Joseph Calleia
A veteran theater performer and character actor so famous that Malta honored his death with commemorative stamps, Joseph Calleia went from touring Europe with a harmonica band to acting alongside some of the greatest Hollywood actors of his time. Calleia came to the United States in 1926 after traveling through post-World War I Europe, and he soon became a major presence on Broadway. He traded heavily on his dark features, and his 1931 contract signing with MGM found him playing mobsters, villains, and outlaws in numerous films, including the Jean Harlow/Spencer Tracy crime drama "Riff Raff" and the exotic mystery "Algiers." After establishing himself as a sought-after character actor in the '30s, Calleia became a heavyweight bad guy in the 1940s, using his ethnic looks to memorably portray a Spanish guerilla leader in the 1943 adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and an Argentinian government agent in the classic noir film "Gilda." However, one of Calleia's greatest roles came in 1958 as American police officer Pete Menzies in Orson Welles's bewildering and beloved "Touch of Evil." The film, about a tangled web of blackmail, deception, and manipulation in a small Mexican town, was one of his last Hollywood appearances--after several more roles, including that of a heroic politician in 1960's "The Alamo," he left the United States and returned to Malta, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Photos
Joseph Calleia
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50% |
|
Johnny Cool | Tourist (Character) | - | 1963 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cry Tough | Sr. Estrada (Character) | - | 1959 |
97% |
|
Touch of Evil | Police Sergeant Pete Menzies (Character) | - | 1958 |
No Score Yet |
|
Wild Is the Wind | Alberto (Character) | - | 1957 |
86% |
|
Hot Blood | Papa Theodore (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Serenade | Maestro Marcatello (Character) | - | 1956 |
85% |
|
The Littlest Outlaw | Padre (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
Underwater! | Rico Herrera (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Treasure of Pancho Villa | Pablo Morales (Character) | - | 1955 |
83% |
|
The Caddy | Papa Anthony (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Yankee Buccaneer | Count Domingo Del Prado (Character) | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Iron Mistress | Juan Moreno (Character) | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | When in Rome | Aggiunto Bodulli (Character) | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Valentino | Luigi Verducci (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Palomino | Miguel Gonzales (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Light Touch | Lt. Massiro (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Captain Carey, U.S.A. | Dr. Lunati (Character) | - | 1950 |
80% |
|
Branded | Rubriz (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Vendetta | Mayor Guido Barracini (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
Four Faces West | Monte Marquez (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Noose Hangs High | Nick Craig (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Noose | Sugiani (Character) | - | 1948 |
100% |
|
Lured | Dr. Nicholas Moryani (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Beginning or the End | Dr. Enrico Fermi (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet |
|
Deadline at Dawn | Val Bartelli (Character) | - | 1946 |
90% |
|
Gilda | Detective Maurice Obregon (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Conspirators | Police Captain Pereira (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Cross of Lorraine | Rodriguez (Character) | - | 1944 |
64% |
|
For Whom the Bell Tolls | El Sordo (Character) | - | 1943 |
88% |
|
The Glass Key | Nick Varna (Character) | - | 1942 |
54% |
|
Jungle Book | Buldeo (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Monster and the Girl | Deacon (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sundown | Pallini (Character) | - | 1941 |
93% |
|
My Little Chickadee |
Jeff Badger (proprietor, Last Gasp Saloon/ |
- | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bad Man of Wyoming | John Buckley (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wyoming | John Buckley (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet |
|
Five Came Back | Vasquez (Character) | - | 1939 |
83% |
|
Golden Boy | Eddie Fuseli (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Gorilla | Stranger (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Full Confession | Unknown (Character) | - | 1939 |
No Score Yet |
|
Marie Antoinette | Drouet (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet |
|
Algiers | Inpector Slimane (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bad Man of Brimstone | Ben (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Man of the People | Jack Moreno (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Exclusive Story | Ace Acello (Character) | - | 1936 |
96% |
|
After the Thin Man | Lichee Club Owner (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tough Guy | Joseph "Joe" Calerno (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Robin Hood of El Dorado | Screenwriter | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet |
|
His Brother's Wife | Fish-Eye (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sworn Enemy | Joe Emerald (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sinner Take All | Penny (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet |
|
Riffraff | Nick (Character) | - | 1935 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Public Hero No. 1 | Sonny `'Dinkie'` Black (Character) | - | 1935 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Zorro | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1959 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Have Gun -- Will Travel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1958 |