Edward G Robinson

Humphrey Bogart , James Cagneyand Edward G. Robinson make up the trio of actors who have best reflected the character of the classic gangster on screen. And if Bogart was the king of the tough with style, and Cagney the champion of the unstable, Edward G. Robinson was in charge of giving life to the cunning and vain thugs, organized crime bosses with an insatiable desire for power and capable of leading carry out their misdeeds with extreme violence. This imposing actor managed to embody that archetype of mobster in such a way that, even today, when one thinks of the most famous capos that have gone down in history -Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Joe Masseria and types of that calico-, the familiar figure What one imagines is that of the elegant gangster, in a tweed vest and jacket, bow tie and suspenders, hat tilted and cigar in his mouth: just the look that Edward G.

Emmanuel Goldenberg was born in Bucharest (Romania) in 1893, but at the age of ten he moved to New York with his parents. His first professional aspirations were to study to be a rabbi or a lawyer, although he soon found himself drawn to acting. Thus, after getting a scholarship to enter the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he managed to make his Broadway theater debut in 1915, when he was 22 years old, and it was around that time that Emanuel Goldenberg changed his name to by Edward G. Robinson. He achieved some notoriety in the theater with the play The Kibitzer, written by himself, and although he made some first steps in the cinema – Arms and the Woman (1916), The Bright Shawl (1923)–, his work on the big screen did not materialize. and dedicated himself to the theater until 1929.

When the silent cinema was left behind, Edward G. Robinson returned to the cinema. And he did it with impetus, since, after The Hole in the Wall in 1929, he would work on five films in 1930, among which Tod Browning ‘s Outlaws stands out . The following year he would be consecrated with Golden Underworld (1931) , the original film noir title, directed by Mervyn LeRoy , and for which the actor would always be framed in characters related to his wonderful ‘Rico’ Bandello.

In the 1930s he would film many films under the baton of stupendous directors: with LeRoy Thirst for Scandal (1931); with Wellman The Righteous Ax (1932); with Hawks Shark Feed (1932) and The Lawless City (1935); with May The man with two faces (1934); with Ford Passport to Fame (1935); and with Curtiz Kid Galahad (1937). But it would not be until the following decade when he would diversify his roles more, thanks also to the better quality of the scripts. He starred in adventures like The Sea Wolf (1941) , comedies like 6 Destinies (1942), thrillers like The Stranger(1946) or films close to horror like The Red House (1947). Even so, the best roles in his life reconnect him with his genre par excellence: film noir. He came to prominence as insurance detective Barton Keyes in Bane (1944), Billy Wilder ‘s masterpiece based on the novel by James M. Cain . The following year, his double collaboration with Fritz Lang led to perhaps the best roles of his life, but the novelty is that in both The Woman in the Picture and Perversity he embodied the ordinary man who becomes a victim. A cunning Joan Bennett was to blame. Towards the end of the 40s she shone inLong fell (1948) and in Hate between brothers (1949).

Starting in the 50s, his career decreased in intensity, although he continued working until his death with landmark titles such as Violent Men (1955), Millionaire of Illusions (1959), The Prize (1963) or The Great Combat(1964). On his personal front, he suffered some major setbacks, the biggest of which was his divorce from Gladys Lloyd in 1956, after 29 years of marriage, to remarry Jane Bodenheimer. He too was forced to testify before the Committee on Un-American Activities, but his prestige remained intact. In 1973, he was awarded an Oscar for his entire career, but on January 26 of that year, three months before the ceremony, cancer ended his life. The Academy was late again and it had to be his widow who picked up the statuette.