Lionel Stander

Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor, activist, and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. He had an extensive career in theatre, film, radio, and television that spanned nearly 70 years, from 1928 until 1994. He was known for his distinctive raspy voice and tough-guy demeanor, as well as for his vocal left-wing political stances. One of the first Hollywood actors to be subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was blacklisted from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s.

Following his experience with the Hollywood Blacklist, Stander moved to Europe, where he appeared in many genre films, including several Spaghetti Westerns. He returned to the United States later in the decade, playing the role of the majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series Hart to Hart, earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Early life Stander was born in The Bronx, New York City on 11 January 1908, to Louis and Bella Stander, parents of Russian Jewish extraction.

During his one year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he appeared in the student productions The Muse of the Unpublished Writer, and The Muse and the Movies: A Comedy of Greenwich Village.

Career Stander's acting career began in 1928, as Cop and First Fairy in Him by E. E. Cummings, at the Provincetown Playhouse. He claimed that he got the roles because one of them required shooting craps, which he did well, and a friend in the company volunteered him. He appeared in a series of short-lived plays through the early 1930s, including The House Beautiful, which Dorothy Parker famously derided as "the play lousy".

Early film roles Like many New York-based stage actors, Stander found additional work in movie short subjects filmed in New York. He signed with Vitaphone and was featured (without screen credit) in the two-reel comedy In the Dough (1933), with Roscoe Arbuckle and Shemp Howard. He made several other Vitaphone comedies, usually as a comic tough guy, villain, or authority figure; his last Vitaphone short was The Old Grey Mayor (1935) with Bob Hope in 1935. That same year, he was cast in a feature, Ben Hecht's The Scoundrel (1935), with Noël Coward. He moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. Stander was in a string of films over the next three years, appearing most notably in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Meet Nero Wolfe (1936) playing Archie Goodwin, The League of Frightened Men (1937), and A Star Is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.

Radio roles Stander's distinctive rumbling voice, tough-guy demeanor, and talent with accents made him a popular radio actor. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was on The Eddie Cantor Show, Bing Crosby's KMH show, the Lux Radio Theater production of A Star Is Born, The Fred Allen Show, the Mayor of the Town series with Lionel Barrymore and Agnes Moorehead, Kraft Music Hall on NBC, Stage Door Canteen on CBS, the Lincoln Highway Radio Show on NBC, and The Jack Paar Show, among others.

In 1941, he starred in a short-lived radio show called The Life of Riley on CBS (no relation to the radio, film, and television character later made famous by William Bendix). Stander played the role of Spider Schultz in both Harold Lloyd's film The Milky Way (1936) and its remake ten years later, The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), starring Danny Kaye. He was a regular on Danny Kaye's zany comedy-variety radio show on CBS (1946–1947), playing himself as "just the elevator operator" amidst the antics of Kaye, future Our Miss Brooks star Eve Arden, and bandleader Harry James.

Also during the 1940s, he played several characters on The Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda animated theatrical shorts, produced by Walter Lantz Productions. For Woody Woodpecker, he provided the voice of Buzz Buzzard, but was blacklisted from the Lantz studio in 1951 and was replaced by Dal McKennon.

Activism Stander espoused a variety of social and political causes, and was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. At a SAG meeting held during a 1937 studio technicians' strike, he told the assemblage of 2000 members: "With the eyes of the whole world on this meeting, will it not give the Guild a black eye if its members continue to cross picket lines?" (The NY Times reported: "Cheers mingled with boos greeted the question.") Stander also supported the Conference of Studio Unions in its fight against the Mob-influenced International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Also in 1937, Ivan F. Cox, a deposed officer of the San Francisco longshoremen's union, sued Stander and a host of others, including union leader Harry Bridges, actors Fredric March, Franchot Tone, Mary Astor, James Cagney, Jean Muir, and director William Dieterle. The charge, according to Time magazine, was "conspiring to propagate Communism on the Pacific Coast, causing Mr. Cox to lose his job".

During the Spanish Civil War, Stander fundraised for the Republican cause. He also campaigned for the release of the Scottsboro Boys. He was a member of the Popular Front from 1936 until 1939, and subsequently belonged to the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. Regarding his political beliefs, Stander once described himself as "lefter than the Left" and said he supported the Communist Party USA prior to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (which he opposed). As he later put it, "I worked very closely with the Communist Party during the ’30s. But I never joined." At a grand jury hearing in Los Angeles in August 1940—the transcript of which was leaked to the press—John L. Leech, the self-described former "chief functionary" of the L.A. Communist Party, named Stander as a CP member, along with more than 15 other Hollywood notables, including Franchot Tone, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Luise Rainer, Clifford Odets and Budd Schulberg. Stander subsequently forced himself into the grand jury hearing, and the district attorney cleared him of the allegations.

Stander appeared in few films in 1944 and 1945. Then, with HUAC's attentions focused elsewhere due to World War II, he played in a number of mostly second-rate pictures from independent studios through the late 1940s. These include Ben Hecht's Specter of the Rose (1946); the Preston Sturges comedy The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) with Harold Lloyd; and Trouble Makers (1948) with The Bowery Boys. One classic emerged from this period of his career, the Preston Sturges comedy Unfaithfully Yours (1948) with Rex Harrison.

In 1947, HUAC turned its attention once again to Hollywood. That October, Howard Rushmore, who had belonged to the CPUSA in the 1930s and written film reviews for the Daily Worker, testified that writer John Howard Lawson, whom he named as a Communist, had "referred to Lionel Stander as a perfect example of how a Communist should not act in Hollywood." Stander was again blacklisted from films, though he played on TV, radio, and in the theater.

In March 1951, actor Larry Parks, after pleading with HUAC investigators not to force him to "crawl through the mud" as an informer, named several people as Communists in a "closed-door session", which made the newspapers two days later. He testified that he knew Stander, but did not recall attending any CP meetings with him.

At a HUAC hearing in April 1951, actor Marc Lawrence named Stander as a member of his Hollywood Communist "cell", along with screenwriters Lester Cole and Gordon Kahn. Lawrence testified that Stander "was the guy who introduced me to the party line", and that Stander said that by joining the CP, he would "get to know the dames more" — which Lawrence, who did not enjoy film-star looks, thought a good idea. Upon hearing of this, Stander shot off a telegram to HUAC chair John S. Wood, calling Lawrence's testimony "ridiculous" and asking to appear before the Committee so that Stander could swear under oath he was not a Communist. The telegram concluded: "I respectfully request an opportunity to appear before you at your earliest possible convenience. Be assured of my cooperation." He also brought a slander lawsuit against Lawrence, which Stander later described in a 1983 interview: After Lawrence's 1951 testimony, Stander was blacklisted from TV and radio. He continued to act in theater roles, and played Ludlow Lowell in the 1952-53 revival of Pal Joey on Broadway and on tour.

Blacklisting Two years passed before Stander was issued the requested subpoena. Finally, in May 1953, he testified at a HUAC hearing in New York, where he made nationwide front-page headlines by being uproariously uncooperative, memorialized in the Eric Bentley play, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been. The New York Times headline was "Stander Lectures House Red Inquiry." In a dig at bandleader Artie Shaw, who had tearfully claimed in a Committee hearing that he had been "duped" by the Communist Party, Stander asserted: An excerpt from that statement was engraved in stone for "The First Amendment Blacklist Memorial" by Jenny Holzer at the University of Southern California.

Other notable statements during Stander's 1953 HUAC testimony: "[Testifying before HUAC] is like the Spanish Inquisition. You may not be burned, but you can't help coming away a little singed." "I don't know about the overthrow of the government. This committee has been investigating 15 years so far, and hasn't found one act of violence." "I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine the Constitution of the United States by depriving artists and others of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without due process of law... I can tell names and cite instances and I am one of the first victims of it. And if you are interested in that and also a group of ex-fascists and America-Firsters and anti-Semites, people who hate everybody including Negroes, minority groups and most likely themselves... and these people are engaged in a conspiracy outside all the legal processes to undermine the very fundamental American concepts upon which our entire system of democracy exists." "...I don't want to be responsible for a whole stable of informers, stool pigeons, and psychopaths and ex-political heretics, who come in here beating their breast and say, 'I am awfully sorry; I didn't know what I was doing. Please--I want absolution; get me back into pictures.'" "My estimation of this committee is that this committee arrogates judicial and punitive powers which it does not possess."

Stander also denied having been a Communist "now or yesterday." But when asked if he had ever been a party member, he refused to answer, calling it "a trick question."

Stander was blacklisted from the late 1940s until 1965; perhaps the longest period.

Filmography Title Year Role Notes In the Dough 1933 Toots Short, uncredited The Scoundrel 1935 Rothenstien Hooray for Love 1935 Chowsky We're in the Money 1935 Leonidus Giovanni 'Butch' Gonzola Page Miss Glory 1935 Nick Papadopolis The Gay Deception 1935 Gettel I Live My Life 1935 Yaffitz, Bridge Player If You Could Only Cook 1935 Flash Soak the Rich 1936 Muglia (kidnapper) The Milky Way 1936 Spider Schultz The Music Goes 'Round 1936 O'Casey Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936 Cornelius Cobb Meet Nero Wolfe 1936 Archie Goodwin They Met in a Taxi 1936 Fingers Garrison More Than a Secretary 1936 Ernest I Loved a Soldier 1936 Unfinished A Star Is Born 1937 Matt Libby The League of Frightened Men 1937 Archie Goodwin The Last Gangster 1937 'Curly' No Time to Marry 1938 Al Vogel Professor Beware 1938 Jerry The Crowd Roars 1938 'Happy' Lane The Ice Follies of 1939 1939 Mort Hodges What a Life 1939 Ferguson The Bride Wore Crutches 1940 'Flannel-Mouth' Moroni Hit Parade of 1941 1940 Uncredited Hangmen Also Die! 1943 Banya Tahiti Honey 1943 Pinkie Guadalcanal Diary 1943 Sgt. Butch Fish Fry 1944 Cat (voice) Uncredited The Big Show-Off 1945 Joe Bagley The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 Spider Schultz In Old Sacramento 1946 Eddie Dodge A Boy, a Girl and a Dog 1946 Jim Specter of the Rose 1946 Lionel Gans Gentleman Joe Palooka 1946 Harry Mitchell The Sin of Harold Diddlebock 1947 Max Call Northside 777 1948 Corrigan - Wiecek's Cellmate Uncredited Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven 1948Bellhop Wet Blanket Policy 1948 Buzz Buzzard (voice) Short, uncredited Unfaithfully Yours 1948 Hugo Standoff Trouble Makers 1948 'Hatchet' Moran Wild and Woody! 1948 Buzz Buzzard (voice) Short, uncredited Drooler's Delight 1949 Buzz Buzzard (voice) Short, uncredited Two Gals and a Guy 1951 Mr. Seymour St. Benny the Dip 1951 Monk Williams Blast of Silence 1961 Narrator (voice) Uncredited The Moving Finger 1963 Anatole The Loved One 1965 The Guru Brahmin Promise Her Anything 1966 Sam Cul-de-sac 1966 Richard Seven Times Seven 1968 Sam A Dandy in Aspic 1968 Sobakevich Beyond the Law (Al di là della legge) 1968 Preacher Gates to Paradise 1968 The Monk Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 Barman H2S 1969 Luigi Pavese Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence 1969 Don Tosello Zenabel 1969 Pancrazio Boot Hill 1969 Mamy The Naughty Cheerleader 1970 The Admiral Crepa padrone, crepa tranquillo 1970 Between Miracles 1971 Oreste Micheli The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight 1971 Baccala We Are All in Temporary Liberty 1971 Lawyer Bartoli Stanza 17-17 palazzo delle tasse, ufficio imposte 1971 Katanga Caliber 9 1972 Americano/Mikado The Eroticist 1972 Cardinal Maravidi Pulp 1972 Ben Dinuccio Where the Bullets Fly 1972 Lucky Capone Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi 1972 Peppone Treasure Island 1972 Billy Bones Sting of the West 1972 Stinky Manure The Adventures of Pinocchio 1972 Mangiafuoco Halleluja to Vera Cruz 1973 Sam 'Tonaca' Thompson Pete, Pearl & the Pole 1973 Sparks Dirty Weekend 1973 General The Black Hand (The Birth of the Mafia) 1973 Lieutenant Giuseppe Petrosino My Pleasure Is Your Pleasure 1973 Il marchese Cavalcanti / Il cardinale di Ragusa Crescete e moltiplicatevi 1973 Viaggia, ragazza, viaggia, hai la musica nelle vene 1973 The Sensual Man 1973 Baron Castorini Innocence and Desire 1974 Salvatore Niscemi Di mamma non ce n'è una sola 1974 Elia La via dei babbuini 1974 Cormack of the Mounties 1975 Doctor Higgins Mark of Zorro 1975 Padre Donato La novizia 1975 Don Nini The Black Bird 1975 Gordon Immerman San Pasquale Baylonne protettore delle donne 1976 Don Gervasio The Cassandra Crossing 1976 Max, the Train Conductor New York, New York 1977 Tony Harwell Matilda 1978 Pinky Schwab Cyclone 1978 Taylor The Rip-Off 1978 Sam 1941 1979 Angelo Scioli The Transformers: The Movie 1986 Kup (voice) Bellifreschi 1987 Frank Santamaria Wicked Stepmother 1989 Sam Cookie 1989 Enzo Della Testa Joey Takes a Cab 1991 Joey The Last Good Time 1994 Howard Singer

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source 1937 Lux Radio Theatre Mr. Deeds Goes to Town