Paul Muni

In October 2019, he was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.

In 1959, he appeared in a Broadway-bound musical adaptation of "Grand Hotel" entitled "At the Grand". Disagreements between the star, the producers and the directors prompted the early closing in San Francisco before it ever made it to New York.

During his live TV appearance in the Days Of Wine & Roses - Cliff Robertson & Piper Laurie, "Playhouse 90" Original TV Version (1956) episode Days Of Wine & Roses - Cliff Robertson & Piper Laurie, "Playhouse 90" Original TV Version: The Last Clear Chance (1958) , he appeared to be wearing a hearing aid. He wasn't. At his advanced age, and given the state of his health, it was no longer possible for him to memorize long stretches of dialogue on short notice. What he was wearing was a small radio transmitter, through which he was fed his lines just prior to speaking them.

Turned down the role of Roy Earle in High Sierra (1941), which was eventually given to Humphrey Bogart.

He once told Clifford Odets about how he gave up boxing because it endangered his secondary career as a violinist. This inspired Odets to write "Golden Boy" (its film adaptation Golden Boy (1939) was directed by Rouben Mamoulian).

In Dr. Socrates (1935), he purchases a used book "The Story of Louis Pasteur", which turned out to be his next movie.

A man of 5' 9" height, he wore small lifts (adding three or four inches) and padding to appear more hulking and ape-like as Tony in Scarface (1932).

In early 1930 Fox Film Corporation announced that Paul Muni's next film for the company would be "It Might Have Happened", to be directed by Irving Cummings. The film eventually was not made.

Received Oscar nominations for both his first and last screen performances (The Valiant (1929) and The Last Angry Man (1959)).

He began with Fox in 1928. He would later alternate between Broadway and Hollywood for his roles, becoming one of the more distinguished actors in either venue.

In 1927-28, he appeared in the plays "Four Walls", "This One Man", "Counsellor-at-Law", and others.

He joined the Yiddish Art Theatre in New York (1908) for 4 years, and then moved to other Yiddish theaters until 1926, when he "went into an American play" called "We Americans", his first English-language role.

Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and eyes, 165 pounds.