Lee J. Cobb

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Lee J. Cobb 1960

Lee J. Cobb , actually Leo Jacoby (born December 8, 1911 in New York City , † February 11, 1976 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American actor . Cobb was among the leading character actors and often played grumpy or dominant men. His best-known roles are the corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly in The Fist on the Neck and the quick-tempered "Juror No. 3" in The Twelve Jurors .

Life

Born the son of a Jewish composer, Cobb showed a talent as a violinist at a young age , but a serious hand injury thwarted a career as a musician. At the age of 17 he left his parents' home and went to Hollywood , where he was initially unsuccessful. Upon returning to his hometown, Cobb studied at New York College ; the way he worked as a spokesman in broadcasting - radio plays .

In 1931 he was employed at the Pasadena Playhouse and in 1935 at the Group Theater in New York. The Group Theater made a name for itself through socially committed theater productions. Under Elia Kazan directed Cobb played in 1936 in Kurt Weill's first entirely American production Johnny Johnson . He was also successful in 1949 as the actor of Willy Loman in the world premiere of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman , which Kazan staged. In 1966, Cobb also played this role in a television recording. After he had a small film role unnamed in the credits for the first time in 1934, he also got his first major roles in film from 1939 and subsequently became a sought-after character actor. He embodied predominantly dominant and authoritarian personalities, including in a number of film noir productions such as Johnny O'Clock , Password 777 and Danger in Frisco . He played there in supporting roles more often characters who were significantly older than himself.

Like many of his companions at the Group Theater, Cobb was accused of being a communist or a sympathizer . For two years he initially refused to testify before the Committee on Un-American Activities . When his career was blacklisted , he testified and disclosed the names of 20 Communist Party members . After his "rehabilitation" he found work again in Hollywood and worked with Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg , both directors who showed themselves to be informative before the committee for un-American activities. Cobb delivered outstanding performance, such as in Die Faust im Nacken (1954) and in The Twelve Jurors (1957). In 1960 he took part in the literary film adaptation of Exodus and played the father of Ari Ben Canaan ( Paul Newman ).

Beginning in 1962, Cobb played the judge Henry Garth in the television series The People of Shiloh Ranch for five years. After he left the series, he turned back more and more movies, including several Mafia films in Italy. In 1970 he was seen again in a leading role on television in the series The Young Lawyers . In the film The Exorcist , he played his last major role as Police Lieutenant William Kinderman. During his career, Cobb was nominated twice for an Oscar , for Best Supporting Actor in The Fist in the Neck and in The Brothers Karamazov , as well as for a Golden Globe in The Twelve Jurors and In When My Bedroom Could Speak . He was nominated for a Laurel Award for his performance in Exodus . He had one of his last important roles in 1973 as a police investigator in the horror classic The Exorcist by William Friedkin .

Lee J. Cobb died of a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 64 . He was married to actress Helen Beverly from 1940 until their divorce in 1952 and had two children with her, including actress Julie Cobb . In 1957 he married the teacher Helen Brako Hirsch, with whom he was married until his death and had two other children.

Awards

Lee J. Cobb has been nominated several times for the most important American film and television awards, but has never won any of them.
Oscars

Golden Globe Awards

Emmy Awards

  • 1958: Nomination for Best Single Appearance for his appearance in the Studio One episode No Deadly Medicine
  • 1960: Nomination for the best single appearance for his portrayal in the Project 90 episode Project Immortality
  • 1967: Nomination for the best single appearance (Drama category) for the television film Death of a Salesman

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Lee J. Cobb  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ DD Guttenplan: American Radical: The Life and Times of IF Stone. Northwestern University Press, 2012, p. 291.
personal data
SURNAME Cobb, Lee J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jacoby, Leo (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1976
Place of death Woodland Hills , California