Well, if you're a member of this fanlisting, you probably know that already! But for the uninformed, I'll do the usual spiel: Peter Lorre was born Ladislav Loewenstein in 1904 in the present-day Czech Republic, then part of Hungary. He moved to Vienna at an early age and grew up there. His father discouraged him from becoming an actor, but that didn't stop little Laczy from participating in any theatrical event that he could, in any way he could. He later moved to Berlin where his talents were discovered by Fritz Lang, who casted him as the child murderer in his first "talkie," M.

He came to Hollywood to avoid the growing Nazist movement (after playing several light roles in German films and the lead villain in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much in England -- this was his first English-speaking role). His first American film was Mad Love, where he played the obsessed Dr. Gogol -- so began his career as cinema's ultimate antihero.

Peter is still one of the most oft-imitated celebrities of all time. Although he died in 1964, his name, voice, and image can still pop up anywhere. A popular cartoon chihuahua was modeled after him; he's made a guest appearance on "The Simpsons"; he's mentioned in fiction and even has a couple of novels written with him as a central character. There have also been songs written about him (or just songs that used an ersatz version of his famous voice -- my favorite of these is The Ventures' cover of "Wild Thing") -- and recently, rock group The World/Inferno Friendship society dedicated an entire rock opera to him: Addicted to Bad Ideas.

Peter has a lot of charisma. Most females think he's cute (a portion of them also think he's incredibly handsome and alluring and sexy. I belong to this portion). I think a lot of guys admire his coolness and wittiness - for some reason, though, many of them have a difficult time accepting the fact that women are attracted to him. It's very strange. They're probably just jealous. ;)

For more (and more eloquent) information on Peter, drop by Walking the Shark, the definitive Peter page by our own Anne.

This page was intended to go in a frame. If you've discovered it by chance and it's out of its frame, please click here to access the full page. Thank you!