Actors - Lee Marvin

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Lee Marvin

	Actors - Lee Marvin

Lee Marvin, (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an American film actor. Known for his gravel voice, his early film career consisted mainly playing vicious villains and thugs, but he later appeared in more varied, sympathetic, sometimes anti-heroic roles.

Early Life and World War II

Born in New York City, New York, Marvin attended St. Leo Preparatory College in Saint Leo, Florida (now known as Saint Leo University). He left school to join the U.S. 5th Marine Division, serving in combat, and was wounded during the WWII battle of Saipan, two months prior to the battle of Iwo Jima, and was sent home with a medical discharge and a rank of PFC.

He then established an amateur off-Broadway acting career in New York City and had been an understudy in Broadway productions before moving to Hollywood in 1950.

Popular actor

He quickly became a popular figure in supporting roles, initially always playing some kind of "heavy". His debut was in You're in the Navy Now (1951), but he also appeared in Don Siegel's Duel at Silver Creek (1952), being brutally unpleasant to Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat
(1953), as well as archetypal baddies in Hangman's Knot (1952), Eight Iron Men (1952), The Wild One
(1953) opposite Marlon Brando, Seminole (1953), Gun Fury (1953), Bad Day at Black Rock
(1954), and Not as a Stranger
among others.

His roles improved (e.g. Attack! (1956), The Missouri Traveller (1958)) but it took over a hundred episodes as Chicago police lieutenant Frank Ballinger in the successful 1957-60 television series M Squad to give him enough clout to star. He had solid roles in The Comancheros
(1961), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962) and Donovan's Reef
(1963). Aided by director Don Siegel he starred in the groundbreaking The Killers
(1964) playing an organised, no-nonsense, efficient, businesslike professional assassin whose character was copied to a great degree by Samuel L. Jackson in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction
.

Lee Marvin won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actor for his comedic performance in the offbeat western Cat Ballou
. Following roles in The Professionals (1966) and The Dirty Dozen
(1967) he reprised his role as a businesslike assassin in the influential John Boorman film Point Blank
(1967). Another Boorman film, the commercial flop Hell in the Pacific came the following year, co-starring famed Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. He had a hit song with "I Was Born Under a Wandering Star" from the western musical Paint Your Wagon
(1969).

Lee Marvin's character in The Dirty Dozen (Major John Reisman) was based on U.S. Marine John Miara, of Malden, Massachusetts. The two became friends while serving in the Marine Corps.

Later life

He generally starred in 'easier' films in the 1970s and 1980s, down-playing the clarity and cruelty of his earlier roles. His 1970s films were Monte Walsh (1970), Prime Cut
(1972), Pocket Money
(1972), Emperor of the North Pole
(1973), The Spikes Gang (1974), The Klansman
(1974), Shout at the Devil (1976), The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976), Avalanche Express (1978). His last big role was given to him by Samuel Fuller for The Big Red One
(1980). His remaining films were Death Hunt
(1981), Gorky Park
(1983), Dog Day (1984), The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission (1985), with his final appearance being in The Delta Force (1986).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lee Marvin ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Lee Marvin; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay