Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn once told Lawrence that Johnny Roselli, a notorious gangster, had said that he was the best hood in films. Lawrence himself was often told by Italian hoods in his native New York that he played them better than anyone else; ironically, Lawrence is Jewish.
During the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, Lawrence testified that Lionel Stander told him that joining the Communist Party would make him more attractive to women. During his testimony, Stander denounced Lawrence as a psychopath and presented a letter that gave Lawrence's mental history and revealed that he had been hospitalized after a mental breakdown just prior to his HUAC testimony.
Ex-father-in-law of Billy Bob Thornton.
Father of Toni Lawrence.
Interviewed in "Actors on Red Alert: Career Interviews with Five Actors and Actresses Affected by the Blacklist", by Anthony Slide, 1999.
Named actor Jeff Corey, a former Communist Party member who had left behind the party and the ideology, as a communist before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Corey, who was subsequently blacklisted from 1951 through 1962, was bitter over Lawrence's action for the rest of his long life.
Profiled in "Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget" by Justin Humphreys (BearManor Media).
Was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist in 1950 and, as a result, was forced to leave the US to continue working as an actor.