Joseph Calleia
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Joseph Calleia (born Giuseppe Maria Spurrin-Calleja, in Malta, August 4, 1897; died October 31, 1975 in Malta), was a singer, composer, and actor, both on Broadway and in film. Calleia played against some Hollywood greats, including William Holden, Errol Flynn, Mae West, Bette Davis, Jane Russell, Mario Lanza, Charlton Heston, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Orson Welles, Tyrone Power, Alan Ladd and Anthony Quinn.
[edit] Early years
Joseph Calleia was born at Saqqajja Square, Rabat, Malta, to Pasquale and Elena Calleja. He left Malta in 1914, and began his career touring Europe as a teenage singer with a harmonica band, appearing in the cafés and music halls of many war-torn and weary capital cities.
[edit] Broadway
Although Calleia made over 50 films, he always claimed to enjoy stage performance to film acting. He was considered a "bright light" on Broadway between 1926 and 1945, and appeared in several hit plays, including:
- Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre, September 16, 1926 to February 11, 1928, as "Joe, a waiter"[1]
- The Front Page at Times Square Theatre, August 14, 1928 to April 1929, as "Kruger (Journal of Commerce)"[2]
- The Last Mile at Sam H. Harris Theatre, February 13, 1930 to circa October 1930, as "Tom D'Amoro"[3]
- Grand Hotel at the National Theatre, November 13, 1930 to December 1931, as "the chauffeur" ,and general stage manager[4]
- Honeymoon at Little Theatre, December 23, 1932 to circa. February 1933, as "Nicola"[5]
- Ten Minute Alibi at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, October 17, 1933 to January 1934, as "the hunter"[6]
- Small Miracle at John Golden Theatre, September 26, 1934 to January 1935, as "Tony Mako"[7]
[edit] Hollywood
By 1931, Calleia had landed an MGM contract in Hollywood, where he successfully pursued a career in the film industry, appearing in a total of 57 movies between then and 1955, frequently playing cops or villains in gangster and western films. He made his screen debut in 1935 with appearances in two B-films: His Woman (1931) and The Girl in the Cab (1933). He very quickly made his mark, playing the role of a criminal in Public Hero No. 1, followed by Riff Raff (1935) in which he played a womanizer, co-starring with Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.
In 1936, Calleia wrote the screenplay for the western take on Robin Hood with The Robin Hood of El Dorado.
[edit] Filmography
Calleia's filmography includes:
- The Bad Man of Brimstone (1938), with Wallace Beery.
- The Alamo, where he played Juan Seguín.
- Touch of Evil (1958), an Orson Welles film in which he played the border-town detective, co-starring with Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
- My Little Chickadee (1940), a comedy.
- The Littlest Outlaw (1955), Disney production.
- Deadline at Dawn (1946), a film noir
- Gilda (1946), another film noir in which he co-starred with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and George Macready.
- Deadline at Dawn (1946), which featured Susan Hayward and Lola Lane
- Lured (1947)
- The Glass Key (1942)
- Valentino
- The Light Touch
- Underwater
- Cry Tough
- After the Thin Man
- Johnny Cool.
In The Caddy (1953) -- the movie that brought the song That's Amore into popular culture -- Calleia co-starred with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Donna Reed, Fred Clark and Barbara Bates. He also co-starred with Luther Adler and Jane Russell in the 1956 action adventure film Hot Blood.
[edit] Awards
Calleia received the Critics' Award for his performance in the 1938 John Cromwell film Algiers.
[edit] Retirement
He retired in 1963 in Malta, died in Sliema on October 31, 1975, and was buried in the family vault at Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery in Paola, Malta. He was posthumously honoured by the Malta postal authority with a set of two commemorative stamps issued in his memory in 1997. In October 2005, a monument consisting of a bust of Joseph Calleia by Eman Bonnici, a young sculptor, aged 17, was erected in front of the house where Calleia was born, in Rabat.
[edit] Trivia
- In Tough Guy, Calleia, together with child-star Jackie Cooper, sings a couple of bars of a Maltese folk tune "Ah, Lilek tal-Gallerija" (Ah! To you, up there on your balcony). This is possibly the only time that a ballad in Maltese has ever been heard in a Hollywood movie.
- It is said that Francis Ford Coppola had originally wanted Calleia to play the leading part of 'Il Padrino', the Sicilian Mafia boss in the immortal film The Godfather.
- Calleia's first cousin, Ċensu Tabone, was Malta's 4th President.
[edit] External link
- Joseph Calleia at the Internet Movie Database
- Joseph Spurin-Calleia at The Internet Broadway Database
