The actor Lawrence Teirney has passed on...
Lawrence Tierney, 82, the epitome of tough-guy bravado as an actor in such 1940s films as "Dillinger," "Born to Kill" and "The Devil Thumbs a Ride" and who was equally well known for his off-screen tussles with the law, died Feb. 26 at a Los Angeles nursing home. He had suffered from pneumonia and strokes in recent years.
Mr. Tierney's career reached its peak in the late 1940s after he took the title role as gangster John Dillinger in 1945. With his square-jawed good looks and dark, shiny hair flattened to his large head, he played a series of heroic and antiheroic parts in "San Quentin" (1946) and "Kill or Be Killed" (1950), among other RKO action films.
He worked in more than 70 films over the years, but by the 1960s found opportunities scarce because of his private carousing. He was involved in a series of brutal episodes, including fistfights, assaults on women and shoplifting, trespassing and drunken driving incidents. He was stabbed in a barroom brawl in 1973.
He attributed his scraps to alcohol but said in a 1987 interview that he had been dry for nearly five years.
"Yeah, I finally wised up," he said. "I'd say it was about time. Heck, I threw away about seven careers through drink."
Mr. Tierney worked as a hansom cab driver in New York's Central Park, among other odd jobs, before launching a new attempt to revitalize his career in the 1980s. By this time, he was overweight and bald, appearing in gradually larger character parts in "Arthur" (1981), "Prizzi's Honor" (1985) and "Reservoir Dogs" (1992).
Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan said of Mr. Tierney's part in the '92 film: "Veteran Lawrence Tierney, with a voice like a tow-truck winch, is gruff as they get as the gang's rapacious boss."
He also worked on television, including a recurring role on "Hill Street Blues."
Mr. Tierney, the son of a police official, was a New York native and attended Manhattan College. He left to pursue an acting and modeling career.
After some stage work, he was signed by RKO Studios. He was on loan to the independent producers Maurice and Frank King when he made "Dillinger." When that film was a hit, RKO snatched him back and promoted him as the ideal gangster.
He was the brother of actor Scott Brady, a star of the 1954 Western "Johnny Guitar."
Survivors include a daughter.