About Me
Born to Lithuanian parents on November 3, 1921 in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, I was the only one of 15 children to finish high school, but ended up working in the coal mines alongside my brothers to support the family. I served during World War II as a tailgunner, then used my G.I. Bill to study art in Philadelphia and, intrigued by acting, enrolled at California's Pasadena Playhouse. An instructor there introduced me to director Henry Hathaway, which resulted in my debut film role in You're in the Navy Now.Subsequent small and large roles earned me a reputation for rugged, tough-guy characters, making the most of my unconventional features. I was once quoted as saying, "I guess I look like a rock quarry that someone has dynamited."It wasn't until 1960 and the role of Bernardo, one of the The Magnificent Seven, that my career took off. Subsquent roles in The Great Escape in 1963, where I played claustrophobic tunnel-digger Danny Velinski, and The Dirty Dozen in 1967 solidified my status. I then spent the next few years in Europe, where I became a box-office draw with such films as Alain Delon's Adieu l'ami and Sergio Leone's classic Once Upon a Time in the West, both in 1968.I then returned to the US where true stardom evaded me until 1974, when Michael Winner directed me in Death Wish, a revenge fantasy about an architect who turns vigilante when his wife and daughter are raped. The movie was both controversial and extremely popular (and spawned four sequels in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1994). It also established me as a celebrity in my own country and set the tough, cold, violent persona that made me a film icon. Some exceptions include Hard Times in 1975, where I played a 1930s streetfighter and the 1976 offbeat black comedy From Noon Till Three. However, I was drawn to action-thrillers like Breakout in 1975 and Love and Bullets in 1979, as well as the super-gory Ten to Midnight in 1983, The Evil That Men Do in 1984 and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects in 1989.My TV work includes such movies as Raid on Entebbe in 1977, Act of Vengeance in 1986, The Sea Wolf in 1993, and Sean Penn's The Indian Runner in 1991.After retiring from movies, and according to some rumours "life", I have created a new career as a fairly succesful session flugelhorn player. I have already worked with the likes of Lalle Larsson, Frank Gambale, Robert Fripp, Nerina Pallott, Mike Keneally, The Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra, Phi Yaan-Zek, Pat Metheny, Thom Yorke and CC Deville.
