Lee J. Cobb Movies
American character actor of stage, screen, and TV Lee J. Cobb, born Leo Jacob or Jacoby, was usually seen scowling and smoking a cigar. As a child, Cobb showed artistic promise as a virtuoso violinist, but any hope for a musical career was ended by a broken wrist. He ran away from home at age 17 and ended up in Hollywood. Unable to find film work there, he returned to New York and acted in radio dramas while going to night school at CCNY to learn accounting. Returning to California in 1931, he made his stage debut with the Pasadena Playhouse. Back in New York in 1935, he joined the celebrated Group Theater and appeared in several plays with them, including Waiting for Lefty and Golden Boy. He began his film career in 1937, going on to star and play supporting roles in dozens of films straight through to the end of his life. Cobb was most frequently cast as menacing villains, but sometimes appeared as a brooding business executive or community leader. His greatest triumph on stage came in the 1949 production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in which he played the lead role, Willy Loman (he repeated his performance in a 1966 TV version). Between 1962-66, he also appeared on TV in the role of Judge Garth in the long-running series The Virginian. He was twice nominated for "Best Supporting Actor" Oscars for his work in On the Waterfront (1954) and The Brothers Karamazov (1958). ~ All Movie Guide- 1938
This murder mystery is set behind-the-scenes of a radio station. the trouble begins when a hated cad of a sponsor is found murdered during the climax of a live radio show. The sponsor had a reputation for using women. A clever radio engineer solves the mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Nan Grey, (more)
- 1937
Superior locations, above-average direction, better than usual lighting and competent acting were the ingredients that made producer Harry Sherman's Hopalong Cassidy vehicles perhaps the finest series of B-Westerns of its time. The fifth in the series, North of the Rio Grande introduced former grip Russell Hayden in the continuing role as young Lucky Jenkins and remains one of the best of the early entries. When Hopalong's brother Buddy is murdered during a train holdup, and it is pronounced an accidental death by the town's kangaroo court, Cassidy (William Boyd) and sidekick Windy (George Hayes) hasten back to Cottonwood Gulch. The former arrives disguised as Wild Bill Dynamite McGrew, a "notorious" train robber, while Windy obtains a job tickling the ivories at the local saloon. Hayes' stint as an Irish-accented bar pianist leads to one of the film's many delights, as veteran silent screen villain Walter Long leads the assembly in a sing-along of Wearing of the Green. Hopalong, meanwhile, robs a train to get the attention of the mysterious Lone Wolf, the master criminal responsible for his brother Buddy's death. Lone Wolf is soon revealed to be leading citizen Henry Stoneham (Stephen Morris alias Morris Ankrum), who in desperation kidnaps Windy and the train. With Hopalong, Lucky, and the posse in hot pursuit, the chase ends with Windy making the unwanted acquaintance of a painful-looking cactus. Saloon Belle Bernadene Hayes, the film's otherwise rather superfluous leading lady, is awarded the closing line: "Funny, all my life, men like Cassidy have been saying goodbye to me." Lee J. Cobb (billed simply as "Lee Cobb") made his screen debut as a railroad president, and Bernadene Hayes' sister Lorraine played Hopalong's grieving sister-in-law. With one "Hayden" and two "Hayes" already in the cast, producer Sherman renamed the actress Lorraine Randall for the occasion. North of the Rio Grande was filmed on locations at Sonora, California, with interiors done at the Grand National studios in Hollywood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1937
After several overlong "Hopalong Cassidy" westerns, Rustler's Valley brings things back under control with a short-and-sweet running time of 58 minutes. William Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes and Russell Hayden are back respectively as Hoppy, Windy and Lucky. This time, a powerful railroad tycoon frames an innocent young man on a robbery charge. The villain is in cahoots with an equally unscrupulous lawyer, played by Stephen Morris (better known as Morris Ankrum). With Hopalong Cassidy on the job, however, the baddies are foiled in near-record time. Of interest is the fact that the rail baron is played by 26-year-old Group Theatre veteran Lee J. Cobb, a full decade before his stage triumph in Death of a Salesman. Rustler's Valley comes to a thrilling climax as a rock-slide wipes out the remaining villains, a sequence later excerpted in toto in the 1942 Hopalong Cassidy oater Lost Canyon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
