1. Joseph Calleia was a Maltese-born American actor and singer on the stage and in films, radio and television.
25 Facts About Joseph Calleia
1. 2.
Joseph Calleia excelled as the villain in Hollywood films, but he fought against typecasting and created a succession of darkly mysterious characters edged with humor in films such as Algiers, Five Came Back, Golden Boy, The Glass Key and Gilda.
3.
Joseph Calleia Alexander Caesar Herstall Vincent Calleja was born on August 4,1897, in Notabile, in the administrative area of Saqqajja, in the Crown Colony of Malta.
4.
Joseph Calleia's parents were Pasquale and Eleonore Calleja; his father was an architect.
5.
Joseph Calleia worked as Joseph Spurin, using his mother's maiden name due to his father's disapproval.
6.
Joseph Calleia earned his living stoking the furnace at a department store, and got a night job washing and repairing New York City streetcars.
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Joseph Calleia supplemented his salary by working as assistant stage manager and repairing trunks at $3 each.
8.
Joseph Calleia's first speaking role on the stage was in The Broken Wing, a Broadway comedy featuring George Abbott and Louis Wolheim.
9.
Joseph Calleia composed the tune, and asked Abbott to write the lyrics; the song was published and eventually brought each of them royalties of as much as $2,000 a year.
10.
On February 14,1925, Joseph Calleia made his concert debut at Town Hall in New York City, accompanied by pianist Ferdinand Greenwald.
11.
Joseph Calleia was cast as the Spanish ambassador in the Broadway production of Princess Flavia, Sigmund Romberg's musical adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda.
12.
In 1926, Joseph Calleia landed his first prominent stage role, in George Abbott and Philip Dunning's smash hit Broadway.
13.
Joseph Calleia had the leading role, and I never forgot him.
14.
Joseph Calleia had his first real role as a villain in Small Miracle, and his success in the play was responsible for his move to Hollywood.
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Joseph Calleia excelled as the bad guy in films, but he wanted to create characters with some sympathy.
16.
In June 1935, Joseph Calleia was announced to star as Joaquin Murrieta in I Am Joaquin, a film for which he had written the screenplay.
17.
MGM replaced him with Warner Baxter, ostensibly because Joseph Calleia was too old, although Baxter was six years older.
18.
Joseph Calleia did star in Man of the People, a political drama about a young lawyer fighting corporate racketeers.
19.
Joseph Calleia continued to battle typecasting, turning down well-paying villainous roles to develop more complex characters.
20.
Joseph Calleia was announced to star as Father Damien in an RKO picture to be written and directed by Farrow, but the project was not realized.
21.
Joseph Calleia accepted an invitation from the Hollywood Victory Committee to make a tour of military camps in North Africa, particularly because the tentative itinerary included Malta.
22.
Joseph Calleia's haunted features figure more and more prominently on screen as the truth about Quinlan increasingly dawns on him, along with the knowledge that he must betray him.
23.
Joseph Calleia died on October 31,1975, aged 78, in St Julian's.
24.
Joseph Calleia was posthumously honored by the Malta postal authority with a set of two commemorative stamps issued in 1997.
25.
The house in Mrabat Street, St Julian's where Joseph Calleia lived after 1963 was demolished in September 2023.