Peter Lorre and his unwanted fan

Peter Lorre (1904-1964), the great actor of M – A City Searches for a Murderer, had roles in other classic films like The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. While still in Berlin, he worked with Bertolt Brecht as well.

Born László Löwenstein in a city of Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia), his parents were Jewish. In 1933, two days before the Reichstag fire, he left Germany.

But three years after his departure he is said to have received a letter from Hitler, expressing the admiration of the dictator, particularly due to the Lorre’s rôle in M ​​. The letter also announced that Lorre would be allowed to return to Germany and continue his career there despite his Jewish origins.

Peter Lorre, who in M had played the role of a serial killer, replied, it is said, that there was already a mass murderer at the head of Germany and that there was no need for a second one. An affront that Hitler did not forgive. During the war, a German agent captured by the FBI had a list of people to be suppressed : the third name was Peter Lorre‘s .