Job Actor
Years active 1934-1976
Top Roles Marcus Harris, Juror #3, Johnny Friendly, Harry R. Baker, Dr. Dozous
Top GenresDrama, Action, Crime, Adventure, Film Adaptation, Romance
Top TopicsBook-Based, Based on Play, True Story (based on)
Top Collaborators (Producer), (Producer), ,
Shares birthday with Sammy Davis Jr., Maximilian Schell, Richard A. Rowland  see more..

Fan Favorites:
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The Miracle of the Bells

The Miracle of the B...

Fan rating: 10.00
Ali Baba Goes to Town

Ali Baba Goes to Tow...

Fan rating: 9.00
12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men

Fan rating: 9.00

Lee J. Cobb Overview:

Legendary actor, Lee J. Cobb, was born Leo Jacoby on Dec 8, 1911 in New York City, NY. Cobb died at the age of 64 on Feb 11, 1976 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles and was laid to rest in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.

MINI BIO:

Thick-set, mean-looking American actor in tough, growly roles, mostly as bosses, gangsters, and men who rode roughshod over the law. Always looked older than his years and so enjoyed a fine run of middle-aged aggressors, topped by his union racketeer in On the Waterfront. His thick, crinkly hair hid the reality of a bald head. Died of a heart attack. Oscar-nominated for On the Waterfront and The Brothers Karamazov.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Although Cobb was nominated for two Oscars, he never won a competitive Academy Award.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1954Best Supporting ActorOn the Waterfront (1954)Johnny FriendlyNominated
1958Best Supporting ActorThe Brothers Karamazov (1958)Fyodor KaramazovNominated
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Lee J. Cobb Quotes:

Cramden: [referring to Flint] He was the best - undisciplined but the best.

Mr. Carp: A man hits his wife, and it's the first step to fascism.

Dock Tobin: There'a more money in that Lassoo bank than any one of you could think.

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Best Supporting Actor Oscar 1954
WINNER
Edmond O'Brien
(as Oscar Muldoon)
in The Barefoot Contessa
Nominee

(as Johnny Friendly)
in On the Waterfront
Nominee
Karl Malden
(as Father Barry)
in On the Waterfront
Nominee
Rod Steiger
(as Charles Malloy)
in On the Waterfront
Nominee
Tom Tully
(as Captain DeVriess)
in The Caine Mutiny
See more Best Supporting Actor awards>>
Lee J. Cobb Facts
His performance of 'King Lear' in 1968 is the longest-running production of the play in Broadway history.
In his autobiography "Timebends," Arthur Miller says that Lee J. Cobb was his favorite Willy Loman. He also says that Cobb was never really a leftist as he was apolitical, but that he had been attracted to left-wing and anti-Nazi causes during the Depression as had many people who were trying to do right. Thus, Miller never held the fact that he was a friendly witness before HUAAC against him. A decade after his testimony, Cobb's Willy Loman was captured for posterity, with the 1966 video version. By then, Miller had even worked again with Elia Kazan, the most famous and unrepentant of the people who knuckled under and "named names."
Was a good friend with screenwriter Alvah Bessie, a Communist Party member who was one of the Hollywood 10, until Cobb refused to lend him $500 in the late 1940s. Bessie had been ruined financially by legal fees connected to his appeals of his contempt citation issued by the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC). Bessie and other members of the Hollywood 10 braved the Committee's inquisition into communists and fellow-travelers in the film industry by refusing to cooperate. When Cobb told him that $500 wouldn't solve his problems, their friendship was over. Cobb later turned out with hundreds of sympathizers of the Hollywood 10 to show their support for the members who were flying to Washington, D.C. for their trials on charges of contempt of Congress levied by HUAC. Later, Cobb would be a friendly witness before HUAC, naming names of fellow former communists and leftists from his Group Theater days in New York in the 1930s.
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