# Seeking Info on Sydney Greenstreet **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157 "2002-08-09T15:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/1 "2002-08-09T15:45:44Z")
I just saw the famous film-noir classic - THE MALTESE FALCON. Great performances, especially by Mr. Greenstreet (as the evil Casper). I have seen Greenstreet (mostly holding bit parts), but I don’t know a great deal about him. Anybody know more about tghis largely-forgotten actor?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/2 "2002-08-09T16:15:44Z")
I can briong in his NYT obit if you like next week . . . And I suggest his brief bio and filmography at [Imdb.com](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Greenstreet,+Sydney). He _was_ a terrific character actor! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/3 "2002-08-10T00:22:30Z")
Interestingly, the mini-bio at the IMDB is a thinly reworded and paraphrased version of what Ephrain Katz published in his **The Film Encyclopedia**. The kind of job I would have expected from my 9th grader. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/4 "2002-08-10T13:57:51Z")
Yes, please post the obit…I just saw another old flick “CUSTER” with Greenstreet as Genral Winfield Scott. I understand that Greenstreet had been a stage actor for most of his life, and came into the movies quite late in his career. Anyway, he had real personality, and a great voice. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/5 "2002-08-10T22:05:59Z")
From David Thomson’s essential **Biographical Dictionary of Film** : > [@](#): > > It has always been a convention of the film industry to “introduce” potent new players. But few introductions have been as dramatic as that of Greenstreet: monstrous, over sixty, hostile, and so clearly familiar with every wrinkle in the world’s corruption. Where could such bulk have been hiding? How would audiences feel less than cheated that he had been withheld for so long? > > To redress the balance, Warners worked him hard over the next eight years–twenty-four pictures–forgetting perhaps that he was an old man who needed to sit down for as much of a film as possible. Indeed, there were several men trapped in his grossness: the conventional thin man; a young man; an aesthete; a romantic. He made a florid, sybaritic monster. > > His Gutman in _The Maltese Falcon_ was very close to Hammett’s conception, perpetually devious and yet tickled by such a complicated plot and by Spade’s professionalism. It was a happy chance that his first film put him in the company of Peter Lorre, for they were inspired, tormenting company held together by some unspoken perversity. > > It is difficult not to believe that he is still in search of the falcon–“Ah yes, sir, the falcon!” [These](http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/scrapbook/greenst.htm) are [two](http://members.rogers.com/kburnage/sydneygreenstreet.html) more brief bio links. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/6 "2002-08-10T22:10:20Z")
[Oops](http://members.rogers.com/kburnage/sydneygreenstreet.html) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/7 "2002-08-12T12:28:29Z")
Greenstreet also played with Bogart and Lorre in “Casablanca” (he’s the owner of the Blue Parrot). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/8 "2002-08-12T12:54:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ralph124c \* > \*\*the evil Casper \*\* That’s Mister Gutman to _you_, Slick. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/9 "2002-08-12T13:30:29Z")
This thread reminds me of [_Peter Lorre_](http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/peter_lorre.html) by Jazz Butcher. > [@](#): > > Peter Lorre, Peter Lorre He’s all right, he’s all right > Peter Lorre, Peter Lorre It’s all right, he’s on your side > Peter Lorre, Peter Lorre It’s all right, you can trust him > Peter Lorre, Peter Lorre He’s all right… > > [snip] > > A real gentleman > Never bad and never rude > Never mad and never crude > Just like Sydney Greenstreet > Just like Sydney… Green…street > In any crisis he’ll be there > Like a little squidgy bear > That’s Peter Lorre, not Sydney Greenstreet… > > [snip] I have it on 12". I wonder if it’s on CD? ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-info-on-sydney-greenstreet/123157/10 "2002-08-12T17:01:55Z")
Greenstreet reputedly turned down a number of roles in the 1930s, but I only vaguely recall one of them. There is also a story about how he was talked into doing _The Maltese Falcon_, but I can’t recall it, either. Here’s part of what I remember, perhaps not so well: I think that the Dashiell Hammett story was instrumental in dragging Greenstreet onto the screen. He appears to have been a fan of Hammett and his girlfriend, [Lillian Hellman](http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc55.html), although I don’t know if they were personal friends or not. I _think_ I recall once reading that Greenstreet was considering an earlier role offered by an early script treatment of Hammett’s _The Thin Man_, as the title character. How can that be? The “Thin Man” was actually a very obese fellow, murdered and buried with a thin man’s clothes in order to throw off the authorities as to his identity. In one of those classic misassociations, the “Thin Man” title became tied to William Powell’s Nick Charles, and followed him and Myrna Loy through the entire successful series of sequels. As it happened, the script of _The Thin Man_ diverged widely from the book (and as best I can tell, the script Greenstreet eyeballed must have done the same but in a different direction), and the role all but disappeared. Hope I’m not wrong about all this. If you like watching films purely for the actors involved, you may be interested in seeing Greenstreet, Mary Astor, and Bogart essentially reprising their _Falcon_ roles in a much less entertaining film, [Across The Pacific](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0034428), also directed by John Huston but apparently while he was sleepwalking.