Lee J. Cobb
Acting • Born 1911-12-08 – Died 1976-02-11
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.
Filmography
105 credits
On the Waterfront
Movie • 1954
Johnny Friendly
Exodus
Movie • 1960
Barak Ben Canaan
Thieves' Highway
Movie • 1949
Mike Figlia
Sirocco
Movie • 1951
Col. Feroud
In Like Flint
Movie • 1967
Lloyd C. Cramden
Our Man Flint
Movie • 1966
Cramden
The Garment Jungle
Movie • 1957
Walter Mitchell
How the West Was Won
Movie • 1962
Marshal Lou Ramsey
Party Girl
Movie • 1958
Rico Angelo
The Exorcist
Movie • 1973
Lt. Bill Kinderman
Call Northside 777
Movie • 1948
Brian Kelly
Come Blow Your Horn
Movie • 1963
Harry R. Baker
Coogan's Bluff
Movie • 1968
Lt. McElroy
Tonight We Raid Calais
Movie • 1943
Bonnard
The Three Faces of Eve
Movie • 1957
Doctor Curtis Luther
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Movie • 1956
Judge Bernstein
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
Movie • 1973
Lapchance
Lawman
Movie • 1971
Vincent Bronson
Miami Exposé
Movie • 1956
Lt. Barton 'Bart' Scott
Man of the West
Movie • 1958
Dock Tobin
The Brothers Karamazov
Movie • 1958
Fyodor Karamazov
The Dark Past
Movie • 1948
Dr. Andrew Collins
The Miracle of the Bells
Movie • 1948
Marcus Harris
Anna and the King of Siam
Movie • 1946
Kralahome
The Song of Bernadette
Movie • 1943
Dr. Dozous
Golden Boy
Movie • 1939
Mr. Bonaparte
Captain from Castile
Movie • 1947
Juan Garcia
The Left Hand of God
Movie • 1955
Mieh Yang
The Man Who Cheated Himself
Movie • 1950
Lt. Ed Cullen
Mackenna's Gold
Movie • 1969
The Editor
Boomerang!
Movie • 1947
Chief Harold F. 'Robbie' Robinson
Johnny O'Clock
Movie • 1947
Inspector Koch
North of the Rio Grande
Movie • 1937
President Wooden
Rustlers' Valley
Movie • 1937
Cal Howard
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Movie • 1962
Julio Madariaga
The Trap
Movie • 1959
Victor Massonetti
Gorilla at Large
Movie • 1954
Detective Sgt. Garrison
The Great Kidnapping
Movie • 1973
Jovine
Double Indemnity
Movie • 1973
Barton Keyes
The Day of the Owl
Movie • 1968
Don Mariano Arena
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Movie • 1970
Oman Hedgepath
Paris Calling
Movie • 1941
Captain Schwabe
But Not for Me
Movie • 1959
Jeremiah MacDonald
They Came to Rob Las Vegas
Movie • 1968
Steve Skorsky
The Luck of the Irish
Movie • 1948
David C. Augur
The Bull of the West
Movie • 1972
Judge Garth
The Moon Is Down
Movie • 1943
Dr. Albert Winter
Buckskin Frontier
Movie • 1943
Jeptha Marr
Yankee Pasha
Movie • 1954
Sultan
The Vanishing Shadow
Movie • 1934
Roadwork Foreman
The Racers
Movie • 1955
Maglio
The Meanest Men in the West
Movie • 1978
Judge Henry Garth
Winged Victory
Movie • 1944
Doctor
Cross Shot
Movie • 1976
Dante Ragusa
The Road to Denver
Movie • 1955
Jim Donovan
This Thing Called Love
Movie • 1940
Julio Diestro
The Great Ice Rip-Off
Movie • 1974
Willy Calso
Death of a Salesman
Movie • 1966
Willy Loman
The Family Secret
Movie • 1951
Howard Clark
Danger on the Air
Movie • 1938
Tony Lisotti
The Tall Texan
Movie • 1953
Capt. Theodore Bess
The Balloon Vendor
Movie • 1974
Twenty Years
Trapped Beneath the Sea
Movie • 1974
Victor Bateman
The Fighter
Movie • 1952
Durango
The Phantom Creeps
Movie • 1939
Road Crew Foreman (archive footage)
Macho Callahan
Movie • 1971
Duffy
Mark Shoots First
Movie • 1975
Il commedator Benzi
Day of Triumph
Movie • 1954
Zadok
Nick the Sting
Movie • 1976
Robert Clark
The Devil's Children
Movie • 1962
Judge Henry Garth
The Final Hour
Movie • 1965
Judge Henry Garth
The Brazen Bell
Movie • 1964
Judge Henry Garth
That Lucky Touch
Movie • 1975
Henry Steedman
Blood, Sweat and Fear
Movie • 1975
Benzi
I, Don Quixote
Movie • 1959
Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quijana
Men of Boys Town
Movie • 1941
Dave Morris
Green Mansions
Movie • 1959
Nuflo
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
Movie • 1970
Himself
Flight Characteristics of the P-51 Airplane
Movie • 1944
Arthur Deeds
Heat of Anger
Movie • 1972
Frank Galvin
12 Angry Men
Movie • 1957
Juror 3
Dr. Max
Movie • 1974
Maxwell Gordon
The Phantom Creeps
Movie • 1949
Road Crew Foreman (uncredited)
Arthur Miller on Home Ground
Movie • 1979
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Col. Josiah Johnson
Naked City
TV • 1958
Paul Delito
Studio One
TV • 1948
Dr. Joseph Pearson
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Dominic Roma
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV • 1958
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Richter Henry Garth
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Emile Zola
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
Ernie Wigman
Medic
TV • 1954
Henry Fisher
The Young Lawyers
TV • 1970
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Captain Andrew Watling
Tales of Tomorrow
TV • 1951
Lights Out
TV • 1949
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
TV • 1959
Captain Maximillian Gault
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Grayson Foxhall
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Drifter - Frank MacKinnon
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Ritcher Henry Garth
Origins of the Mafia
TV • 1976
Bartolomeo Gramignano
The Ford Television Theatre
TV • 1952
Matt Erwin
McCloud
TV • 1970
Alexander Montello