Sam Levene

Infos
Photos
Best films
Family
Characters
Awards

If you like this person, let us know!

Do you like this person ?

I like

I don't like

Birth name Scholem Lewin
Nationality USA
Birth 28 august 1905
Death 28 december 1980 (at 75 years) at New York City (USA)

Sam Levene (August 28, 1905 – December 28, 1980) was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary. Levene made his film debut in 1936 as Patsy recreating the same role he had created on Broadway in Three Men on a Horse (1935). Levene also appeared in the USO Tour of this same Show; the Radio Version; the Musical version that opened on Broadway called Let It Ride (1961) as well as the 1969 Broadway Revival of the play directed by George Abbott, the original Broadway Director and co-author.

Levene also starred in the Broadway productions Dinner at Eight (1932), Room Service (1937), Light Up the Sky (1948), Heartbreak House (1959), The Impossible Years (1965), and Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1972), among many others. Although not known as a singer, he can be heard in the role of Nathan Detroit on the original cast recording of the musical Guys and Dolls, in which he appeared on Broadway. His solo number, "Sue Me," was written in one octave to compensate for his lack of vocal range. He lost the role to Frank Sinatra in the film version. Levene was nominated for the 1961 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for The Devil's Advocate (1961).

In the mid-'30s, Levene moved to Hollywood to re-create his stage role in the film Three Men on a Horse (1936). This was followed by roles as police lieutenants in After the Thin Man (1936), The Mad Miss Manton (1938) and Shadow of the Thin Man (1941). He played a small but vital role in the 1939 film classic Golden Boy as William Holden's taxi-driving brother-in-law "Siggie", a Doolittle Flyer and Japanese POW in the The Purple Heart (1944), and many film noir classics, such as The Killers (1946), Brute Force (1947) and Crossfire (1947). Levene made 49 films total during his Hollywood career, including The Opposite Sex (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957), Act One (1963), A Dream of Kings (1969), Such Good Friends (1971), God Told Me To (1976) and Last Embrace (1979). His last film role was in the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All (1979).

In December of 1980, he died of a heart attack in New York City.

Biography

En 1907, deux ans après sa naissance en Russie, sa famille émigre aux États-Unis et s'installe à New York. Sam Levene débute au théâtre à Broadway en 1927, jouant sur les planches new-yorkaises jusqu'en 1980, quelques mois avant sa mort. Parmi les nombreuses pièces auxquelles il participe (il sera même metteur en scène de l'une d'elles en 1956, expérience non-renouvelée), mentionnons Three Men on a Horse en 1935, où il interprète le rôle de Patsy, qu'il reprendra dans l'adaptation au cinéma de 1936 (son premier film), puis lors d'une reprise à Broadway en 1969-1970. Chanteur occasionnel, il collabore également à trois comédies musicales, dont Blanches colombes et vilains messieurs, de 1950 (création) à 1953 ; il y personnifie Nathan Detroit, rôle repris par Frank Sinatra dans l'adaptation au cinéma de 1955. Et en 1961, il joue encore Patsy dans Let It Ride, comédie musicale adaptée de la pièce Three Men on a Horse, déjà évoquée. Notons également que cette même année 1961, pour son rôle dans la pièce The Devil's Advocate, il reçoit une nomination au Tony Awards du meilleur acteur (15e cérémonie ).

Au cinéma, Sam Levene contribue à quarante-deux films américains, de 1936 à 1979, l'un de ses plus connus étant le film noir Les Tueurs en 1946, aux côtés d'Ava Gardner et Burt Lancaster — avec lequel il avait joué à Broadway l'année précédente (1945), dans la pièce A Sound of Hunting, et qu'il retrouvera l'année suivante (1947), dans le film Les Démons de la liberté —.

À la télévision, il participe à treize séries et à trois téléfilms, entre 1954 et 1977.