Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence.[1]
Early life
Lawrence was born in New York City, the son of a Polish Jewish mother, Minerva Norma (née Sugarman), and a Russian Jewish father, Israel Simon Goldsmith.[2][3] He participated in plays in school, then attended the City College of New York. In 1930, he received a two-year scholarship to the repertory theater operated by Eva Le Gallienne.[4]
Career
Lawrence's film debut came in 1933.[4] His pock-marked complexion, brooding appearance, and New York street-guy accent made him a natural for heavies, and he would portray scores of gangsters and mob bosses over the next six decades. He was once informed by studio executive Harry Cohn that infamous mobster Johnny Roselli called Lawrence "the best hood in films". Lawrence himself added that many Italian hoods told him he played them better than anyone else.[5]
In 1951, Lawrence found himself under scrutiny for his political past. After being visited at his L.A. home by two government agents who accused him of being a Communist Party USA (CPUSA) member, Lawrence was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).[6] On April 24, 1951, he appeared before the HUAC and admitted he had belonged to the CPUSA in the late 1930s. He named fourteen of his film industry associates as Communists, including fellow actors J. Edward Bromberg, Morris Carnovsky, Jeff Corey, Howard da Silva, Lloyd Gough, Sterling Hayden, Larry Parks, Anne Revere, and Lionel Stander.[7] Despite being a cooperative witness, Lawrence did not fully escape the blacklist, and so he and his wife, screenwriter Fanya Foss, and their two children departed for Italy in 1951. They lived abroad for six years. During that time, he appeared in numerous Italian films and also landed the role of Diomedes in Robert Wise's Helen of Troy (1956).[8]
Lawrence's autobiography, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster (ISBN0-9636700-0-X), was published in 1991. He was also the subject of a novel, The Beautiful and the Profane (ISBN978-1-4107-0292-0) (published in 2002).
Personal life
In 1942, he married Fanya Foss, a Ukrainian-American screenwriter. They had two children. Foss died in 1995.[10] His daughter Toni was married to Billy Bob Thornton from 1986 to 1988. In 2003, at the age of 93, Lawrence married a Mexican woman named Alicia, who had a daughter from a prior marriage.[11]
Death
On November 28, 2005, Marc Lawrence died of heart failure at his Palm Springs home. He was 95.[1]
^ ab"Marc Lawrence, 95, Actor Whose Specialty Was Tough Guys, Dies". New York Times. Associated Press. December 3, 2005. Retrieved December 8, 2011. Marc Lawrence, whose pockmarked face and brooding mannerisms made him a natural for roles as the tough guy, gangster and undertaker in dozens of movies beginning in the 1930s, died on Monday at his home in Palm Springs. He was 95. ...
^Vallance, Tom (December 3, 2005). "Marc Lawrence". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 18, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
^"Marc Lawrence". Telegraph. December 3, 2005. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
^Meeks, Eric G. (2014) [2012]. The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 16. ISBN978-1479328598.
Further reading
Humphreys, Justin (2006). "Marc Lawrence". Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget : Interviews with the Movies' Character Actors (softcover) (First ed.). Albany, GA: BearManor Media. pp. 218–242. ISBN978-1-62933-094-5.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marc Lawrence.
.jpg)
