Edward G Robinson had a career in films that started in the 1930's and continued till his death in the 1970's. He appeared in a wide range of films, notable several gangster films and a couple of classic film noir films (Scarlet Street and The Woman In The Window). His family moved from Romania to escape anti-Semitism and he started his career on the stage. His first film role was a minor role in the silent film The Bright Shawl. In 1927 he played a gangster in a Broadway play and this type of role became to define his career. He moved to Hollywood and Warner Bros where he appeared in Little Caesar which established him as a star and as a gangster. He followed this with a con-man in Smart Money his only film alongside James Cagney. The comedy The Whole Town's Talking directed by John Ford was a way of breaking his type casting.
In Bullets Or Ballots he played an undercover policeman being a gangster, so back to his old roles. Kid Galahad was a boxing film and one of several he made with Humphrey Bogart. He was too old for military service so continued to make films during World War 2. By the 1940's gangster films were no longer popular and were replaced by the more nuanced film noir and he made that transition starting with Manpower. This was followed up by Double Indemnity, The Woman In The Window and Scarlet Street working with directors Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang. His anti Nazi views are reflected in the Orson Welles directed The Stranger.
He played another gangster in John Huston's Key Largo, but this time with a claustrophobic unpleasantness and probably the best of his villainous roles. His career faltered a bit when question by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He struggled to then to get major roles but being cast by Cecil B DeMille in The Ten Commandments helped. A Hole In The Head was a Frank Capra film with Frank Sinatra that helped revive his career. He followed this up with the Frank Peckinpah directed The Cincinnati Kid and he used his poker face to play poker. His final role was in the Sci-Fi thriller SoylentGreen. In 1973 he was awarded an honorary Oscar.
