- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMeshilem Meier Weisenfreund
- Nickname
- Munya
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and eyes, 165 pounds. He joined the Yiddish Art Theatre in New York (1908) for 4 years, and then moved to other Yiddish theaters until 1926, when he "went into an American play" called "We Americans", his first English-language role. In 1927-28, he appeared in the plays "Four Walls", "This One Man", "Counsellor-at-Law", and others. He began with Fox in 1928. He would later alternate between Broadway and Hollywood for his roles, becoming one of the more distinguished actors in either venue. Failing eyesight and otherwise poor health forced him into retirement after his appearance in The Last Angry Man (1959).- IMDb mini biography by: Bill Takacs <kinephile@aol.com>, Dave Curbow <dcurbow@acm.org>
- SpouseBella Muni(May 8, 1921 - August 25, 1967) (his death)
- Known for his complete transformations into the roles he played (often changing his voice and appearence)
- He and James Dean are the only actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for both their first and last screen appearance.
- At the time he left Warner Brothers, he was trying to convince the studio to let him star in a biography of Ludwig van Beethoven. Warners weren't interested, and Muni never did portray the composer. If the film had been made, it would have been the first screen biography of Beethoven in English. Jack L. Warner, who was president of Warner Brothers, said to the actor, "Nobody wants to see a movie about a blind composer".
- Won Broadway's 1956 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Inherit the Wind."
- He once told Clifford Odets about how he gave up boxing because it endangered his secondary career as a violinist. This inspired Odets to write "Golden Boy" (its film adaptation Golden Boy (1939) was directed by Rouben Mamoulian).
- Had a fondness for playing historical characters and appearing in heavy disguise. Co-star Bette Davis wrote in her autobiography : "There is no question that his technique as an actor was superb...(but) Mr. Muni seemed intent on submerging himself so completely that he disappeared".
- I don't want to be a star. If you have to label me anything, I'm an actor - I guess. A journeyman actor. I think "star" is what you call actors who can't act.
- A writer can write in an attic, or on top of a bus. Or with a sharp stick in some wet cement. To act, an actor has to have words. A stage. a camera turning. I can't go into the middle of Times Square, stop traffic and start acting.
- I won't go up in a plane, but if a play crashes, I'll jump into the next one that comes along and take it up for a spin.
- I've never tried to learn the art of acting. I have been in the business for years but I still can't tell what acting is or how it's done.
- [to Irving Thalberg, on the MGM producer's desire to cast him as Wang Lung in The Good Earth (1937)] I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover.
- Juarez (1939) - $11,500 /week
- The Good Earth (1937) - $3,000 /week
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