Born December 8, 1911 in Bronx, New York, Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby) was interested in acting from an early age. He ran away from home at 16, joining the Harmonica Rascals with whom he made a short subject in Hollywood in 1929 before returning to New York where he studied accounting at New York University while working as a radio salesman. Still interested in show business, he then returned to Hollywood where he studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Cobb made his Broadway debut in a short-lived 1935 revival of Crime and Punishment but it was in old age makeup as John Garfield’s father in the 1937 production of Golden Boy that made him a name to be reckoned with. He reprised the role in the 1939 film version with William Holden in the title role.

The actor married Yiddish theatre actress Helen Beverley in 1940 with whom he would have two children including actress Julie Cobb. The early 1940s were a busy time for him alternating between such Broadway productions as 1941’s Clash by Night and 1943’s Winged Victory and such films as 1941’s Men of Boys Town, 1943’s The Moon Is Down and The Song of Bernadette, and the 1944 film version of Winged Victory.

The late 1940s proved a prolific period in Cobb’s career as he had major roles in such films as 1946’s Anna and the King of Siam, 1947’s Boomerang! and Captain from Castile, 1948’s Call Northside 777, The Miracle of the Bells, The Luck of the Irish and The Dark Past, and 1949’s Thieves’ Highway. Also in 1949, he starred in Broadway’s Death of a Salesman giving a performance still considered one of the greatest in Broadway history.

A friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951, Cobb lost out on the film version of Death of a Salesman. He was divorced from Helen Beverley in 1952, but his career rebounded with 1954’s On the Waterfront for which he received his first Oscar nomination. Other films followed including 1955’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suite.

In 1957, Cobb married second wife Mary Hirsch, with whom he would have two more children. That same year, he appeared in The Garment Jungle, The Three Faces of Eve, and 12 Angry Men for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1958 he had major roles in Man of the West, Party Girl, and The Brothers Karamkazov for which he received a second Oscar nomination.

1963’s Come Blow Your Horn earned Cobb a second Golden Globe nomination and the 1966 TV version of Death of a Salesman for which he won an Emmy.

Cobb’s best-remembered late career role was as the detective in 1973’s The Exorcist.

Lee J. Cobb died on February 11, 1976 at 64.

LEE J. COBB AND OSCAR

• On the Waterfront (1954) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
• The Brothers Karamazov (1958) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor

ESSENTIAL FILMS

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), directed by Elia Kazan

Nominated for 12 Oscars and winner of 8 including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Marlon Brando) as police informer Terry Molloy, Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint), Story and Screenplay, Black-and-White Cinematography, Film Editing, and Black-and-White Art Direction. It lost Best Score (by Leonard Bernstein) and Best Supporting Actor for which there were three nominees, Cobb as arrogant mob boss Johnny Friendly, Karl Malden as the activist waterfront priest, and Rod Steiger as Brando’s opportunistic lawyer brother. The three lost to Edmond O’Brien in The Barefoot Contessa.

12 ANGRY MEN (1957), directed by Sidney Lumet

Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay, this superbly acted film about a jury deliberating the fate of a young man on trial for murder received no acting nominations although star Henry Fonda did receive a nomination as one of the film’ producers. Fonda as the dissenting juror who convinces others to re-examine their decision to convict, and Cobb as the most stubborn of the jury members were nominated for Golden Globes for their performances. The others were Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley, Edward Binns, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec, Jack Warden and Robert Webber.

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (1958), directed by Richard Brooks

Cobb received his second Oscar nomination for his fierce portrayal of the father of the clan in this film version of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s epic novel. Yul Bynner as Dimitri, Maria Schell s Grushenka, and Claire Bloom as Katya had the starring roles. Albert Salmi as Smerdjakov won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actor. Brooks was nominated by the New York Film Critics for his direction of this as well as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Cobb was also outstanding this year as mean venous characters in two other films, Man of the West and Party Girl.

COME BLOW YOUR HORN, directed by Bud Yorkin (1965)

Cobb seldom got to show his metal as a comedic actor which was too bad because when he was funny, he was very funny as he was as the father of Frank Sinatra, in real life just four years younger than Cobb. The Neil Simon play was adapted for the screen by Norman Lear. The much younger future Oscar winner Tony Bill (Best Picture winner for The Sting) played Cobb’s other son. Molly Picon played his wife. The four stars had the roles originated on Broadway by Hal March and Warren Berlinger as the sons, Lou Jacoby as the father, and Pert Kelton as the mother. Somehow it all worked.

THE EXORCIST (1973), directed by William Friedkin

One of the most popular films of all time, the horror classic was nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actress (Ellen Burstyn as the distraught mother of the possessed girl), Supporting Actor (Jason Miller as one of two priests participating in the exorcism), Supporting Actress (Linda Blair as the possessed girl), Cinematography, Film Editing, and Art Direction. It won for Best Adapted Screenplay by William Blatty and Best Sound. Cobb as the detective on the case of a mysterious death, Max von Sydow as the other priest involved in the exorcism, and Mercedes McCambridge as the voice of the demon provided outstanding support.