Paul Muni

Trivia

• Muni began his acting career on the Yiddish stage in New York City.
• As a teenager he developed an affinity for makeup and often played characters much older than his real years.
• In 1926 he appeared on Broadway in We Americans which brought him to the attention of Hollywood.
• He started at Fox, and his first film, The Valiant, brought him his first of four Academy nominations. Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office. His second film, Seven Faces, was also a financial failure. During the production of Scarface the project received a lot of criticism from the censors.
• Their main objection was the glorification of the gangster, so the studio added a subtitle to the film—"the shame of the nation."
• When the film was finally released, it was a huge box-office success, and Muni decided to remain in Hollywood to make more films.
• Muni's next film was I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, based on the autobiography of Robert E. Burns.
• The film not only was a critical and financial success (both the film and Muni received Academy nominations), but also helped bring about public awareness of prison conditions in the south.
• Needless to say, the southern portion of the country did not take well to the film.
• Muni's next milestone picture was The Story of Louis Pasteur.

Quotes

• "The most magnificent performance I've ever seen on any screen. Not a false motion - not a wasted gesture. He is the greatest actor we have today."
• " I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover."
• "I've never tried to learn the art of acting. I have been in the business for years but I still can't tell what acting is or how it's done."
• "I won't go up in a plane, but if a play crashes, I'll jump into the next one that comes along and take it up for a spin."
• "A writer can write in an attic, or on top of a bus. Or with a sharp stick in some wet cement. To act, an actor has to have words. A stage. a camera turning. I can't go into the middle of Times Square, stop traffic and start acting."
• "I don't want to be a star. If you have to label me anything, I'm an actor - I guess. A journeyman actor. I think "star" is what you call actors who can't act."