Jack La Rue

Jack La Rue, born Gaspare Biondolillo on May 3, 1902, in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, was an American film and stage actor whose Broadway career spanned from 1923 to 1930. He died on January 11, 1984, of a heart attack at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

Biondolillo was the eldest of six children born to Sicilian immigrants Luigi Biondolillo, a miner from Lercara Friddi, and Giuseppa lo Bue. Luigi emigrated first, arriving at the port of New York on August 26, 1900, accompanied by his sister Francesca, and the two joined their brother Pasquale in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. Giuseppa followed, arriving on November 26, 1902, and brought along her five-month-old son Gaspare. The stage name Jack La Rue was assembled from two family sources: the given name Jack came from his uncle Gioacchino "Jack" Biondolillo, his father's brother, while the surname La Rue was derived from his mother's maiden name, LoBue.

La Rue's stage career began when he moved directly from high school into Otis Skinner's road company production of Blood and Sand. He subsequently appeared in Broadway productions including Midnight, Fiesta, Los Angeles, A Farewell to Arms, and Diamond Lil, among others. It was during his run in Mae West's Diamond Lil that director Howard Hawks reportedly spotted him and offered him a role in the 1932 film Scarface, starring Paul Muni. According to La Rue, Hawks replaced him after four days of filming because La Rue was taller than Muni and possessed a more powerful voice, with George Raft ultimately taking the part.

After relocating to Hollywood following 1930, La Rue built a film career largely playing thugs and gangsters, and was sometimes mistaken for Humphrey Bogart. When Raft declined the role of the villain in The Story of Temple Drake (1933) out of concern for his screen image, the part went to La Rue. Director Frank Borzage cast him against type as a priest in the 1932 film adaptation of A Farewell to Arms, a decision the director explained to columnist Hubbard Keavy by saying he was tired of seeing conventional characters in the role. La Rue stated that he turned down a part in The Godfather (1972) and declined numerous roles in the television series The Untouchables due to objections over their portrayals of Italian-Americans.

La Rue was married three times. He wed Los Angeles socialite Constance Deighton Simpson on September 22, 1938, in London; she was granted a divorce on December 17, 1946, on grounds of mental cruelty. In 1955 he obtained an annulment from former Baroness Violet Edith von Rosenberg after six years of marriage, claiming she had married him solely to acquire American citizenship and that the couple had separated within two months of the wedding. His third marriage, to Anne Giordano on August 12, 1962, ended in an annulment in 1967.

Two of La Rue's relatives pursued acting careers of their own. His sister Emily, born May 16, 1917, relocated to Hollywood as a teenager under the screen name Emily LaRue, making her debut in College Rhythm (1934) and appearing in films including Gold Diggers of 1935, It Couldn't Have Happened – But It Did (1936), Zaza (1939), and A New Kind of Love (1963). His nephew Ronald Cognata performed under the name Jack La Rue, Jr. and appeared in Crypt of the Living Dead (1973) and The Young Nurses (1973). Cognata married actress Kim Darby on October 8, 1978; they divorced on June 30, 1981.