Peter Lorre

Born June 26, 1904, in Rosenberg, Hungary, Peter Lorre employed his trademark goggle eyes, toothy grin and nasal voice to comic effect on the German stage before using those same physical attributes to far more chilling effect in his portrayal of a child killer in Fritz Lang's 1931 film M.

After fleeing Germany in 1933, Lorre landed in London, where Alfred Hitchcock cast him in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Soon, Lorre had established himself as Hollywood's favorite psychopath in films such as Mad Love and Crime and Punishment (both 1935).

Lorre finally got to play a good guy when he was cast as Japanese detective Mr. Moto in eight films made in the late '30s. During the '50s, Lorre appeared frequently on TV anthology series as well as in films. And in the '60s, he co-starred with Vincent Price and others in Roger Corman's twisted Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. Lorre died in 1964.

Filmography