Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson, originally named Emanuel Goldenberg, was a noted American actor. He was born on 12th December 1893 in Bucharest, Rome to Sarah and Morris Goldenberg (a builder). When he was 10 years old, he along with his family shifted to Lower East Side, New York Click to look into! >> Read More... after one of his brothers was attacked by a racist group who were against Jews. He went to Townsend Harris High School and then to City College of New York. We had a dream of becoming a lawyer. However, his enthusiasm to act in front of others led him to forego his dream and instead settle on acting.

He won a scholarship from American Academy of Dramatic Art after enacting the quarrelling scene between Brutus and Cassius from Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare after which he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson. He served the US Navy at the time of the First World War. He began to learn acting in Yeddish Theatre District in 1913 and made his stage debut in Paid in Full in the same year. Then he made his Broadway debut in 1915 in Under Fire due to his multilingual ability.

Then he acted in two silent films, Arms and the Woman (1916) and The Bright Shawl (1923). In 1927, he played a gangster’s role in the play, The Racket. He left performing on stage in the year 1930 after which he went on acting in various films. He became the real star after playing the role of a gangster, Caesar Enrico Bandello in Little Caesar (1931).

He then went on playing similar tough roles in many successive movies like he played a con man in Smart Money (1931), a murderer in Two Seconds (1932), the role of a gangster in The Little Giant (1933). He played an FBI Agent in the first ever American film to show the threat of Nazis to the United States, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, in 1939 during World War II World War II is a Malayalam information TV show on >> Read More... .

He then played the title character in biographies named Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) and A Dispatch from Reuter’s (1940). He always considered his role in the former movie to be his best performance. He then played comedic roles in Manpower (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), and The Stranger (1946). He then again appeared in a gangster role in John Huston’s Key Largo (1948). In 1954, he enacted Dathan’s role in Ten Commandments. He played a psychological thriller in the Nightmare. After having a professional setback, he returned to Broadway to act in Middle of the Night in 1956.

His last film was Soylent Green in 1973. Robinson had always been politically active. He was a critic of fascism and Nazism and donated huge sums of money to political groups. He could not enlist himself during World War II due to his age but he was appointed as a Special Representative in London by the Office of War Information. He started to give radio addresses in various languages to countries in Europe under Nazis. He was also very active with the Hollywood Democratic Community.

After the war was over, Robinson spoke in support of Democratic Rights for all Americans where he demanded that the Black people be treated equally in the workplace. He had to testify himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1950 and 1952.

Eventually, his name was cleared but his career began to fall as he was no longer offered good roles. He got married to his first wife Gladys Lloyd, an actress, in 1927 but they got divorced in 1956 when he had to sell off his exclusive art collection in the settlement. He then had to deal with his son, Manny Robinson, who was psychologically challenged. He married Jane Bodenheimer in 1958 who was a fashion designer. He suffered from the financial crisis due to underemployment during the 1950s.

He died of bladder cancer on 26th January 1973 at Los Angeles’ Mount Senai Hospital. Robinson used to complain that because of being short with ordinary looks he couldn’t do many roles as he was not offered those. But he also did realize that others could not play his roles so his was more or less satisfied with his career. He made a total of 101 movies in his 50-year career but did not receive any Oscar while he was alive. He was eventually honoured with Oscar and was posthumously awarded two months after his death in 1973.