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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 8, 1911
Died
February 11, 1976
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Lee Colt
- Leo Jacoby
- Cpl. Lee Cobb
- Lee Cobb
- Ли Дж. Кобб
- لی جی. کاب
Lee J. Cobb
1.0 Popularity
Biography
Lee J. Cobb (December 8, 1911 — February 11, 1976) was an American actor. He was best known for his performances in On the Waterfront (1954), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, 12 Angry Men (1957), and The Exorcist (1973). He also played the role of Willy Loman in the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller's 1949 play Death of a Salesman under the direction of Elia Kazan. On television, Cobb costarred in the first four seasons of the popular, long-running western series The Virginian. He typically played arrogant, intimidating, and abrasive characters, but often had roles as respectable figures such as judges. Born Leo Jacob in New York City, he grew up in The Bronx, before studying at New York University and making his film debut in The Vanishing Shadow (1934). Cobb performed in numerous theater productions and companies, including Group Theatre (New York) before serving in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force during World War II. Following the war, Cobb returned to film, television and theater before being accused of being a Communist in 1951 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee by Larry Parks, himself a former Communist Party member. Cobb was called to testify before HUAC but refused to do so for two years until, with his career threatened by the blacklist, he relented in 1953 and gave testimony in which he named 20 people as former members of the Communist Party USA. Following the hearing he resumed his career and worked with Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg, two other HUAC "friendly witnesses", on the 1954 film On the Waterfront, which is widely seen as an allegory and apologia for testifying. His 1968 performance as King Lear achieved the longest run (72 performances) for the play in Broadway history. One of his final film roles was that of police detective Lt. Kinderman in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist. Cobb died of a heart attack in February 1976 in Woodland Hills, California, and was buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by his second wife, Mary Hirsch, and daughter, also an accomplished actress, Julie Cobb.
Known For
4.1
Judge Henry Garth
The Meanest Men in the West
1978
6.1
Dante Ragusa
Cross Shot
1976
0.0
Bartolomeo Gramignano
Origins of the Mafia
1976
6.7
Robert Clark
Nick the Sting
1976
6.6
Il commedator Benzi
Mark Shoots First
1975
6.0
Henry Steedman
That Lucky Touch
1975
5.6
Benzi
Blood, Sweat and Fear
1975
7.0
Twenty Years
The Balloon Vendor
1974
7.0
Willy Calso
The Great Ice Rip-Off
1974
5.8
Victor Bateman
Trapped Beneath the Sea
1974
Credits
The Meanest Men in the West
as Judge Henry Garth
1978
4.1
Cross Shot
as Dante Ragusa
1976
6.1
Origins of the Mafia
as Bartolomeo Gramignano
1976
0.0
Nick the Sting
as Robert Clark
1976
6.7
Mark Shoots First
as Il commedator Benzi
1975
6.6
That Lucky Touch
as Henry Steedman
1975
6.0
Blood, Sweat and Fear
as Benzi
1975
5.6
The Balloon Vendor
as Twenty Years
1974
7.0
The Great Ice Rip-Off
as Willy Calso
1974
7.0
Trapped Beneath the Sea
as Victor Bateman
1974
5.8
Dr. Max
as Maxwell Gordon
1974
0.0
The Exorcist
as Lt. Bill Kinderman
1973
7.7
The Great Kidnapping
as Jovine
1973
6.9
Double Indemnity
as Barton Keyes
1973
4.5
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
as Lapchance
1973
5.7
The Bull of the West
as Judge Garth
1972
5.4
Heat of Anger
as Frank Galvin
1972
0.0
Lawman
as Vincent Bronson
1971
6.5
Macho Callahan
as Duffy
1971
4.2
The Young Lawyers
1970
5.0
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
as Oman Hedgepath
1970
5.8
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
as Himself
1970
0.0
McCloud
as Alexander Montello
1970
7.1
Mackenna's Gold
as The Editor
1969
6.6
Coogan's Bluff
as Lt. McElroy
1968
6.3
The Day of the Owl
as Don Mariano Arena
1968
7.1
They Came to Rob Las Vegas
as Steve Skorsky
1968
5.9
In Like Flint
as Lloyd C. Cramden
1967
6.1
Death of a Salesman
as Willy Loman
1966
6.0
Our Man Flint
as Cramden
1966
6.4
The Final Hour
as Judge Henry Garth
1965
0.0
The Brazen Bell
as Judge Henry Garth
1964
0.0
🎬
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
as Ernie Wigman
1963
5.7
Come Blow Your Horn
as Harry R. Baker
1963
4.8
The Devil's Children
as Judge Henry Garth
1962
0.0
How the West Was Won
as Marshal Lou Ramsey
1962
7.0
The Virginian
as Richter Henry Garth
1962
6.4
The Virginian
as Ritcher Henry Garth
1962
6.4
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
as Julio Madariaga
1962
5.9
Exodus
as Barak Ben Canaan
1960
6.7
🎬
I, Don Quixote
as Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quijana
1959
0.0
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
as Captain Maximillian Gault
1959
6.3
But Not for Me
as Jeremiah MacDonald
1959
6.0
Green Mansions
as Nuflo
1959
5.9
The Trap
as Victor Massonetti
1959
6.8
Party Girl
as Rico Angelo
1958
6.8
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
5.8
Man of the West
as Dock Tobin
1958
6.6
Naked City
as Paul Delito
1958
5.5
The Brothers Karamazov
as Fyodor Karamazov
1958
6.6
The Three Faces of Eve
as Doctor Curtis Luther
1957
7.2
The Garment Jungle
as Walter Mitchell
1957
6.4
12 Angry Men
as Juror 3
1957
8.5
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Captain Andrew Watling
1956
6.0
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Drifter - Frank MacKinnon
1956
6.0
Miami Exposé
as Lt. Barton 'Bart' Scott
1956
5.3
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
as Judge Bernstein
1956
6.7
Tony Awards
as Willy Loman (archive footage)
1956
5.9
Gunsmoke
as Col. Josiah Johnson
1955
6.6
The Left Hand of God
as Mieh Yang
1955
6.3
The Road to Denver
as Jim Donovan
1955
6.4
The Racers
as Maglio
1955
6.0
Day of Triumph
as Zadok
1954
0.0
Medic
as Henry Fisher
1954
5.7
On the Waterfront
as Johnny Friendly
1954
7.9
Gorilla at Large
as Detective Sgt. Garrison
1954
5.6
Yankee Pasha
as Sultan
1954
4.0
The Oscars
as Self
1953
7.0
The Tall Texan
as Capt. Theodore Bess
1953
4.5
General Electric Theater
as Dominic Roma
1953
6.4
General Electric Theater
as Grayson Foxhall
1953
6.4
The Ford Television Theatre
as Matt Erwin
1952
7.3
The Fighter
as Durango
1952
4.3
The Family Secret
as Howard Clark
1951
5.7
Tales of Tomorrow
1951
6.0
Sirocco
as Col. Feroud
1951
5.9
The Man Who Cheated Himself
as Lt. Ed Cullen
1950
6.1
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Emile Zola
1950
6.3
Thieves' Highway
as Mike Figlia
1949
7.2
Lights Out
1949
5.8
The Phantom Creeps
as Road Crew Foreman (uncredited)
1949
3.8
The Dark Past
as Dr. Andrew Collins
1948
5.8
Studio One
as Dr. Joseph Pearson
1948
5.0
The Luck of the Irish
as David C. Augur
1948
5.8
The Miracle of the Bells
as Marcus Harris
1948
5.9
Call Northside 777
as Brian Kelly
1948
6.7
Captain from Castile
as Juan Garcia
1947
7.2
Boomerang!
as Chief Harold F. 'Robbie' Robinson
1947
7.0
Johnny O'Clock
as Inspector Koch
1947
6.2
Anna and the King of Siam
as Kralahome
1946
6.0
Winged Victory
as Doctor
1944
5.5
🎬
Flight Characteristics of the P-51 Airplane
as Arthur Deeds
1944
0.0
The Song of Bernadette
as Dr. Dozous
1943
7.0
Buckskin Frontier
as Jeptha Marr
1943
6.0
Tonight We Raid Calais
as Bonnard
1943
5.4
The Moon Is Down
as Dr. Albert Winter
1943
6.7
Paris Calling
as Captain Schwabe
1941
5.4
Men of Boys Town
as Dave Morris
1941
6.1
This Thing Called Love
as Julio Diestro
1940
8.0
Golden Boy
as Mr. Bonaparte
1939
6.4
The Phantom Creeps
as Road Crew Foreman (archive footage)
1939
4.2
Danger on the Air
as Tony Lisotti
1938
5.9
Rustlers' Valley
as Cal Howard
1937
5.3
North of the Rio Grande
as President Wooden
1937
5.5
The Vanishing Shadow
as Roadwork Foreman
1934
6.5