Edward G. Robinson

If you know more information about Edward G. Robinson help us to improve this page

Birthday:

12 December 1893, Bucharest, Romania

Birth Name:

Emmanuel Goldenberg

Height:

170 cm

Edward G. Robinson arrived in the United States at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began work in stock, with his new name, in 1913. Broadway was two years later; he worked steadily there for 15 years. His work included "The Kibitzer", a comedy he co-wrote with Jo Swerling. His film debut was a small supporting part in the silent The Bright Shawl (1923), but it was with the coming of sound that he hit his stride. His stellar performance as snarling, murderous thug Rico Bandello in Little Caesar (1931)--all the more impressive since in real life Robinson was a sophisticated, cultured man with a passion for fine art--set the standard for movie gangsters, both for himself in many later films and for the industry. He portrayed the title character in several biographical works, such as Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) and A Dispatch from Reuter's (1940). Psychological dramas included Flesh and Fantasy (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944)and Scarlet Street (1945). Another notable gangster role was in Key Largo (1948). He was "absolved" of allegations of Communist affiliation after testifying as a friendly witness for the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy hysteria of the early 1950s. In 1956 he had to sell off his extensive art collection in a divorce settlement and also had to deal with a psychologically troubled son. In 1956 he returned to Broadway in "Middle of the Night". In 1973 he was awarded a special, posthumous Oscar for lifetime achievement. Show less «

If I were just a bit taller and I was a little more handsome or something like that, I could have played all the roles that I have played, a...Show more »

If I were just a bit taller and I was a little more handsome or something like that, I could have played all the roles that I have played, and played many more. There is such a thing as a handicap, but you've got to be that much better as an actor. It kept me from certain roles that I might have had, but then, it kept others from playing my roles, so I don't know that it's not altogether balanced. Show less «

[on Double Indemnity (1944)] It was, in fact, the third lead. I debated accepting it. Emanuel Goldberg told me that at my age it was time to...Show more »

[on Double Indemnity (1944)] It was, in fact, the third lead. I debated accepting it. Emanuel Goldberg told me that at my age it was time to begin thinking of character roles, to slide into middle and old age with the same grace as that marvelous actor Lewis Stone . . . The decision made itself . . It remains one of my favorites. Show less «

I have not collected art. Art collected me. I never found paintings. They found me. I have never even owned a work of art. They owned me.

To last you need to be real.

To be entrusted with a character was always a big responsibility to me.

To my mind, the actor has this great responsibility of playing another human being . . . it's like taking on another person's life and you h...Show more »

To my mind, the actor has this great responsibility of playing another human being . . . it's like taking on another person's life and you have to do it as sincerely and honestly as you can. Show less «

Ah yes, I remember well what it was like to be a true collector, that soft explosion in the heart, that thundering inner "Yes!" when you see...Show more »

Ah yes, I remember well what it was like to be a true collector, that soft explosion in the heart, that thundering inner "Yes!" when you see something you must have or die. For over 30 years I made periodic visits to [Auguste Renoir's] "Luncheon of the Boating Party" in a Washington museum, and stood before that magnificent masterpiece hour after hour, day after day, plotting ways to steal it. Show less «

I remember just before going onto the soundstage, I'd look in my dressing room mirror and stretch myself to my full 5'5" or 5'6"--whatever i...Show more »

I remember just before going onto the soundstage, I'd look in my dressing room mirror and stretch myself to my full 5'5" or 5'6"--whatever it was--to make me appear taller and to make me able to dominate all the others and to mow them down with my size. Show less «

Of course, I started as a collector. A true collector. I can remember as if it were only yesterday the heart-pounding excitement as I spread...Show more »

Of course, I started as a collector. A true collector. I can remember as if it were only yesterday the heart-pounding excitement as I spread out upon the floor of my bedroom The Edward G. Robinson Collection of Rare Cigar Bands. I didn't play at collecting. No cigar anywhere was safe from me. My father and uncles and all their friends turned their lungs black trying to satisfy my collector's zeal. And then came cigarette cards, big-league baseball players. I was an insatiable fiend, and would cheerfully trade you three Indian Joes for one of that upstart newcomer, Ty Cobb. Show less «

Paintings never really belong to one of us. If we are fortunate, as I have been, we are allowed at most a lovely time of custody.

Acting and painting have much in common. You begin with the external appearance and then strip away the layers to get to the essential core....Show more »

Acting and painting have much in common. You begin with the external appearance and then strip away the layers to get to the essential core. This is reality and that is how an artist achieves truth. When you are acting, you are playing a part, you are being somebody else. You are also, at the same time, being yourself. Show less «

Some people have youth, some have beauty--I have menace.

The sitting around on the set is awful. But I always figure that's what they pay me for. The acting I do for free.

[on Humphrey Bogart] I always felt sorry for him--sorry that he had imposed upon himself the character with which he had become identified.

[om writer/director Richard Brooks] As feisty, individual, unpredictable and honest as any man I've ever known.

[on being cast in The Ten Commandments (1956)] Cecil B. DeMille restored my self-respect.