Joseph Calleia
Gender: Male
Born: 4th August 1897
Died: 31st October 1975
Nationality: Malta
Movies: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gilda, When in Rome, The Glass Key, Serenade, The Gorilla, The Noose Hangs High, The Glass Key, Noose, Golden Boy, The Monster and the Girl, Jungle Book, Public Hero No. 1, Full Confession, Hot Blood, Five Came Back, Branded, The Iron Mistress, Touch of Evil, Sundown, My Little Chickadee, After the Thin Man, Algiers, Hollywood Un-Leashed, The Alamo, Four Faces West, Cry Tough, Wild Is the Wind, The littlest outlaw, Captain Carey, U.S.A., Man of the People, His Brother's Wife, Sinner Take All, Tough Guy, The Light Touch
Joseph Calleia (August 4, 1897 – October 31, 1975) was a Maltese born American singer, composer, screenwriter and actor, both on Broadway and in film. Calleia played opposite some Hollywood greats, including John Wayne, William Holden, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Mae West, Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Jane Russell, Alan Ladd, William Powell, Mario Lanza, Charlton Heston, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Tyrone Power, and Anthony Quinn.
Born at Saqqajja Square, Rabat, Malta, to Pasquale and Elena Calleja, he was educated at St Julian's and St Aloysius colleges in Malta. He organised an harmonica band of boys which earned him sufficient money so that he left Malta in 1914, aged 17, 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. He later went to New York as a singer and then turned to drama.
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:
By 1931, Calleia had landed an MGM contract in Hollywood, where he
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Internet Movie Database