Topic: Marc Lawrence, 95

[BeAStooge]

Legendary Hollywood tough-guy character actor Marc Lawrence died Monday 11/28 in Palm Springs, at age 95.

Los Angeles Times obit
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-lawrence1dec01,0,5190211.story?coll=la-home-obituaries

Marc worked with Shemp Howard in HOLD THAT GHOST (1941) ["Oh, Charley"], Joe Besser in THE DESERT HAWK (1950) and Ted Healy in DEATH ON THE DIAMOND (1934).

Mr. Lawrence's recognizable face graced films from the early 1930s until 2003... his last role was LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION.  By the 1940s, he had  major roles in KEY LARGO (1948), THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950), several Bob Hope comedies, and many more.  He was often seen in "B" films too, LIFE WITH BLONDIE (1951) as one of my favorites.

Marc was caught up in McCarthy's Red scare, and his involvement was such that he was blacklisted, and left the U.S. for a second career in Italian cinema.  He returned in the late 1960s, and again became a familiar gangster presence in films like DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) ["I didn’t know there was a pool down there."], THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974), FOUL PLAY (1978), MARATHON MAN (1976), REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER (1978), etc.

Marc was a lot of fun, entertaining Abbott & Costello fans at the 1993 A&C Convention in New Jersey; he costarred in three comedies with Bud & Lou... HOLD THAT GHOST (1941), HIT THE ICE (1943) and A&C IN THE FOREIGN LEGION (1950).

[Dunrobin]

FOUL PLAY (1978)

That had me going for a minute.  I realized who Marc Lawrence was with your reference to "Oh, Charliey" from Hold That Ghost, but I couldn't remember him in Foul Play (which I just saw again a couple of weeks ago.)  I looked it up in IMDb and realized that he was "Rupert Stiltskin" (alias "The Dwarf"!)  I'd never made the connection before.