the pain of seeing his son's misunderstood psychiatric problems played up in the press, Robinson was forced by the divorce settlement to sell of nearly all of his prized art collection. The same year that Robinson saw the end of his marriage, his career began a new phase with the cinematic masterpiece, "The Ten Commandments". Co-starring with such notable actors as Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Vincent Price, Robinson, then 62, could well have retired and still been assured status as a screen legend. Instead, the actor left films for three years to renew his work on Broadway, appearing in "In the Middle of the Night" and earning outstanding reviews.

When he returned to film work in 1959, he had remarried and renewed his energies, making cameos in Marilyn Monroe's hit comedy "Some Like It Hot" and rolling into the Shirley MacLaine farce "My Geisha". Robinson continued to demonstrate his diversity for the last 10 years of his career, leaping from the gangster spoof "Robin and the 7 Hoods" with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, to co-starring role in the Western "Cheyenne Autumn". In 1973, though suffering with terminal cancer, Robinson completed the autobiography "All My Yesterdays" as well as a second (and final) project with Charlton Heston, "Soylent Green". The actor had begun preparation for a role in one of the successful "Planet of the Apes" pictures and was scheduled to receive a special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1973 Oscar ceremonies, but did not survive to see either. Edward G. Robinson lost his battle with cancer on January 26th, 1973 in Hollywood, California, and was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for his lifetime work in motion pictures.

Survived at his death by his wife Jane Adler and his son Manny, who took the professional name Edward G. Robinson, Jr., for his own brief acting career, the actor was interred at the Beth El Cemetery of Brooklyn, New York.

Question: Which actor, famous for his portrayal of gangsters, was born Emmanuel Goldenberg in Romania in 1893?
Answer: Edward G Robinson