The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (Hardcover)

by Stephen D. Youngkin (Author) "At the beginning of the twentieth century,Arad looked to the future..." (more)
Key Phrases: antwortet nicht, studio star system, interoffice communication, Peter Lorre, New York, Warner Bros (more...)

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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From The Washington Post
With his big, sad eyes and chubby cheeks, actor Peter Lorre (1904-64) seemed predestined to be a movie villain: the compulsive child-killer of Fritz Lang's "M" or the oily, sexually ambiguous Joel Cairo of "The Maltese Falcon." Even before starring in "M," he had made a splash in the then-sinister part of a drug addict (a performance for which he drew upon his own addiction to morphine) in a German film called "Der weisse Dämon" (The White Demon). But around the same time that he was making "M," he was also appearing as a "comic songster" in "Was Frauen träumen" (What Women Dream); had the latter two films come out in reverse order, Lorre once speculated, he would have carved out a career as a farceur.

Lorre's battles against type-casting and addiction are detailed in Stephen D. Youngkin's The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (Univ. of Kentucky, $39.95). Born Laszlo Loewenstein in Hungary, he fled the anti-Jewish milieu of Berlin in 1933 for Vienna, on the same train with fellow actor Oskar Homolka, director Josef von Sternberg and violinist Jascha Heifetz. A few years later, Vienna wasn't safe for Jews, either, but Lorre got a break: a paid ticket to England to participate in Alfred Hitchcock's first version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Merely getting the part required no small prowess as an actor. Lorre recalled that he'd heard about Hitchcock's legendary storytelling abilities, "so I used to watch him like a hawk and whenever I thought the end of a story was coming. . . . I used to roar with laughter and somehow he got the impression that I spoke English." Soon enough, Lorre did speak English; he emigrated to the United States, and he stayed busy in Hollywood until being "gray-listed" in the late 1940s. But he overcame that setback, too, and was working steadily again by the time of his relatively early death.

From Comic to Villain
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 680 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813123607
• ISBN-13: 978-0813123608
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #440,761 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 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 (REAL NAME)

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!

20 of 21 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 (REAL NAME)

Some time ago I read in "Peter Lorre - Portrait des Schauspielers auf der Flucht" ("Peter Lorre - a portrait of the actor as a fugitive"), belleville, l998, co-authored by Stephen Youngkin, that his part of the book was based on his several hundred pages thick biography of the actor, for which unfortunately it had been impossible to find a publisher because of "a lessening interest in film books and the disappearance of Lorre from the consciousness of the filmgoing public". I thought with great regret of all that invaluable research, the first-hand interviews with family and colleagues - everything which now would never become publicly available.
And then, suddenly one day, I see an advert on the internet from the London Review Bookshop and realize that it`s here! Instantly I reached for the phone to order my copy.
I`d like to say at once that Peter Lorre could not have wished for a better biographer. 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 action hero. It is true that in Germany he did get a wider mix of roles, yet the film in which he was scheduled to appear when he fled the country, "Kaspar Hauser" (a historical character whose true identity was lost when he was murdered in 1833), was another study of a tragic outsider.
To me, Hollywood's criminal waste of this supremely intelligent man's talents is incomprehensible. Only recently I saw his one own film "Der Verlorene" ("The Lost One") about another man whose life was shattered by the war. Flawed it may be, but it is a deeply moving film I cannot get out of my mind. In Germany, however, it was met with hostility, and so it remains a one-off, a tantalising glimpse of what, at that time, Lorre could do as actor and director.
When looking at the photos from Lorre's "thin" American period, one thing amazes me: how that rather chubby young man with the round, soft, innocent child's face matured into this most beautiful and elegant little creature.
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 Halstrøm, Copenhagen, Denmark.

26 of 29 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 (REAL NAME)

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.]