Lee J. Cobb

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: New York City, New York, USA, 1911-12-08

Died: 1976-02-11

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1934	The Vanishing Shadow	Roadwork Foreman	65
2	1937	North of the Rio Grande	President Wooden	60
3	1937	Rustlers' Valley	Cal Howard	60
4	1938	Danger on the Air	Tony Lisotti	59
5	1939	The Phantom Creeps	Road Crew Foreman (archive footage)	42
6	1939	Golden Boy	Mr. Bonaparte	65
7	1940	This Thing Called Love	Julio Diestro	80
8	1941	Men of Boys Town	Dave Morris	61
9	1941	Paris Calling	Captain Schwabe	54
10	1943	The Moon Is Down	Dr. Albert Winter	67
11	1943	Tonight We Raid Calais	Bonnard	54
12	1943	Buckskin Frontier	Jeptha Marr	60
13	1943	The Song of Bernadette	Dr. Dozous	70
14	1944	Flight Characteristics of the P-51 Airplane	Arthur Deeds	0
15	1944	Winged Victory	Doctor	55
16	1946	Anna and the King of Siam	Kralahome	61
17	1947	Johnny O'Clock	Inspector Koch	62
18	1947	Boomerang!	Chief Harold F. 'Robbie' Robinson	70
19	1947	Captain from Castile	Juan Garcia	71
20	1948	Call Northside 777	Brian Kelly	66
21	1948	The Miracle of the Bells	Marcus Harris	59
22	1948	The Luck of the Irish	David C. Augur	57
23	1948	The Dark Past	Dr. Andrew Collins	58
24	1949	The Phantom Creeps	Road Crew Foreman (uncredited)	34
25	1949	Thieves' Highway	Mike Figlia	73
26	1950	The Man Who Cheated Himself	Lt. Ed Cullen	62
27	1951	Sirocco	Col. Feroud	58
28	1951	The Family Secret	Howard Clark	57
29	1952	The Fighter	Durango	43
30	1953	The Tall Texan	Capt. Theodore Bess	45
31	1954	Yankee Pasha	Sultan	40
32	1954	Gorilla at Large	Detective Sgt. Garrison	56
33	1954	On the Waterfront	Johnny Friendly	79
34	1954	Day of Triumph	Zadok	0
35	1955	The Racers	Maglio	60
36	1955	The Road to Denver	Jim Donovan	60
37	1955	The Left Hand of God	Mieh Yang	64
38	1956	The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit	Judge Bernstein	68
39	1956	Miami Exposé	Lt. Barton 'Bart' Scott	53
40	1957	12 Angry Men	Juror 3	85
41	1957	The Garment Jungle	Walter Mitchell	64
42	1957	The Three Faces of Eve	Doctor Curtis Luther	72
43	1958	The Brothers Karamazov	Fyodor Karamazov	66
44	1958	Man of the West	Dock Tobin	66
45	1958	Party Girl	Rico Angelo	68
46	1959	The Trap	Victor Massonetti	68
47	1959	Green Mansions	Nuflo	60
48	1959	But Not for Me	Jeremiah MacDonald	60
49	1959	I, Don Quixote	Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quijana	0
50	1960	Exodus	Barak Ben Canaan	67
51	1962	The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse	Julio Madariaga	60
52	1962	How the West Was Won	Marshal Lou Ramsey	70
53	1962	The Devil's Children	Judge Henry Garth	0
54	1963	Come Blow Your Horn	Harry R. Baker	48
55	1964	The Brazen Bell	Judge Henry Garth	0
56	1965	The Final Hour	Judge Henry Garth	0
57	1966	Our Man Flint	Cramden	64
58	1966	Death of a Salesman	Willy Loman	59
59	1967	In Like Flint	Lloyd C. Cramden	61
60	1968	They Came to Rob Las Vegas	Steve Skorsky	57
61	1968	The Day of the Owl	Don Mariano Arena	71
62	1968	Coogan's Bluff	Lt. McElroy	64
63	1969	Mackenna's Gold	The Editor	66
64	1970	Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man	Himself	0
65	1970	The Liberation of L.B. Jones	Oman Hedgepath	58
66	1971	Macho Callahan	Duffy	43
67	1971	Lawman	Vincent Bronson	65
68	1972	Heat of Anger	Frank Galvin	0
69	1972	The Bull of the West	Judge Garth	54
70	1973	The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing	Lapchance	58
71	1973	Double Indemnity	Barton Keyes	48
72	1973	The Great Kidnapping	Jovine	68
73	1973	The Exorcist	Lt. Bill Kinderman	77
74	1974	Dr. Max	Maxwell Gordon	0
75	1974	Trapped Beneath the Sea	Victor Bateman	58
76	1974	The Great Ice Rip-Off	Willy Calso	70
77	1974	The Balloon Vendor	Twenty Years	70
78	1975	Blood, Sweat and Fear	Benzi	56
79	1975	That Lucky Touch	Henry Steedman	60
80	1975	Mark Shoots First	Il commedator Benzi	66
81	1976	Nick the Sting	Robert Clark	67
82	1976	Cross Shot	Dante Ragusa	61
83	1978	The Meanest Men in the West	Judge Henry Garth	41
84	2023	Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist	Self (archive footage)	73

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Studio One	Dr. Joseph Pearson	50
2	1949	Lights Out		53
3	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Emile Zola	63
4	1951	Tales of Tomorrow		60
5	1952	The Ford Television Theatre	Matt Erwin	73
6	1953	General Electric Theater	Dominic Roma	63
7	1953	General Electric Theater	Grayson Foxhall	63
8	1953	The Oscars	Self	71
9	1954	Medic	Henry Fisher	57
10	1955	Gunsmoke	Col. Josiah Johnson	66
11	1956	Tony Awards	Willy Loman (archive footage)	51
12	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Captain Andrew Watling	55
13	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Drifter - Frank MacKinnon	55
14	1958	Naked City	Paul Delito	55
15	1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse		58
16	1959	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Captain Maximillian Gault	63
17	1962	The Virginian	Richter Henry Garth	65
18	1962	The Virginian	Ritcher Henry Garth	65
19	1963	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Ernie Wigman	57
20	1970	McCloud		71
21	1970	The Young Lawyers		50
22	1976	Origins of the Mafia	Bartolomeo Gramignano	0

Lee J. Cobb

Film

Television