The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre [Hardcover]

Stephen D. Youngkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

Often typecast as a menacing figure, Peter Lorre achieved Hollywood fame first as a featured player and later as a character actor, trademarking his screen performances with a delicately strung balance between good and evil. His portrayal of the child murderer in Fritz Lang's masterpiece M (1931) catapulted him to international fame. Lang said of Lorre: "He gave one of the best performances in film history and certainly the best in his life." Today, the Hungarian-born actor is also recognized for his riveting performances in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942). Lorre arrived in America in 1934 expecting to shed his screen image as a villain. He even tried to lose his signature accent, but Hollywood repeatedly cast him as an outsider who hinted at things better left unknown. Seeking greater control over his career, Lorre established his own production company. His unofficial "graylisting" by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, however, left him with little work. He returned to Germany, where he co-authored, directed, and starred in the film Der Verlorene (The Lost One) in 1951. German audiences rejected Lorre's dark vision of their recent past, and the actor returned to America, wearily accepting roles that parodied his sinister movie personality.The first biography of this major actor, The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre draws upon more than three hundred interviews, including conversations with directors Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Huston, Frank Capra, and Rouben Mamoulian, who speak candidly about Lorre, both the man and the actor. Author Stephen D. Youngkin examines for the first time Lorre's pivotal relationship with German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, his experience as an émigré from Hitler's Germany, his battle with drug addiction, and his struggle with the choice between celebrity and intellectual respectability.Separating the enigmatic person from the persona long associated with one of classic Hollywood's most recognizable faces, The Lost One is the definitive account of a life triumphant and yet tragically riddled with many failed possibilities.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Born Laszlo Loewenstein, Hungarian Lorre (1904–1964) transformed himself from minor stage presence to Hollywood character actor through pivotal professional relationships and one breakthrough role. Portraying a child murderer in 1931's M, Lorre conveyed his unique blend of pathos and complexity so acutely that his career blossomed—with hits like 1935's Crime and Punishment; 1941's The Maltese Falcon; and 1942's Casablanca—even as his personal life unraveled with drug addiction, romantic turmoil and personal insecurity. Youngkin, coauthor of two previous books on Lorre, examines his subject with striking rigor. Through interviews with hundreds of Lorre's friends and associates—including Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder—and frequent dips into film and media archives, Youngkin peels back the layers of Lorre's life to reveal a fascinating, nuanced individual who struggled with intellectual issues in the midst of glamour and fame. As a parallel to Lorre's struggles with typecasting, Youngkin details the rise and fall of the studio star system, giving a strong backdrop to the actor's professional as well as personal dramas.
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Review

""Winner of the 2005 Rondo Hatton Award"" -- Winner of the Best Book of 2005 in the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards

""Youngkin gets behind the image to incise a definitive portrait, and Lorre becomes a likeness we can like in-depth."" -- Choice

""Youngkin's massively researched opus, drawing on over 300 interviews he conducted, lives up to the task of conveying Lorre's personal tragedy.... Readably written, spiced up with occasionally very amusing anecdotes, acerbic asides and insightful conclusions."" -- Cineaste

""The colossal assemblage of research has been whipped into a compelling biographical narrative."" -- Filmmonthly

""Youngkin makes a strong case for Lorre as one of cinema's most underrated actors, exploring in detail his early stage work in Europe, his largely forgotten performances in radio and television, and of course his role as the child murderer in Fritz Lang's classic crime film M, which would forever define Lorre as a celluloid bogeyman."" -- Florida Newspaper

""Youngkin peels back the layers of Lorre's life to reveal a fascinating, nuanced individual who struggled with intellectual issues in the midst of glamour and fame."" -- Library Journal (starred review)

""Youngkin gets behind the image to incise a definitive portrait, and Lorre becomes a likeness we can like in-depth."" -- Logos

""As the very first biography of Lorre, The Lost One does not disappoint.... A welcome revelation indeed."" -- MovieMaker

""Youngkin's life of Lorre is a monumental piece of research and sheds new light on a career that has too long been ignored and undervalued."" -- San Diego Union-Tribune

""Youngkin gets behind the image to incise a definitive portrait, and Lorre becomes a likeness we can like in-depth."" -- Thomas Schatz, author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the

""You couldn't ask for a better book about Lorre. It will become the single most important book about Lorre's life and career, without question."" -- Washington Post Book World

""[The book] is one of the finest biographies of an actor ever written, on a par with Patricia Bosworth's Montgomery Clift and Charles Winecoff's Split Image: The Life of Andy Perkins."" -- Herbert Shadrack, www.cinemaretro.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 680 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813123607
• ISBN-13: 978-0813123608
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Good as it Gets, November 25, 2005

By 

Michael Wozniak "angeleyes" (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (Hardcover)

I've waited decades for the definitive biography to be written about this unique and talented actor...and finally it's here! This book explores Lorre's public and private life in great detail, with previously unknown or unrevealed facts about this often underappreciated genius. The names of people interviewd for this book are like a who's who of 20th century cinema, many of them long since gone. The personal photographs, are great and help the reader truly understand the man behind the actor who made a career out of "making faces". If you've ever enjoyed seeing this great performer's work, you won't be able to put this book down!

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, the Lorre biography!, June 16, 2006

By 

Karen Margrethe Halstrøm (Denmark) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (Hardcover)

Let me say at once that Peter Lorre could not have wished for a better biographer. Based on more than twenty years' research and invaluable interviews with family and colleagues, this is not hagiography (like Lotte Eisner's biography of Fritz Lang), nor does it "dish the dirt", but it is the sober, honest and - yes - respectful (I think that is the right word) account of a life which should have turned out differently. When reading the book, I don't know how many times I thought "If only - " or "Why didn't he - " or simply "Poor Peter".
The game of "what if Hitler had never happened" is a futile exercise, yet I cannot help wondering if Lorre's career would have been so radically different if he had been able to remain in his homeland. With his small size and looks, Lorre was not cut out to be either suave leading man or swashbuckling hero. He did, however, have a much larger range than that to which Hollywood typecasting for the most condemned him in a criminal waste of this supremely intelligent man's talents. While his studies of tragic outsiders were what brought him to fame, he was also a very talented and funny comedian, as well as a fine actor in more romantic roles.
"The Lost One", the title of Youngkin's biography, is taken from Lorre's own film "Der Verlorene" of which he was co-author, as well as playing the title role and directing. In Germany this bleak story of a man whose life was shattered by the war was met with hostility, and so it remains a one-off - a tantalising glimpse of what Lorre was able to do as actor and director.
When looking at photos taken through Lorre's career, it is amazing to see how the rather chubby young man with the round, soft, innocent child's face eventually matured into that most beautiful and elegant little creature of his Warner Bros. period.
Stephen Youngkin's book is a splendid, intelligent and moving account of a unique life and career, capturing as it does the flaws and virtues that went to make up the engaging human being who was Peter Lorre.

Karen Margrethe Halstroem, Copenhagen, Denmark.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive, September 25, 2005

By 

Lucy Chase Williams (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (Hardcover)

Not only is THE LOST ONE the definitive work on the life and career of Peter Lorre, it is an amazing contribution to film history that will be a popular citation for subsequent writers on a variety of ancillary artists such as Bertolt Brecht and Alfred Hitchcock.

The acknowledged expert on his subject, Youngkin contributed the biography section, as well as critiques of the actor's German films, for Citadel Press' "The Films of Peter Lorre." He appeared on camera for the German television documentary "Das Doppelte Gesicht (The Double Face)", as well as the A&E "Biography" tribute to Lorre. He is also the author of "Peter Lorre: Portrait des Schauspielers auf der Flucht."

Based on decades of research and never-before-published interviews, with rare photos superbly reproduced, THE LOST ONE is a massive work of scholarship that is both an entertaining and an emotionally moving read. As a writer, Youngkin combines the impartiality of an experienced reporter with compassion and admiration for an actor who must be regarded as one of the great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, a man whose life was blessed by great triumph and plagued by great tragedy.

Major raves for THE LOST ONE - which are already coming from such diverse authorities as "Publishers Weekly" and "Starlog" magazine (the current issue rates the book "a stunning achievement... beyond definitive...") - will continue to raise it to its rightful place in film scholarship, a fitting tribute to a unique performer.

[Vanity compels me to mention that I am the author of "The Complete Films of Vincent Price" (Citadel Press, 1995), which Mr. Youngkin was kind enough to cite in his bibliography.]