Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as the "heavy" (i.e. villainous character), he later gained prominence for portraying anti-heroes, such as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger on the television series M Squad (1957–1960). Marvin's notable roles in film included Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964), Rico Fardan in The Professionals (1966), Major John Reisman in The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ben Rumson in Paint Your Wagon (1969), Walker in Point Blank (1967), and the Sergeant in The Big Red One (1980).
Marvin achieved numerous accolades when he portrayed both gunfighter Kid Shelleen and criminal Tim Strawn in a dual role for the comedy Western film Cat Ballou (1965), alongside Jane Fonda, a surprise hit which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, along with a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, an NBR Award, and the Silver Bear for Best Actor.
Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. was born in New York City to Lamont Waltman Marvin – World War I veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers and an advertising executive – and Courtenay Washington (née Davidge), a fashion writer. Confederate General Robert E. Lee was his first cousin, four times removed.[1][2] His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England, in 1635, and helped found Hartford, Connecticut. Marvin studied violin when he was young.[3] Marvin did not enjoy school and studied poorly. As a teenager, Marvin "spent weekends and spare time hunting deer, puma, wild turkey, and bobwhite in the wilds of the then-uncharted Everglades".[4]
He attended Manumit School, a Christian socialist boarding school in Pawling, New York, during the late 1930s, and Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York. He later attended St. Leo College Preparatory School, a Catholic school in St. Leo, Florida, after being expelled from several other schools for bad behavior (smoking cigarettes, truancy of lessons and fights).[5]
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Marvin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on August 12, 1942. Before finishing School of Infantry, he was a quartermaster. Marvin served in the 4th Marine Division as a scout sniper in the Pacific Theater during World War II,[6] including assaults on Kwajalein[7], Eniwetok and Saipan-Tinian.[8] While serving as a member of "I" Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Marvin participated in 21 amphibious assaults on Japanese-held islands. He was wounded in action on June 18, 1944, while taking part in the assault on Mount Tapochau during the Battle of Saipan, in the course of which most of his company became casualties.[9] He was hit by machine gun fire, which severed his sciatic nerve,[10] and then was hit again in the foot by a sniper.[11] After over a year of medical treatment in naval hospitals, Marvin was given a medical discharge with the rank of private first class. He previously held the rank of corporal, but had been demoted for troublemaking.[11]
Marvin's decorations include the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.[8][12]
After the war, while working as a plumber's assistant in the artist village of Woodstock in upstate New York, Marvin was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals. He caught the acting bug and got a job with the company for $7 a week. He moved to Greenwich Village and used the G.I. Bill to study at the American Theatre Wing.[13][14]
He appeared on stage in a production of Uniform of Flesh, the original version of Billy Budd (1949).[15] It was performed at the Experimental Theatre, where a few months later, Marvin also appeared in The Nineteenth Hole of Europe (1949).[16]
Marvin began appearing on television shows like Escape, The Big Story, and Treasury Men in Action.[17]
He made it to Broadway with a small role in a production of Uniform of Flesh, now titled Billy Budd, in February 1951.[18]
Marvin's film debut was in You're in the Navy Now (1951), directed by Henry Hathaway, a movie that also marked the debuts of Charles Bronson and Jack Warden. This required some filming in Hollywood. Marvin decided to stay in California.[13]
He had a similar small part in Teresa (1951), directed by Fred Zinnemann. As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and the use of firearms.
He guest starred on episodes of Fireside Theatre, Suspense and Rebound. Hathaway used him again on Diplomatic Courier (1952) and he could be seen in Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1952), directed by Edmund Goulding; We're Not Married! (1952), also for Goulding; The Duel at Silver Creek (1952), directed by Don Siegel; and Hangman's Knot (1952), directed by Roy Huggins.
He guest starred on Biff Baker, U.S.A. and Dragnet, and had a showcase role as the squad leader in a feature titled Eight Iron Men (1952), a war film directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer (Marvin's role had been played on Broadway by Burt Lancaster).[19]
He was a sergeant in Seminole (1953), a Western directed by Budd Boetticher, and was a corporal in The Glory Brigade (1953), a Korean War film.[20]
Marvin guest starred in The Doctor, The Revlon Mirror Theater, Suspense, and The Motorola Television Hour.
He was now in much demand for Westerns: The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) with Randolph Scott, and Gun Fury (1953), with Rock Hudson.
Marvin received much acclaim for his portrayal of villains in two films: The Big Heat (1953) where he played Gloria Grahame's vicious boyfriend, directed by Fritz Lang; and The Wild One (1953), opposite Marlon Brando (Marvin's gang in the film was named "The Beetles"), produced by Kramer.[21]
He continued in TV shows such as The Plymouth Playhouse and The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. He had support roles in Gorilla at Large (1954) and had a notable small role as smart-aleck sailor Meatball in The Caine Mutiny (1954), produced by Kramer.[13]
Marvin was in The Raid (1954), Center Stage, Medic and TV Reader's Digest.[22]
He had a part as Hector, the small-town hood in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), with Spencer Tracy.[23] Also in 1955, he played a conflicted, brutal bank-robber in Violent Saturday. A critic wrote of the character, "Marvin brings a multi-faceted complexity to the role and gives a great example of the early promise that launched his long and successful career."[24]
Marvin played Robert Mitchum's and Frank Sinatra's friend in Not as a Stranger (1955), a medical drama produced and directed by Stanley Kramer. He had good supporting roles in A Life in the Balance (1955) (he was third billed), and Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) and appeared on TV in Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre and Studio One in Hollywood.
Marvin was in I Died a Thousand Times (1955) with Jack Palance, Shack Out on 101 (1955), Kraft Theatre, and Front Row Center.
Marvin was the villain in Seven Men from Now (1956) starring Randolph Scott and directed by Boetticher. He was second-billed to Palance in Attack (1956) directed by Robert Aldrich.
Marvin had roles in Pillars of the Sky (1956) with Jeff Chandler, The Rack (1956) with Paul Newman, Raintree County (1957) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift and a leading role in The Missouri Traveler (1958). He also guest starred on Climax! (several times), Stu