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Sam Levene

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Actor

The Resume

    (August 28, 1905-December 28, 1980)
    Born in Russia
    Birth name was Scholem Lewin
    Portrayed Nathan Detroit in the original Broadway production of ‘Guys and Dolls’ (1950-53)
    Also appeared on Broadway in ‘Dinner at Eight’ (1932-33), ‘Three Men on a Horse’ (1935-37), ‘Room Service’ (1937-38), ‘Fair Game’ (1957), ‘The Impossible Years’ (1965-67), ‘The Sunshine Boys’ (1972-74), ‘The Royal Family’ (1975-76) and ‘Horowitz and Mrs. Washington’ (1980)
    Appeared in the films ‘After the Thin Man’ (1936), ‘Golden Boy’ (1939), ‘Shadow of the Thin Man’ (1941), ‘Married Bachelor’ (1941), ‘The Killers’ (1946), ‘Crossfire’ (1947), ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ (1957), ‘Slaughter on Tenth Avenue’ (1957), ‘Act One’ (1963), and ‘…And Justice for All’ (1979)

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of Stuyvesant High School.
    He had the starring role in a musical despite having trouble staying in key.
    During the group numbers of ‘Guys and Dolls,’ he would mouth the words.
    He lost the role of Nathan Detroit to Frank Sinatra for the film version of ‘Guys and Dolls’ because Sam Goldwyn reasoned, ‘You can't have a Jew playing a Jew, it wouldn't work on screen.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was fluent in Yiddish.
    He performed two USO tours of ‘Three Men on a Horse.’
    ‘Guys and Dolls’ songwriter Frank Loesser said it was easier to adjust the music to Levene’s limitations than to substitute a better singer who couldn’t act.
    ’Fair Game’ author Larry Gelbart attributed the play’s 217-show run on Broadway almost entirely to Levene’s drawing power.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 67 Votes: 43.28% Annoying