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:

Juror #8: I'd like to find out if an old man who drags one foot when he walks, cause he had a stroke last year, could get from his bedroom to his front door in fifteen seconds.
Juror #3: He said twenty seconds.
Juror #8: He said fifteen!
Juror #3: He said twenty seconds! What are you tryin' to distort...
Juror #9: He said fifteen.
Juror #3: How does he know how long fifteen seconds is? You can't judge a thing like that.
Juror #9: He said fifteen seconds. He was very positive about it.
Juror #3: He was an old man. Half the time he was confused. How could he be positive about anything!
[realizes what he's just admitted]


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


Johnny: Where you guys going? Wait a minute! I'll remember this! I'll remember every one of you! I'll be back! Don't you forget that! I'll be back!


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Best Supporting Actor Oscar 1954






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Lee J. Cobb Facts
He was also an accomplished harmonica artist. He was a member of the famed Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals, who appeared in the 1928 film, The Patriot (1928) starring Lewis Stone, and directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

Arthur Miller offered him the lead role of Eddie Carbone in his Broadway play "A View from the Bridge." While an outsider might think that the politically progressive Miller would be hostile to the actor due to Cobb's friendly testimony before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, during which he "named names," Miller thought Cobb would be ideal for the role. Himself a target of the witch hunt for alleged Communists undertaken by the government, Miller believed that Cobb would bring real intensity to Carbone, who informs on his relatives to the immigration service, as he himself had been an informer. Cobb turned down the role, as he believed that to accept it would open him up to retaliation from the reactionary right and jeopardize his career.

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."

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