Peter Lorre

Peter Lorre in trailer for The Maltese Falcon (1941).

Peter Lorre (born László Löwenstein; 26 June 1904 – 23 March 1964) was an Austro-Hungarian-American actor.

Quotes

• [Speaking of his horror roles] You know I can get away with murder. The audience loves me.
• For a lazy man I work awfully hard, I couldn't live without acting. In fact anybody who can live without that feeling is a complete idiot.
  • Quoted in "Movie Villain Peter Lorre Found Dead in His Hollywood Apartment", Los Angeles Times (March 24, 1964)

• Me act? Why, I just make faces! Really, that's all I do, I make lots of faces and they pay me for it. The director says: "You're mad, Peter. Make like you're mad.” Then pretty soon someone calls out “one hour for lunch”! I follow the others to the commissary and later return to the set. "Make like you did before lunch, Peter," says the director. "Make like you're mad." So I make like I'm mad again and before long someone says, "wrap 'em up. That's all for today." So I go home, have dinner, go to bed, get up, report for work again and the director says: "Make like you're mad again, Peter. Make like you did yesterday." I find it so easy. I just look mad and like old man river I keep rolling along doing devilish things in motion pictures.
  • Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona, May 5, 1957), p. 43

Quotes about Peter Lorre

• Peter was the most inventive actor I've ever known. He was a great scholar, an accomplished dramatic actor and a masterful comedian. [...] Peter liked to make pictures which entertained people, not critics. He didn't have any pretensions about conveying messages to the world.
  • Vincent Price quoted in "Movie Villain Peter Lorre Found Dead in His Hollywood Apartment", Los Angeles Times (March 24, 1964)

External links