Paul Muni

Muni often played powerful characters, such as the lead role in Scarface (1932), and was known for his intense preparation for his parts, often immersing himself in the study of the real characters' traits and mannerisms. He was also highly skilled in makeup techniques, a talent that he had learned from his parents, who were also actors, and from his early years on stage with the Yiddish theater in Chicago. At the age of 12, he played the stage role of an 80-year-old man, and in the film Seven Faces, he played seven characters. Muni appeared in 22 films and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor five times, winning the award for his role in the 1936 film The Story of Louis Pasteur. He also won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for the same film. He also starred in numerous Broadway plays and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in the 1955 production of Inherit the Wind.

The recorded working language is Yiddish and English. Employment is recorded with Warner Bros. Distinctions recorded are Academy Award for Best Actor, Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, Volpi Cup for Best Actor and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• Name — Paul Muni • Birth Name — Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund • Born — 22 September 1895 • Birthplace — Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Lviv, Ukraine) • Died — 25 August 1967 • Place of death — Montecito, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Hollywood Forever Cemetery • Other Names — Muni Weisenfreund • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1908–1962

Muni was born in 1895 as Frederich Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, then Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Lviv, Ukraine). His Hebrew name was Meshilem. His parents were Salli (born Khaya Tsilke Fishler) and Phillip Weisenfreund. He learned Yiddish as his first language. When he was seven, he emigrated with his family to the United States in 1902; they settled in Chicago. • Illustration — Muni's makeup skills were used for The Story of Louis Pasteur. As a boy, he was known as "Moony". He started his acting career in the Yiddish theatre in Chicago with his parents, who were both actors. As a teenager, he developed skill in creating makeup, which enabled him to play much older characters. Film historian Robert Osborne notes that Muni's makeup skills were so creative that for most of his roles, "he transformed his appearance so completely, he was dubbed 'the new Lon Chaney.'" In his first stage role at the age of 12, Muni played the role of an 80-year-old man. He was quickly recognized by Maurice Schwartz, who signed him to perform in his Yiddish Art Theater. A 1925 New York Times article mentioned Sam Kasten's and Muni's performances at the People's Theater among the highlights of the year's Yiddish theater season, describing them as second only to Ludwig Satz. Muni began acting on Broadway in 1926. His first role was that of an elderly Jewish man in the play We Americans, written by playwrights Max Siegel and Milton Herbert Gropper. It was the first time that he had acted in English. In 1921, he married Bella Finkel (February 8, 1898 – October 1, 1971), an actress in the Yiddish theatre and daughter of Moishe Finkel. They remained married until Muni's death in 1967.

In 1929, Muni was signed by Fox. His name was simplified and anglicized to Paul Muni (derived from his nickname of youth "Moony"). His acting talents were quickly recognized, and he received an Oscar nomination for his first film, The Valiant (1929), although the film fared poorly at the box office. His second film, Seven Faces (also 1929), was also a financial failure. Unhappy with the roles offered to him, he returned to Broadway, where he starred in a major hit play, Counsellor at Law. Muni soon returned to Hollywood to star in provocative pre-Code films such as Scarface and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (both 1932). For his role in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Muni was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. His acclaim as a result of his performance impressed Warner Bros., which signed him to a long-term contract, publicizing him as "the screen's greatest actor." Scarface, part of a cycle of gangster films at the time, was written by Ben Hecht and directed by Howard Hawks. Critic Richard Corliss noted in 1974 that while it was a serious gangster film, it also "manages both to congratulate journalism for its importance and to chastise it for its chicanery, by underlining the newspapers' complicity in promoting the underworld image." In 1935, Muni starred in Black Fury. At the 8th Academy Awards, Muni was not officially nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but he came in second on the basis of write-in votes, which were allowed that year. Muni persuaded Warner Bros. to take a financial risk by producing the successful historical biography The Story of Louis Pasteur, which was released in 1936. This became Muni's first of many biographical roles. Until that film, most Warner Bros. stories had originated from current events and major news stories, with the notable exceptions of George Arliss's earlier biographical films Disraeli, Alexander Hamilton and Voltaire. Muni won an Oscar for his performance. Muni played other historical figures, including Émile Zola in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), for which he was again nominated for an Oscar. The film won Best Picture and was interpreted as indirectly attacking the repression of Nazi Germany. He also played the lead role in Juarez (1939). In 1937, Muni played a Chinese peasant with a new bride in a film adaptation of Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth. The film was a re-creation of a revolutionary period in China and included special effects for a locust attack and the overthrow of the government. Because Muni was not of Asian descent, when producer Irving Thalberg offered him the role, he said, "I'm about as Chinese as [President] Herbert Hoover." Dissatisfied with life in Hollywood, Muni chose not to renew his contract. He returned to the screen only occasionally in later years for such roles as Frédéric Chopin's teacher in A Song to Remember (1945). In 1946, he played a rare comic role in Angel on My Shoulder.

• Illustration — New York City opening of A Flag is Born (1946) Muni then focused most of his energies on stage work, and occasionally on television roles. In 1946, he appeared on Broadway in A Flag is Born, written by Ben Hecht, to help promote the creation of a Jewish state in Israel. This play was directed by Luther Adler and co-starred Marlon Brando. Years later, in response to a question put to him by Alan King, Brando stated that Muni was the greatest actor he ever saw. At London's Phoenix Theatre on July 28, 1949, Muni began a run as Willy Loman in the first British production of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. He took over from Lee J. Cobb, who had played the principal role in the original Broadway production. Both productions were directed by Elia Kazan. In 1952, Muni traveled to Italy to star in Stranger on the Prowl, directed by Joseph Losey, partly as an act of solidarity and support for blacklisted friends living abroad in exile. A few years later, during 1955 and 1956, Muni had his biggest stage success in the United States as the crusading lawyer, Henry Drummond (based on Clarence Darrow), in Inherit the Wind, winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. In late August 1955, Muni was forced to withdraw from the play due to a serious eye ailment causing deterioration in his eyesight. He was later replaced by actor Melvyn Douglas. In early September 1955, Muni, then 59 years old, was diagnosed with a tumor of the left eye. The eye was removed in an operation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. His right eye was reported to be normal. In early December 1955, Muni returned to his starring role as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind. His last movie role was as an aging doctor in The Last Angry Man (1959), and he was again nominated for an Oscar. After that, Muni mostly retired from acting to deal with failing eyesight and other health problems. He made his final screen appearance on television, in a guest role on the dramatic series Saints and Sinners in 1962.

• Illustration — Muni with his wife Bella at the premiere of The Life of Emile Zola in 1937 In his private life, Muni was considered to be very shy and was uncomfortable with being recognized in public. He enjoyed reading and taking walks with his wife in secluded sections of Central Park. Muni campaigned for the re-election of President Herbert Hoover in 1932. After retiring from acting, he lived in California. In his den, which he called his "Shangri-La", he spent time reading books and listening to the radio. Muni died of a heart disorder in Montecito, California in 1967 at the age of 71. He is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.

Referring to his childhood during the Great Depression, Hawkeye Pierce in the "Hawkeye" episode of the television series M*A*S*H says: "You knew where you stood in those days. Franklin Roosevelt was always president, Joe Louis was always the champ, and Paul Muni played everybody." Muni and George Raft appeared as characters in the fifth season of Boardwalk Empire, meeting with Al Capone to discuss the film Scarface. Comedian and actor Paul Mooney took his stage name, which was also his childhood nickname, from Muni.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • ' — Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor • Seven Faces — Lost film • Scarface • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang — Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor • 1933 — ' • 1934 — Hi Nellie! • Bordertown • Black Fury • Dr. Socrates • 1936 — ' — Academy Award for Best Actor Volpi Cup for Best Actor • ' — Released in sepia tone • ' • ' — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor • Juarez — Benito Juárez • We Are Not Alone • 1941 — Hudson's Bay • 1942 — Commandos Strike at Dawn • 1943 — Stage Door Canteen — Himself • ' — Filmed in Technicolor • Counter-Attack • 1946 — Angel on My Shoulder • 1952 — Imbarco a mezzanotte — called Stranger on the Prowl in the U.S. • 1959 — ' — Mar del Plata Film Festival Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

• Program — Episode — Airdate • Lux Radio Theatre — The Story of Louis Pasteur — 1936 • Lux Radio Theater — "The Life of Emile Zola" — May 8, 1939 • Cavalcade of America — "Edwin Booth" — March 31, 1941 • The Free Company — "The Miracle Of The Danube" — April 27, 1941 • Cavalcade of America — "Bolivar, The Liberator" — October 6, 1941 • Cavalcade of America — "Eagle's Nest" — December 28, 1942 • Radio Hall of Fame — "No Uncommon Clay" — April 30, 1944 • Suspense Theater — "The Search For Henri Leferve" — July 6, 1944 • Arch Oboler's Plays — "This Living Book" — October 11, 1945 • Academy Award Theater — April 13, 1946 • Eternal Light — "And It Came To Pass" — December 7, 1947 • Studio One — "Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" — January 20, 1948 • Cavalcade of America — "Alerting of Dr. Pomerantz" — February 16, 1948 • Cavalcade of America — "Garden Key" — November 8, 1948 • Biography in Sound — "Clarence Darrow" — September 13, 1956

Paul Muni is recorded as having received Academy Award for Best Actor, Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and Volpi Cup for Best Actor.