Outstanding character player of the American stage, TV and films. Born Leo Jacob, the son of a compositor at The Jewish Daily Forward, he was raised on New York's Lower East Side and showed early promise as a virtuoso child violinist, but a broken wrist ended his plans for a musical career. At 17 he ran away from home, going to Hollywood in an unsuccessful bid for a career in films. Returning to New York, he began acting in radio dramas while studying accounting nights at CCNY. In 1931 he was back in California, where he made his stage debut at the Pasadena Playhouse, and in 1935, again in New York, he joined the famed Group Theatre and appeared in such plays as Waiting for Lefty and Golden Boy. His stage career culminated in 1949, when he created on Broadway the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman to rave reviews. He repeated the role in 1966 in a highly esteemed TV version. He is also remembered by TV audiences for his role of Judge Garth in the long-running "The Virginian" series. In films from 1937, he played some leads and numerous character roles, often as a menacing heavy, sometimes as an imposing patriarch or a brooding community leader or business executive. His notable non-nominated film credits include GOLDEN BOY (1939), THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943), ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM (1946), BOOMERANG! and CAPTAIN FROM CASTILLE (both 1947), CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948), THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956), 12 ANGRY MEN and THE THREE FACES OF EVE (both 1957), EXODUS (1960), HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962), COME BLOW YOUR HORN (1963), OUR MAN FLINT (1966), IN LIKE FLINT (1967), COOGAN'S BLUFF (1968), MACKENNA'S GOLD (1969) and THE EXORCIST (1973). For the last two years of his career (1974-76), he worked mainly in European films.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1954: ON THE WATERFRONT  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1958: THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV 2 nominations