Trivia of Peter Lorre

 Trivia of Peter Lorre (26 June 1904 - 23 March 1964)

*Started his acting debut at age 17 in 1922 in Zurich, Switzerland. He traveled for several years acting on stage throughout his home region, Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich, including working with Bertolt Brecht, until Fritz Lang cast him in a starring role as the psychopathic child killer in the German film M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931).

*When Peter Lorre arrived in Great Britain, his first meeting with a British director was with Sir Alfred Hitchcock. By smiling and laughing as Hitchcock talked, the director was unaware that Lorre, a Hungarian, had a limited command of the English language. Hitchcock subsequently decided to cast Lorre in film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and the young Lorre learned much of his part phonetically.

*His first leading role as Doctor Gogol in film Mad Love (1935) gave positive review from audiences including the legendary Charlie Chaplin said that Lorre was the “screen’s best actor”.

*Appeared in eight film series as Japanese secret agent Mr. Moto : Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) , Thank You Mr. Moto (1937), Mr.Moto's Gamble (1938), Mr.Moto Takes A Chance (1938), Mysterious Mr.Moto (1938), Mr.Moto's Last Warning (1938), Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939), Mr. Moto Takes A Vacation (1939).At the beginning, Lorre was not happy after 20th Century Fox studio assigned him to the Moto films, but as he had just been released from a rehab facility for his addiction to morphine, he was in no position to argue and accepted the role.Lorre wasn’t shy about his dislike for the Mr. Moto character, even though it had turned him into an international star. Nor was he shy about letting people know just how much he disliked the character. Visiting Japanese officials asked for lunch with Lorre, he reacted with a brutal insult. Lorre showed up wearing a badge that read, “Boycott Japanese Goods”.

*He recalled The Maltese Falcon (1941) as his personal favorite of all the movies he starred in.On the set of The Maltese Falcon, he and Bogart played a prank on Jack L. Warner—and it might have contributed to Warner’s dislike for Lorre.Lorre knew that Warner didn’t like to see his actors on screen lighting up. So, as a joke, Lorre convinced all of his Maltese Falcon co-stars to turn the climactic scene of the film into a smoke-filled mess. When Warner saw the scene, he was irate and made them film it over again—at great expense to his studio.

*He was the first-ever on-screen James Bond villain. He played the iconic role of Le Chiffre in a 1954 TV version of Casino Royale.

*According to Vincent Price, when he and Lorre went to view Bela Lugosi's body during Bela's funeral, Lorre, upon seeing Lugosi dressed in his famous Dracula cape, quipped, "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?".

*On the set of film The Raven (1963), Lorre wasn’t easy to work with the crew, even when he wasn’t trying to recover from a morphine addiction. Lorre frustrated The Raven’s scriptwriter by adlibbing most of his lines and fighting constantly with a young Jack Nicholson.