Peter Lorre

A few days back while browsing at a bookstore my eyes caught up with a massive new biography of the German Hungarian actor Peter Lorre, famous for his big bulging eyes and eccentric personality. I didn't buy the book, just looked at the pictures and put it back. I was a little surprised to see the book -- it had more than 200 pages of references and notes and the whole thing was mind boggling, considering he played so few lead roles, specially after he moved to Hollywood. Lorre's most famous screen role is, of course, the Fritz Lang masterpiece M in which he plays a serial killer who preys on children. His monologue at the end of the film is a masterpiece of theatrical acting. He also played small but memorable roles in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. I remembered the book because I wanted to point to this review of the Lorre book in the London Review of Books. There was also a very interesting article on Lorre by last year's nobel laureate Elifriede Jelinek in film comment a few months back, which is not available online. For more Lorre mug shots click this google image search link.