Jeff Corey
Jeff Corey
American actor Jeff Corey forsook a job as sewing-machine salesman for the less stable world of New York theatre in the 1930s. The 26-year-old Corey was regarded as a valuable character-actor commodity when he arrived in Hollywood in 1940. Perhaps the best of his many early unbilled appearances was in the Kay Kyser film You'll Find Out (40), in which Corey, playing a game-show contestant (conveniently named Jeff Corey), was required to sing a song while stuffing his mouth full of crackers. The actor was busiest during the "film noir" mid-to-late 1940s, playing several weasely villain roles; it is hard to forget the image of Corey, in the role of a slimy stoolie in Burt Lancaster's Brute Force, being tied to the front of a truck and pushed directly into a hail of police bullets. Corey's film career ended abruptly in 1952 when he was unfairly blacklisted for his left-leaning political beliefs. To keep food on the table, Corey became an acting coach, eventually running one of the top training schools in the business (among his more famous pupils was Jack Nicholson). He was permitted to return to films in the 1960s, essaying such roles as a wild-eyed wino in Lady in a Cage (64), the louse who kills Kim Darby's father in True Grit (68), and a sympathetic sheriff in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (68). In addition to his film work, Jeff Corey has acted in and directed numerous TV series; he was seen as a regular on the 1985 Robert Blake series Hell Town and the 1986 Earl Hamner Jr. production Morningstar/Eveningstar. The following decade found Corey appearing in such films as Sinatra (1992), Beethoven's 2nd (1993) and the action thriller Surviving the Game (1994). Shortly after suffering a fall at his Malibu home in August of 2002, Corey died in Santa Monica due to complications resulting from the accident. He was 88. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of Jeff Corey:
- Seconds with Rock Hudson , Richard Anderson , Murray Hamilton , Wesley Addy , Karl Swenson
- The Balcony with Shelley Winters , Peter Falk , Lee Grant , Ruby Dee , Joyce Jameson , Leonard Nimoy
- Brute Force with Burt Lancaster , Hume Cronyn , Charles Bickford , Yvonne DeCarlo , Ann Blyth , Howard Duff , Jay C. Flippen , John Harmon , John Hoyt , Sam Levene , Charles McGraw , Ray Teal , Crane Whitley , Herbert Heywood , Al Hill , Kenneth MacDonald , Frank Marlowe , Howard M. Mitchell , Gene Roth , Glenn Strange , Billy Wayne
- Sinatra with Olympia Dukakis , Gina Gershon , Marcia Gay Harden , Bob Gunton , Rod Steiger
- Joan of Arc with Ingrid Bergman , Jose Ferrer , Ward Bond , Jimmy Lydon , Francis L. Sullivan , Cecil Kellaway , Irene Rich , Ray Teal , George Coulouris , John Emery , Gene Lockhart , Leif Erickson , John Ireland , Henry Brandon , Ethan Laidlaw , Dennis Hoey , Roy Roberts , J. Carrol Naish , Alan Napier , Herbert Rudley , William Conrad , Houseley Sr. Stevenson , Bob Crosby , James Garner , Greta Granstedt , Frank S. Hagney , Chuck Hamilton , James Sr. Kirkwood , George Magrill , Frank Marlowe , Matt Moore , Harry Hays Morgan , Frances Morris , Herbert Rawlinson , Arthur Space , Minerva Urecal , Charles Wagenheim , Henry Wills , George Zucco , Mary Field
- Unconquered with Gary Cooper , Paulette Goddard , Howard DaSilva , Boris Karloff , Ward Bond , Cecil Kellaway , Porter Hall , Marc Lawrence , Mike Mazurki , Alan Napier , C. Aubrey Smith , Victor Varconi , Henry Wilcoxon , Eddie Albert , Lloyd Bridges , Lex Barker , Davison Clark , Iron Eyes Cody , Edgar Dearing , Greta Granstedt , Frank S. Hagney , Chuck Hamilton , Raymond Hatton , Si Jenks , Charles B. Middleton , Belle Mitchell , Art Mix , Clarence Muse , Ottola Nesmith , Buddy Roosevelt , Jay Silverheels , Ray Teal , Mary Field , Robert Warwick
- Shoot Out with Gregory Peck , Paul Fix , Rita Gam , James Gregory , Arthur Hunnicutt , Pepe Serna , Susan Tyrrell
Jeff Corey Trivia
