The Untold Truth Of American Actor Lee Marvin

if you want to talk about prominent tough guys in Hollywood then the American film and TV actor Lee Marvin has a special spot in that category but there's so much more about this actor than meets the eye you'd be surprised to know he did this when he won an Oscar find out the Untold Truth About American actor Lee Marvin and More in today's video before he became one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood let us first talk about Lee Marvin's Beginnings born on February 24th 1924 as Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr to World War I veteran Lamont Waltman Marvin and fashion designer courtne Washington the young Marvin Jr grew up in New York as a child he took up violin and did not enjoy attending school because he had ADHD and dyslexia which made it difficult for him despite this he grew up to become a fine young man and during his teenage years the future actor spent his weekends hunting deer wild turkeys and Bob White in the then Uncharted Everglades something he enjoyed without inhibitions during the 1930s Marvin then attended a Christian socialist boarding school in New York called manumit school and Peak Skill Military Academy later on he was quite a handful during his teenage years because he got expelled from a couple of other schools for bad behavior and vices indulging in smoking and brawls the last school he attended was St Leo College in St Leo Florida before a certain event forced him to change his ways and take a different route in life when the second world war broke out Marvin was one of the many men who answered the call to service enlisting in the United States Marine Corps on August 2nd 1942 his father whom he called the chief and who was a marine veteran was pretty much against it but from the looks of it boot camp was the only thing the young Marvin needed for discipline to be hammered onto his body though there was still a bit of rowdiness in him right before he finished infantry School Marvin was already a Quartermaster in the Marines Marvin accomplished a couple of impressive Feats he served as a scout sniper in the fourth Marine Division in the Pacific Theater and even participated in the battles on enat talk and cianan which was considered one of the most gruesome events back then during his service Marvin was wounded during their assault on Mount topaa during the Battle of sipan with the majority of his comrades being casualties of the said battle on June 18th 1944 Marvin was shot by Machine Gun fire where the bullet hit his sciatic nerve and also suffered another shot in his foot by the enemy sniper because of this he was pulled out and received medical treatment spending almost over a year in recovery fortunately he recovered well and was given a medical discharge along with the purple metal heart for his acts of Valor in addition to that Marvin was also the recipient of the presidential unit citation the Asiatic Pacific campaign medal the the American campaign medal the Combat Action ribbon and the World War II Victory Medal pretty impressive Feats for a marine ranked private first class if Marvin wasn't such a troublemaker he would have still held on to his previous rank as Corporal but it seems you couldn't really take out the boy in a man Even though serving in the Marines was tough Marvin credits his time there as the very thing that taught him how to act I'll tell you how Marvin told interviewer Robert Ward it was the Marines who told taught me how to act after that pretending to be rough wasn't so hard as we all know Lee Marvin was characterized by his signature white hair and was the prime example of an ice cold tough guy after the war this is where Marvin's career really took off but before we proceed make sure to hit that like And subscribe button with the war finally over Marvin returned home and took a job as a plumers assistant in Woodstock New York but as fate would have it this was his ticket to the entertainment industry indry while working the job the soon Tobe actor was called to take the place of an actor since the latter had fallen ill during rehearsals on that same day Marvin caught the acting bug developing a passion for acting and bagged himself a job at the company earning do7 weekly he took on many acting gigs before he relocated to Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan New York and enrolled at the American Theater Wing fortunately for him the GI bill which is the law that provides provided benefits for returning veterans covered the fee for his acting lessons at the start of his career Marvin took on many uncredited roles and it was in 1949 that he made his stage debut in the original production of the 1949 play Billy bud in that same Year Marvin also landed a role in the 1949 play the 19th Hole of Europe things started to pick up from there and soon the next thing he knew Marvin's got himself booked and busy in several TV roles Lee Marvin made his film debut in the 1951 American war comedy you're in the Navy now where he acted alongside Jack Warden and Charles Bronson coincidentally it was also the two actors film debut even though filming took place in Hollywood Marvin opted to stay in California then in the same year he also had a small role in Fred Zimmerman's 1951 film Teresa and this was the first time his military expertise came in handy he helped out behind the scenes assisting the directors and his co-stars by showcasing realistic portrayals of infantry movements he even chimed in and helped with the costume and the use of firearms too because of his military background Lee Marvin was somewhat boxed into a certain character which is often a man in uniform or in certain authoritative roles he had a lot of projects albeit minor such as starring in one of the episodes of the American Anthology Fireside theater theater and another Anthology titled rebound his other earlier Works include Diplomatic Courier down among the Sheltering Palms we're not married The Duel at Silver Creek and Hangman's not he assumed the role of men in uniform again in the western film seol and the Korean War film The Glory blade which were both released in 1953 as it turns out Marvin was also a great fit for Western so he had a couple of other projects in this genre such as the stranger wore a gun Randolph Scott and gun Fury all of these projects later led to his breakout role which were about to reveal the 1950s were the Pinnacle of the actor's career because finally Lee Marvin's Lucky Star Shone brightly when his performance as the villain Vince Stone in the 1953 Noir crime the big heart was lauded by the public in that same year he starred opposite Marlon Brando in another american crime film titled the wild one Lee Marvin portrayed Chino the leader of the motorcycle gang called The Beatles these two films were widely received and signaled Marvin's success which led to more successful projects his role in the 1955 movie violent Saturday was praised by critics with one of them mentioning how his performance brought a multifaceted complexity to the role Marvin also got to co-star with Frank Sinatra in not as a stranger a medical drama back in 1955 he played a lot of supporting roles in this decade like in a life in the balance Pete Kelly's blues and Jane Wyman presents the Fireside theater but if there's one Series where Marvin bagged the lead role it's in the series M Squad where he took on the role of tough Chicago cop Frank Ballinger he became a household name on TV starring in multitudes of roles and taking on different characters but there's one role that really struck the critics with how great he was at his craft is there a better way for an actor to show his skills than by portraying two different characters in the same movie that's exactly what Marvin did in the 1965 comedic Western cat beloo based on the novel The Ballad of cat beloo Marvin starred opposite Jane Fonda and according to the American Film institute's top 10 list in 2008 it was hailed as the 10th Best Western of all time it tells the story of a woman named Nam Catherine cat Baloo played by Fonda who hires notorious Gunslinger kid shalene to protect her father's Ranch later on she employs the same man to avenge her father's murder only to discover that the gunman she hired isn't exactly what she hoped for here we see Lee Marvin take on the Dual roles of kid shalene and the noseless and ruthless assassin Tim straw the wolf City Development Corporation wanted to scare Frankie beloo off his land but straw just took the the man out without remorse at first cat seeks the help of the local authorities but finds out soon enough how the sheriff is deep in Wolf City's Pockets so now she sought the help of kid shelene who is quite a handful a grizzled alcoholic and comedic at the same time cat had her doubts about employing him but what choice does she have soon she learned that there was a reason why kid shellene was Notorious after seeing him in action with his unmissable crack shots the man just had down a couple of drinks to shake off his withdrawal playing these two roles who are the exact opposites was a joy to watch and one might even say that they're played by different actors where Tim straw is intimidating and dramatic there's kid shellene who is every bit of comedic relief the latter is Clumsy often stumbling with pants falling and pooling around his ankles drunk as hell which makes him more appealing to the viewers on the same breadth it also makes them wonder if he's the right person to take out the notorious Strawn and that's where he's fueled by cat's affection striving to be a better man later on it's revealed that these two men are actually brothers who are Polar Opposites while straw is Cutthroat and ruthless in his ways shellene is a sensitive man who was broken down by the sins of the world despite the latter's predicament cat is the only one who believes in him which is why he tries his best to be better through her love shelene was was able to face his demons and in turn his brother seeing how Lee Marvin managed to pull off such contrasting performances of characters sharing the same screen it didn't come as a surprise that the movie Not only became a box office hit but also garnered Awards a nominations the audiences were able to see a new side to Lee Marvin's authoritative and serious roles with his portrayal of kid shellene you best believe the actor won and you wouldn't believe what Marvin did during his acceptance spee dedicated to a horse I think though half of this belongs to a horse someplace out in the valley which Drew laughter from the audience after cat beloo Lee Marvin undertook Another Western project and it's the 1966 film The professionals which was also a great hit following this he got the lead role of Major John Risman which became one of his more popular films starring alongside fellow top build actors namely Charles Bronson Jim Brown John cetes and Donald southernland Lee Marvin's Oscar win opened a lot more opportunities for him and by then they already knew he was a huge star with that said Marvin had a lot of control in his 1967 project Point Blank where he portrayed a hard-nosed criminal hellbent on taking his revenge John Borman helmed this movie and his next project hell in the Pacific even though this film wasn't widely successful it was applauded by film critics by the 1970s Lee Marvin found himself starring in lesser bad guy roles and he was able to explore other Ventures as well though he still build in a lot of Western projects there was Monty Walsh Prime Cut picket money emperor of the North and the Iceman Cometh to name a few although he met and worked with a lot of people Lee Marvin is very particular about his friends and values his privacy which is why there are only a few instances of him talking about his friends in the industry I can't stand myself if I could I'd play the same guy in all my roles Marvin once said I don't even like my own company I've got nothing new to tell myself nor do I like the company of other actors if I don't like myself how could I like them since I can't go out in public as much as I used to I do most of my socializing with the working stiffs on the set during a movie The stuntmen the Gaffers and the prop men these behind the scenes guys keep me straight when it comes to his relationships Lee Marvin had two marriages and one complicated one which became a public Fiasco later on due to it being taken to court but let us talk about his first marriage with Betty Ebling back in 1952 despite their marriage ending in divorce they still lived together for 15 wonderful years though they had a brief separation for 2 years until their official split in 1967 the couple had four children a son and three daughters namely Christopher Lamont courtne Lee Cynthia Louise and Claudia Leslie right after his split with Ebling Marvin got into a relationship with American actress Michelle triola who became his live-in girlfriend from 1965 to 1970 even though they weren't married triola legally changed her name to Marvin and sought compensation similar to spouses under California's alimony which became the infamous palamon lawsuit she claimed that in the six years they were together triola got pregnant with Marvin's child and she further claimed that he paid for two abortions while her other pregnancy ended in miscarriage furthermore the actress said that the abortion rendered her unable to Bear children the lawsuit was highly publicized so everyone was pretty much in their business even though the court ordered him to pay $114,000 for rehabilitation purposes they denied her claim of one/ half of the almost $4 million Marvin earned during their 6-year cohabitation it was because non-marital relationship contracts are different from marriage so her claim is not enough to cover that aspect it took another two years before the court found out that there wasn't even a non-marital contract to begin with thus nullifying the award she received and ending the case as for triola she was romantically linked to the actor Dick Van djk from 1976 until her death from lung cancer in October 2009 back to Lee Marvin the actor's second and final marriage was to his childhood sweetheart Pamela fi the two married in 1970 and remained married until his untimely death in 1987 as the Hollywood star got older Marvin's star power waned and he soon found himself starring in fewer projects by the 1980s the actor's last role as a big shot came in the form of the sergeant in Samuel Fuller's 19 1980 Epic War film The Big Red One his other projects that followed such as death hunt Gorky Park and dog day were lesser commercial successes the same goes for his TV projects in 1985 he reprised his role as Major John ricean in the sequel The Dirty Dozen next mission continuing where the first film left off despite them being 18 years older now concerning his health it's no secret that Lee Marvin struggled with alcoholism that from his time in Wartime service throughout the course of his life which was the cause of his demise one Infamous story about his sobriety problems happened during the filming of The Dirty Dozen wherein his character major ricean was supposed to drive a truck with Charles Bronson's character Joseph wlaw when filming was about to start they couldn't find Lee Marvin anywhere on set and it was the filming crew who found him later on at a pub and brought him back on set all boozed out since they still had to film the scene the production crew did their best to sober him up making him drink coffee right before that an angry Bronson walked up to him and threatened to kill Marvin right then and there but thankfully he didn't and we got to see the Masterpiece that is the dirty dozen back to the topic of his death the actor died at the age of 63 due to a heart attack on August 29th 1987 Marvin suffered a major intestinal rupture that made him go into respirat distress the doctors decided to administer steroids to help his breathing only for him to go into cardiac arrest months before his death Marvin spent more than two weeks at the hospital in December 1986 due to a condition related to coido micosis despite his Fame as a celebrity Lee Marvin was prouder of his work in the Marine Corps and he was given full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery there was no mention of him being an actor whatsoever Marvin's headstone read Lee Marvin PFC Marine Corps World War II maybe the reason why Lee Marvin didn't give as much importance to his career as an actor compared to serving the country is because he saw Hollywood for what it is one day you're a big shot and the next one you're in the gutters ah stardom Marvin once proclaimed they put your name on a star on the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard and you walk down and find a pile of dog manure on it that tells the the whole story baby

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Keywords: Celebrity, celebrities, hollywood, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, actors, actresses, film, movie, vintage, then and now, old hollywood celebrities, television, movie star, tv shows, tv stars, pop culture, how they look now, lee marvin

Id: I75YXUus9p0

Length: 18min 2sec (1082 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2024