Edward G. Robinson Interview with Francesca Robinson

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Modaent
April 20, 2008

Listen to the interview on www.iconsradio.com Hosted by John Mulholland & Stephen Bogart Born to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family in Bucharest, he emigrated with his family to New York City in 190...

Listen to the interview on www.iconsradio.com
Hosted by John Mulholland & Stephen Bogart

Born to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family in Bucharest, he emigrated with his family to New York City in 1903. He attended Townsend Harris High School and then City College of New York, but 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.

He began his acting career in 1913 and made his Broadway debut in 1915. An acclaimed performance as the gangster 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 and The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse(1938). In the 1940s, after a good performance in Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), he expanded into edgy psychological dramas including Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1945) and Scarlet Street (1945); but he continued to portray gangsters such as Johnny Rocco in John Huston's classic Key Largo (1948), the last of five films he made with Humphrey Bogart.

A cultured and urbane man, Robinson built up a significant art collection, especially of French Impressionist art. In 1956, he sold it to Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos in order to raise cash needed for his divorce settlement with Gladys Robinson. That same year he returned to Broadway in Middle of the Night. His career suffered during much of the 1950's due to Hollywood's communist witch hunt.

After DeMille brought Robinson back into movies with The Ten Commandment, his most notable roles occurred in A Hole in the Head (1959) opposite Frank Sinatra and The Cincinnati Kid (1965), which showcased Robinson alongside Steve McQueen. Director Peter Bogdanovich was considered as a possible director for The Godfather in 1972, but turned it down, later remarking that he would have cast Robinson in the role ultimately played by Marlon Brando. Robinson indeed tried to talk his way into the part (which was how he had won the role of Little Caesar forty years earlier), but Francis Coppola decided on Brando instead, over the initial objections of the studio.

Robinson had a sucessful career of over 90 films spanning 50 years. His last film was the cult classic Soylent Green (1973).

Category: Entertainment

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Edward Robinson Humphrey Bogart James Cagney Little Ceaser

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lystraroll1 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide

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kewl townsend harris hs student interviews on new teen network mixspot.....com

JubalCalif (1 month ago) Show Hide

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This is a bit misleading. There's no interview here. Nice photos & stirring soundtrack though! The late great Eddie G. was one of my all time favorite perfomers. Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico???

mark1968 (2 months ago) Show Hide

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What interview?

DiverseLA (6 months ago) Show Hide

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Great interview. Very informative, and I got to know what the guy was like off camera as a husband & father.

SamHillFilms (11 months ago) Show Hide

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I hate to post a negative comment on a video for one of the greatest actors that ever lived, but this was mighty deceptive: there's no interview, just a soundtrack! :(

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Edward G. Robinson Interview with Francesca Robinson

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