Lawrence James Tierney Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family
Lawrence Tierney Jr. (March 15, 1919 – February 26, 2002) was an American actor known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and tough guys, roles which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law.Commenting on the DVD release of a Tierney film in 2005, a New York Times critic observed, "The hulking Tierney was not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature."
Full Name
Lawrence James Tierney
Net Worth
$200,000
Date Of Birth
March 15, 1919
Died
2002-02-26
Place Of Birth
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Height
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Occupation
Actor
Profession
Actor, Soundtrack
Children
Elizabeth Tierney
Nicknames
Lawrence Tierney, Tierney, Lawrence, Lawrence Tierney Jr.
Star Sign
Pisces
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Trademark
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Known for being immensely difficult and intimidating to those he worked with
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Deep, gravelly voice
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B-movie leading man whose two-fisted, tough-guy image on screen in the 1940s and '50s rivaled that of his off-screen personal life.
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Quote
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I haven't had a drink in, oh, five years now," Tierney said in his clipped, tough-guy voice during a 1987 interview. "I finally wised up. I'd say it was about time. Heck, I threw away about seven careers through drink.
Was considered for the role of Perry White in Superman (1978).
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His Father was a Police Officer.
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Irish-American.
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Never married but has a daughter Elizabeth.
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Was offered the role of Charlie "The Gent" Malloy, the mob lawyer, in Elia Kazan's classic On the Waterfront (1954). Tierney lost out on the part when he demanded more money than was offered. Subsequently, Rod Steiger played Charlie, and won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Accepting the part likely would have revitalized Tierney's career, at least in the short-term.
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When he guest-starred on Seinfeld (1989) in "The Jacket" episode as Elaine's father, he scared the cast so badly that they never had him back on. He stole a butcher knife from Jerry's TV kitchen and hid it under his jacket. When Seinfeld undauntedly confronted him about it (much to the dismay of the entire cast), Tierney pretended that he was going to use the knife as a gag in reference to the movie Psycho (1960) during the episode and quickly returned it.
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Was a brawler up until the end of his career, provoking almost all of the younger actors he worked with on Reservoir Dogs (1992) and actually having nearly come to blows with director Quentin Tarantino.
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Has the very last line in the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981): "Hill Street .", answering the phone in a burned-out police station.
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Off-screen, the actor's arrests for drunken brawls at bars and Hollywood parties took a heavy toll on his once-promising Hollywood career in the 1950s. Booze was always at the root of his misbehavior, which included tearing a public phone off the wall, hitting a waiter in the face with a sugar bowl, breaking a college student's jaw and attempting to choke a cab driver.
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After writer/director Rick McKay published a magazine article "Lawrence Tierney: Crack-Up - The True Story of a Hollywood Tough Guy", Tierney called and asked him to collaborate on an autobiography of the screen legend. After a tumultuous, chaotic week in Los Angeles with Tierney, McKay bowed out, exhausted. The book was never written, McKay is now a successful TV/film producer/director and Tierney passed away in February of 2002.
