Sam Levene was a Broadway, film, radio and television actor who in a career spanning 5 decades created some of the most legendary comedic roles in American theatrical history. Levene appeared in a staggering list of 38 Broadway productions, 33 of which were the original Broadway productions, including Nathan Detroit, the craps-shooter extraordinaire, in the 1950 original Broadway production of “Guys and Dolls”, Max Kane, the hapless agent, in the original 1932 Broadway production of “Dinner at Eight”, Patsy, the comedic gambler, in the 1935 Broadway farce “Three Men on a Horse” , Gordon Miller, the shoestring producer, in the original 1937 Broadway production of “Room Service”, Sidney Black, the theatrical producer, in ” Light Up the Sky” , Horace Vandergelder, the crotchety merchant of Yonkers, in the 1954 premier UK production of Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” and Al Lewis, the retired vaudevillian, in the original 1972 Broadway production of Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys”. Levene was a consistent presence on Broadway for 5 decades; Levene’s first Broadway play was in 1927, the last in 1980. Throughout his career Levene effortlessly segued between starring roles in over 100 productions on stage, radio, television and film, appearing in a variety of roles, including policemen, servicemen, gamblers, gangsters, newspaper reporter, theatrical producer, actor’s agent, dress manufacturer and even a psychiatrist and was equally adept in segueing from comedy to farce and drama. 9 years after making his Broadway debut, Levene was lured to Hollywood where he made his motion picture debut as Patsy in the 1936 film version of “Three Men on a Horse” earning $1,000 a week. Known as a dependable character actor, Levene appeared in 50 films, including 14 at MGM, which included two appearances as Police Lieutenant Abrams in the “Thin Man” series. During his five-decade Hollywood career, Levene established himself as one the great film noir stalwarts. Levene’s film noir credits include his riveting performance as Samuels, the murdered GI, in “Crossfire” (1947), considered by many as one of RKO’s if not perhaps of any studio’s best film noirs. Other film noir credits include: William Holden’s taxi-driving brother-in-law “Siggie” in “Golden Boy” (1939), “Action in the North Atlantic” (1943), a Doolittle Flyer and Japanese POW in “The Purple Heart” (1944), a police lieutenant in “The Killers” (1946), “Brute Force” (1947), “Boomerang” (1947), “Killer McCoy” (1947), “Dial 1119” (1950), “Sweet Smell of Success” (1957), “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (1957).
In 1961 Levene was nominated for the 1961 Tony Award for Best Actor in a play for his performance as Dr. Aldo Meyer in Dore Schary’s “The Devil’s Advocate”. Levene never received a Tony; by the time the Tony’s were established in 1947, Levene had already created roles in 16 original Broadway shows, including legendary performances in the original Broadway productions of “Dinner at Eight”(1932), “Three Men on a Horse” (1935), “Room Service” (1937) and “Margin For Error” (1939). In 1984, Levene was posthumously inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 1998, Sam Levene along with the original Broadway cast of the 1950 “Guys and Dolls” Decca cast album posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Sam Levene Biography / Wiki
Name | Sam Levene |
Also Know | |
Gender | Male |
Known For | Acting |
Place of Birth | Russia |
Date of Birth | 1905-08-28 |
Age(as in 2022) | 75 |
Deathday | 1980-12-28 |
Sam Levene Acting Movies
Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
With These Hands | Alexander Brody | 1950-06-15 | Produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the film used actors to recreate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and compare working … |
Shoe Shine Boy | Lucky | 1943-12-25 | A teenaged shoeshine boy urgently tries to raise the remaining amount of money he needs to purchase a secondhand bugle before 6p.m…. |
The World of Sholom Aleichem | Mendele | 1959-12-14 | This omnibus release consists of three playlets filmed and aired during television’s Golden Age, and starring some of the legends of film and televisi… |
The Mad Miss Manton | Lieutenant Brent | 1938-10-21 | When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves t… |
Destination Unknown | Victor, Elena’s Aide | 1942-10-09 | Foreign spies and police pursue an attractive Dutch spy throughout Peking…. |
The True Glory | Commentator | 1945-10-04 | A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the as… |
A Small Rebellion | Noel Greb | 1966-02-09 | An angry young man of the theatre, who has written a play that could be a hit, if actress Sara Lescaut agrees to play the lead. Kolinos, however, is d… |
Designing Woman | Ned Hammerstein | 1957-05-16 | A sportswriter who marries a fashion designer discovers that their mutual interests are few, although each has an intriguing past which makes the othe… |
Dial 1119 | John D. Faron | 1950-11-03 | A killer holds the customers at a bar hostage…. |
The Babe Ruth Story | Phil Conrad | 1948-09-16 | The baseball player goes from wayward youth to Boston Red Sox pitcher to New York Yankees home-run hero…. |
Guilty Bystander | Captain Tonetti | 1950-04-20 | A drunken ex-cop gets a shot at redemption when his young son is kidnapped after a smuggling deal goes belly up…. |
Last Embrace | Sam Urdell | 1979-05-04 | Secret agent Harry Hannan suffers a mental breakdown when a botched mission in Mexico results in the death of his wife. He is sent to a mental asylum,… |
Act One | Richard Maxwell | 1963-12-26 | This autobiographical story traces the career of playwright Moss Hart. Moss struggles as a dramatic writer until he concentrates his efforts on writin… |
Three Sailors and a Girl | Joe Woods | 1953-11-23 | A group of sailors invest in a musical revue…. |
A Likely Story | Lennie | 1947-04-18 | A shell-shocked young GI mistakenly believes he is dying, and a young artist takes it upon herself to prove to him that he’s not…. |
A Dream of Kings | Cicero | 1969-01-01 | A powerful and touching drama set in Chicago’s vibrant Greek-American community, A Dream of Kings benefits from the regal talent of Anthony Quinn in a… |
The Money | Lou Maurice | 1976-05-31 | A prominent businessman’s children become the target of a young, unemployed man, who sees them as his ticket to wealth…. |
Leather Gloves | Bernie | 1948-11-11 | A fallen prizefighter must choose between two women from vastly different walks of life…. |
Sweet Smell of Success | Frank D’ Angelo | 1957-07-04 | New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can’t contro… |
God Told Me To | Everett Lukas | 1976-10-22 | A New York detective investigates a series of murders committed by random New Yorkers who claim that “God told them to.”… |
Shadow of the Thin Man | Lieutenant Abrams | 1941-11-21 | High society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles run into a variety of shady characters while investigating a race-track murder…. |
The Killers | Lt. Sam Lubinsky | 1946-08-28 | Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called “the Swede”. When the killers find the Swede, he’s expecting them and doesn’t put up a fight. Si… |
Gung Ho! | Leo ‘Transport’ Andreof | 1943-12-20 | A true-life epic that revolves around an exclusive bataillon of the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, “Carlson’s Raiders,” whose assignment is to… |
I Dood It | Ed Jackson | 1943-09-01 | Constance Shaw, a Broadway dance star, and Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a keen fan of hers, marry after she breaks up with her fiancé. Connie thinks Jo… |
Kathy O’ | Ben Melnick | 1958-09-24 | A movie publicist is assigned to keep the public from learning that a beloved child star is an egotistical little brat…. |
Action in the North Atlantic | Abel ‘Chips’ Abrams | 1943-06-12 | Merchant Marine sailors Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart) and Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey) are charged with getting a supply vessel to Russian allies as pa… |
Crossfire | Samuels | 1947-08-15 | A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?… |
Golden Boy | Siggie | 1939-09-05 | Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He’s successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his parents. When gangst… |
Grand Central Murder | Inspector Gunther | 1942-05-01 | Conniving Broadway starlet Mida King has plenty of enemies, so when she’s found murdered at Grand Central Station, Inspector Gunther calls together a … |
Killer McCoy | Happy | 1947-12-01 | Tommy McCoy grew up poor and scrappy. As a young man he discovers that he can fight with his powerful right arm. He becomes successful at boxing, howe… |
The Big Street | Horsethief | 1942-08-13 | Meek busboy Little Pinks is in love with an extremely selfish showgirl who despises and uses him…. |
Three Men on a Horse | Patsy | 1936-11-21 | A meek salesman with an uncanny ability to pick horses is virtually kidnapped by a trio of gamblers…. |
Married Bachelor | Cookie Farrar | 1941-10-16 | A man’s marriage suffers when he pretends to be a bachelor while promoting “his” best-selling book about married life (actually written by an eccentri… |
Boomerang! | Morning Record’s Reporter Dave Woods | 1947-02-28 | In a quiet Connecticut town, a kindly priest is murdered while waiting at a street corner. The citizens are horrified and demand action from the polic… |
Sing Your Worries Away | Smiley Clark | 1942-03-06 | This package for comedy and the musical numbers has Luke Brown being drugged by the gangster operators of the swank Boathouse Inn; most notably Roxie … |
The Purple Heart | Lt. Wayne Greenbaum | 1944-02-25 | This is the story of the crew of a downed bomber, captured after a run over Tokyo, early in the war. Relates the hardships the men endure while in cap… |
…And Justice for All | Arnie | 1979-10-19 | An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat o… |
Slaughter on 10th Avenue | Howard Rysdale | 1957-09-01 | A rookie assistant DA is assigned to investigate the murder of a longshoreman, killed for exposing gangster involvement on the piers, and meets up wit… |
The Royal Family | Oscar Wolfe | 1977-11-09 | George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber collaborated on this 1927 hit comedy about an eminent and slightly eccentric theatrical clan. A Barrymore-like brood… |
The Shopworn Angel | ‘Leer’ | 1938-07-15 | During WWI Bill Pettigrew, a naive young Texan soldier is sent to New York for basic training. He meets worldly wise actress Daisy Heath when her car … |
Sunday Punch | Roscoe | 1942-05-08 | Ma Galestrum (Connie Gilchrist) is a boardinghouse owner whose tenants are a group of aspiring boxers. When her young niece, Judy (Jean Rogers), comes… |
Brute Force | Louie Miller #7033 | 1947-07-10 | Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins’ dreams of e… |
Whistling in Brooklyn | Creeper | 1943-12-01 | Radio crime show host “The Fox” finds himself on the trail of a serial killer while a suspect himself…. |
After the Thin Man | Lt. Abrams | 1936-12-25 | Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora’s cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady… |
Such Good Friends | Uncle Eddie | 1971-12-16 | Julie Messinger is an intense woman who hides her wild emotions and desires under her conventional facade. Her husband Richard checks into the hospita… |
The Talk of Hollywood | Film Buyer | 1929-12-10 | Schlock-movie producer J. Pierpont Ginsburg, after declaring, in a Yiddish accent, that “talking pictures are in their infantry,” decides to put all o… |
The Opposite Sex | Mike Pearl | 1956-11-15 | Former radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to … |
Yellow Jack | Busch | 1938-05-19 | A fairly accurate historical account of Walter Reed’s search for the cause of “Yellow Jack” or Yellow Fever and those who risked their lives in the pu… |
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life | Self (archive footage) | 1988-11-22 | Documentary about James Stewart’s long career as an actor and positive personal life…. |
Sam Levene Production Movies
Movie Name | Job | Release Date | Overview |
Murder Sees the Light | Executive Producer | 1986-01-01 | Private detective Benny Cooperman is hired to keep an eye on a controversial preacher who is in hiding in a picturesque lake resort, but once he gets … |
Credit: TMDB
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