Peter Lorre

Peter Lorre (born László Löwenstein) was a Hungarian and American actor. Starting his career on stage in Vienna, he then moved to Germany, where he rose to international fame in the Weimar Republic–era film M (1931), in which he portrayed a serial killer who preys on little girls. Known for his distinctive appearance and voice, Lorre's characters were typically timid yet devious. After fleeing Germany due to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Lorre had a successful career in Hollywood, playing prominent roles in movies like Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Mad Love and Crime and Punishment (both 1935), and the B-picture series of Mr. Moto, the Japanese detective. He later was featured in classics like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), and Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). However, despite reaching great heights in his career, he never received an Academy Award nomination. Toward the end of his career, Lorre's roles tended to caricature his sinister screen image and were less substantial, often in horror films directed by Roger Corman. He was also the first actor to play a James Bond villain as Le Chiffre in a TV version of Casino Royale (1954). Lorre's cultural impact on media persists to this day.