Jack La Rue (born Gaspere
Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an
American film and stage actor. La
Rue was born in New York City. La
Rue went from high school to his first acting job, in Otis Skinner's road company production of Blood and
Sand. He performed in Broadway plays from around 1923 to 1931.
According to La Rue, while appearing in Mae West's play Diamond Lil, he was
spotted by Howard Hawks, who offered
him a part in the film Scarface (1932),
starring Paul Muni. He
moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in numerous
films. However, Scarface was not one of them. La Rue stated in
a newspaper article that, after four days, Hawks had to replace him with George Raft because La Rue was taller than Muni and had a
more powerful voice. Later, however, Raft turned down the role of the
despicable villain in The Story of Temple Drake (1933),
fearing it would damage his screen image, so the part went to La Rue. Sometimes
mistaken for Humphrey Bogart, he played
thugs and gangsters for the most part. However, director Frank Borzage atypically cast him as a priest in the 1932
version of A Farewell to Arms simply
because, according to newspaper columnist Hubbard Keavy, he was "tired of
seeing conventional characters". La Rue stated he turned down a role
in The Godfather (1972)
and many parts in the television series The Untouchables because
of the way they portrayed Italian-Americans. He
was married three times.[1] La Rue married Los Angeles
socialite Constance Deighton Simpson on September 22, 1938, in London.[4] She obtained a divorce on December
17, 1946, charging him with mental cruelty. In 1955, he obtained an annulment from former Baroness Violet Edith von Rosenberg
after six years of marriage, claiming she had only married him to obtain
American citizenship and that they separated after less than two months. He
married Anne Giordano on August 12, 1962; she obtained an annulment in 1967. Jack
La Rue had no children.