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RobinsonBorn Emmanuel Goldenberg in Bucharest, Romania on December 12, 1893, the future Edward G. Robinson emigrated to the U.S. with his parents at the age of 9. While studying law at City College of New York, he gravitated toward acting, making his Broadway debut in 1915 and his film debut the following year. He became a major star with the release of Little Caesar in 1931. The soft-spoken, sophisticated actor was the antithesis of his on-screen tough guy persona in real life, becoming as famous for his art collection as he was for his magnetic film roles.

Although the actor was always authoritative on screen, his career was more diverse than the gangster roles with which he is usually identified would suggest. He may have been a nasty, snarling mob boss in Little Caesar, but he was also a fiery newspaper editor in Five Star Final, an anti-fascist FBI agent in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, the doctor who discovers a cure for syphilis in Dr. Ehrlichโ€™s Magic Bullet, a reformed gangster turned pious monk in Brother Orchid, the pioneering news service provider in A Dispatch from Reuterโ€™s, the captain of a sealing schooner in The Sea Wolf, a wily insurance investigator in A Double Indemnity, a milquetoast middle-aged professor in The Woman in the Window, a Norwegian farmer in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, a mousy bank teller in Scarlet Street, a crooked industrialist in All My Sons, the betrayed patriarch in House of Strangers, the traitorous Hebrew overseer in The Ten Commandments, both a world-renown physicist and his imposter in The Prize and a master poker player in The Cincinnati Kid along many other colorful characters in a long, distinguished career that encompassed a total of 113 films.

Robinson was an early outspoken critic of fascism and Nazism. He donated more than $250,000 to 850 political and charitable groups between 1939 and 1949. He was host to the Committee of 56 who gathered at his home on December 9, 1938, signing a “Declaration of Democratic Independence” which called for a boycott of all German-made products. He volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II, but was rejected because of his age.

On four occasions from 1950 to 1954, Robinson was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and threatened with blacklisting. He did not give names of Communist sympathizers but repudiated organizations he had belonged to in the 1930s and 1940s. His own name was cleared, but his career noticeably suffered. He was offered smaller and more infrequent roles. His career received a boost when he was cast of virulent anti-Communist Cecil B. DeMille in a major role in 1956โ€™s The Ten Commandments. That same year he received a Tony nomination for Broadwayโ€™s Middle of the Night, but lost the 1959 film role to Fredric March. He had his own on-screen success in 1959 with Frank Capraโ€™s A Hole in the Head.

Robinson was a passionate art collector, eventually building up a significant collection and partnering with Vincent Price to run a Los Angeles gallery. He would sell his collection to Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos in 1956 in order to raise cash for his divorce settlement with his first wife.

Shockingly never nominated for a competitive Oscar, Robinson was announced for a lifetime achievement by the Academy while on his deathbed. The award would come posthumously, Robinson having died of bladder cancer on January 26, 1973 His award would be accepted by his widow.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

LITTLE CAESAR (1931), directed by Mervyn LeRoy

Robinson became an overnight sensation with his portrayal of the short, snarling mob boss in the gangster film that established the genre in the 1930s and held sway until 1967โ€™s Bonnie and Clyde and 1972โ€™s The Godfather pulled it in a new direction.

Robinson himself was never completely able to change the publicโ€™s perception of him as one of the screenโ€™s most fearsome gangster, but it wasnโ€™t for lack of trying. Later in the year he was equally impressive in a completely different role as the fast–talking editor in Five Star Final.

DR. EHRLICHโ€™S MAGIC BULLET (1944), directed by William Dieterle

If Paul Muni could go from playing a snarling gangster in Scarface to the leading portrayer of historical figures in films like The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Life of Emile Zola, then why couldnโ€™t Robinson go from playing a snarling gangster in Little Caesar to an equally fine portrayer of historical figures in films like Dr. Ehrlichโ€™s Magic Bullet and A Dispatch from Reuterโ€™s? The answer is that he could indeed.

Although biographical dramas were no longer the sure bet they were in the 1930s, Robinsonโ€™s splendid portrayals in these two films were among his best. His impassioned doctor who goes against the established norms of the day to find a cure for syphilis is particularly moving.

SCARLET STREET (1945), directed by Fritz Lang

Robinson was at his acting peak as the mousy bank teller who falls hard for seductress Joan Bennett and is fleeced by her and her partner, Dan Duryea in Langโ€™s highly combustible remake of Jean Renoirโ€™s 1931 film, La Chienne (The Bitch).

The film was so controversial that the New York State censor kept it out of New York during 1945, the film finally being allowed to be shown in NYC in 1946. In the meantime, Robinson could be seen in a similar role in Langโ€™s earlier The Woman in the Window also co-starring Bennett and Duryea.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), directed by Cecil B. DeMille

One of the most heavily publicized films of its era, years in the making, DeMilleโ€™s epic about the life of Moses had a cast of thousands led by some of Hollywoodโ€™s most celebrated actors including Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, John Derek, Debra Paget, Nina Foch, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke and H.B. Warner.

Robinsonโ€™s casting as the traitorous Hebrew overseer was especially meaningful as it came at a time when his career was in jeopardy due to his โ€œgrey-listingโ€ by HUAC. The fact that he was cast by virulent anti-Communist DeMille spoke volumes to the Hollywood skeptics and resuscitated his career in a big way.

SOYLENT GREEN (1973), directed by Richard Fleischer

The shocking ending of the film was one of the worst kept secrets in film history. Robinsonโ€™s character, an beloved retiring cop, is euthanized in a scene that was filmed nine days before the actorโ€™s own death from bladder cancer.

The film is basically a police procedural set in a future in which cops Charlton Heston and Robinson investigate an industrialistโ€™s death. The secret of โ€œsoylent greenโ€, a pill which sustains life after vegetation has been wiped from the face of the Earth, was genuinely shocking to audiences of the day if no longer a surprise by the time most people had seen it.

EDWARD G. ROBINSONAND OSCAR

  • Honorary Award – for achieving greatness as a player, a patron of the arts and a dedicated citizenโ€ฆin sum, a Renaissance man.

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