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Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; ; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo. Other memorable roles include Barton Keyes in the film noir Double Indemnity, and as Dathan in The Ten Commandments. Robinson was selected for an Honorary Academy Award for his work in the film industry, which was posthumously awarded two months after the actor's death in 1973. He was included in the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest male stars in American cinema.
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Born as Emanuel Goldenberg to a Yiddish-speaking Romanian-Jewish family in Bucharest, he immigrated with his family to New York City in 1903. He had his Bar Mitzvah at First Roumanian-American congregation, and attended Townsend Harris High School and then the City College of New York. An interest in acting led to him winning an American Academy of Dramatic Arts scholarship, after which he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson (the G. signifying his original last name).
He began his acting career in 1913 and made his Broadway debut in 1915. He made his film debut in a minor and uncredited role in 1916; in 1923 he made his named debut as E. G. Robinson in The Bright Shawl. One of many actors who saw his career flourish in the new sound film era rather than falter, he made only three films prior to 1930 but left his stage career that year and made 14 films between 1930-1932.
Robinson was popular in the 1930s and 1940s and was able to avoid many flops during a 50-year career that included 101 films. An acclaimed performance as the gangster Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello in Little Caesar (1931) led to him being typecast as a "tough guy" for much of his early career in works such as Five Star Final (1931), Smart Money (1931; his only movie with James Cagney), Tiger Shark (1932), Kid Galahad (1937) with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, and A Slight Case of Murder. Due to age, he could not qualify for military service during WWII. Instead in the 1940s, Robinson demonstrated his ability to succeed in comedic and film noir roles, including Larceny, Inc. (1942), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1945), Scarlet Street (1945) and The Stranger (1946). As a memorable tribute to his past gangster roles, he appeared for director John Huston as 'Johnny Rocco' in Key Largo (1948). Key Largo would be the last of five films he made with Humphrey Bogart.
On three occasions in 1950 and 1952, he was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee and was threatened with blacklisting. Robinson took steps to clear his name, such as having a representative go through his check stubs to ensure that none had been issued to subversive organizations. He also gave names of Communist sympathizers and his own name was cleared, but thereafter he received smaller roles and even those less frequently.
During this time, he appeared in numerous 'B' movies for American International Pictures and other low-budget studios while attempting to regain his prior status as a film actor. Some of these films, such as Vice Squad (1953) proved excellent in their own right, while others, such as 1958's Tank Battalion, were critical and commercial failures. Anti-communist director Cecil B. DeMille cast him as Dathan in The Ten Commandments in 1956. Robinson's acting career was later bolstered by notable roles in 1959's A Hole in the Head opposite Frank Sinatra and The Cincinnati Kid (1965), which showcased Robinson alongside Steve McQueen.
Robinson tried to talk his way into a part in The Godfather (which was how he had won the role of Little Caesar 40 years earlier), but Francis Ford Coppola decided on Brando instead, over the initial objections of the studio.
Robinson's last-filmed scene of his last acting role was a euthanasia sequence in the science fiction cult film Soylent Green (1973). Immediately prior to filming the scene, Robinson told his co-star, and long-time friend Charlton Heston, that he was dying from cancer and had weeks to live, at best. As the actors were to play the scene together, Robinson thought that the knowledge of his impending death would affect Heston's playing of the scene, thus the on-screen tears of Heston's character in the final print of the film are genuine. Robinson died twelve days later.
Robinson married his first wife, stage actress Gladys Lloyd, in 1927; born Gladys Lloyd Cassell, she was the former wife of Ralph L. Vestervelt and the daughter of Clement C. Cassell, an architect, sculptor, and artist. The couple had one son, Edward Goldenberg Robinson, Jr. (a.k.a Manny Robinson, 1933–1974), as well as a daughter from Gladys Robinson's first marriage. He could speak seven languages and his chief pastime was collecting records of the world's leading concerts. An inveterate cigar smoker, Robinson smoked cigars in many of his movie roles to accentuate his character.
Robinson built up a significant art collection, especially of abstract modern art. In 1956, he sold it to Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos to raise cash for his divorce settlement with Gladys Robinson; his finances had suffered due to underemployment in the early 1950s.
Edward G. Robinson died from cancer in 1973, and is buried in a crypt in the family mausoleum at Beth-El Cemetery in the Ridgewood area of the borough of Queens in New York City.
Robinson has been the inspiration for a number of television characters. Firstly, an early version of the gangster character Rocky, featured in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Racketeer Rabbit, shared his likeness. Similar caricatures also appeared in The CooCooNut Grove, Thugs with Dirty Mugs and Hush My Mouse. Another character based on Robinson's gangster image was The Frog from the cartoon series Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. The voice of B.B. Eyes in The Dick Tracy Show was based on Robinson, with Mel Blanc and Jerry Hausner sharing voicing duties. Voice actor Hank Azaria has said that the voice of Simpsons character police chief Clancy Wiggum is an impression of Robinson. This has been explicitly joked about in episodes of the show. In "The Day the Violence Died" (1996), a character states that Chief Wiggum is clearly based on Robinson. In 2008's "Treehouse of Horror XIX", Wiggum and Robinson's ghost each accuse the other of being rip-offs.
Robinson was never nominated for an Academy Award, but in 1973 he was awarded an honorary Oscar in recognition that he had "achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts, and a dedicated citizen ... in sum, a Renaissance man". He died two months before the award ceremony, thus the award was collected by his widow Jane Robinson.
Эдвард Г. Робинсон
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