| Birth: | Mar. 24, 1910 | | Death: | Apr. 15, 1975 | 
Actor. The son of a barber, he held down jobs ranging from truck driver, to Wall Street clerk before becoming an actor. In 1935, he became a waiter/entertainer in a Connecticut resort where he was discovered by Elia Kazan and John Garfield. Through Kazan's help, Richard Conte earned a scholarship to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first Broadway appearance was in "Moon Over Mulberry Street." In 1939, while known as Nicholas Conte, the actor made his first film, "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence". 20th Century Fox promoted him as the "New John Garfield" upon signing him to a contract in 1943. Some of his better known roles while working for Fox included the wrongly imprisoned man who is exonerated by crusading reporter James Stewart in "Call Northside 777" (1947), and his role as a trucker in "Thieves' Highway" (1949). He also appeared in many TV roles, including a co-starring assignment with Dan Dailey, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica on the 1959 syndicated series "The Four Just Men." Appearing primarily in European films in his later years, he directed the Yugoslavian-filmed "Operation Cross Eagles." Richard Conte's most important Hollywood role in the 1970s was as rival Mafia Don Barzini in the Oscar-winning "The Godfather" (1972).
Search Amazon for Richard Conte | | | Burial:
Westwood Memorial Park
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Plot: Section D, Lot 62 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 224 |
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