What a great performance he gives in this film. So creepy, yet with that soft voice and imposing frame, and the intelligence he brought to the character. Not your typical 1940's cop. Very sad to hear he died just a couple years after making this film.
"Push the button, Max!"
Yep, he stole the movie!
" Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."
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Yea, he was the highlight of this film. Without him, I think this is really below average noir fair, but with his performance the film becomes much more interesting than it deserves to be. Excellent performance.
shareThat guy had a unique presence, the movie is absolutely not the same when he's off screen. It's really too bad they couldn't have tightened up second half of the movie a bit, less of the love story and more of the cat and mouse game.
Robert Novak just look what you've done!
You splattered mud all over my dress with your old bicycle!
He reminded me of the guy who played Drew Carey's brother on teevee. Same fella played the suspect at the end of Fincher's "Zodiac" movie.
shareLaird Cregar was such a great actor. He stole every scene he was in.
shareHe stole every scene of every movie that he appeared in. He first came to my atention in "Heaven Can Wait". I just had to find out more about him. I found that he died at the age of 33 as the result of a crash diet. It's such a tragic loss. Try to check out some of his other movies. He was great in "The Lodger" and "Hangover Square", which was his last movie.
shareCregar was fabulous in The Lodger and also in This Gun for Hire (the first place I ever saw him), but I Wake Up Screaming is still my personal favorite Cregar performance. His death was tragic, and should be a cautionary tale for all great character actors who read their own popularity as an indication that audiences want to see them as leading men. It may be a pet peeve of mine but some heavy actors look silly when they lose a lot of weight (calling Jonah Hill), and then start picking roles to suit their newfound narcissism. Cregar went on an amphetamine-fueled crash diet to lose more than 100 pounds for the role of demented pianist George Bone in Hangover Square, and he died of a heart attack before the film was even released. Such a shame -- the man was a born actor.
shareCregar is one of my favorite actors of the war years. He finally achieved star status when he did Hangover Square but by then it was too late as he was gone December 16th of that year.
Carole Landis fared no better as she ended her life in 1948. What did the future hold for these two, had they lived?
It's hard to believe that Laird Cregar was only 28 years old when he made this movie. Because of his size he looked much older. In one scene with the Assistant D.A., there's mention that he's been on the force for 15 years. If he was playing his actual age, that would have made him 13 years old when started being a cop.
shareJust wanted to echo everyone's praise for his talents and for this performance in particular. The thing that strikes me whenever I see him is that he always seems modern, as if he could fit into most movies being made now, there's really nothing dated in his acting style. Grable, Mature and the others are fine here, but much more in the 40's style. Cregar works well with all of them, but there's just something undefinable that sets him apart to me.
shareHe is fascinating, I've been trying to catch all of his movies. It's a shame he died so young.
share He was good. I remember the distinctive name but I've only seen him in 2-3 things. Had he lived he probably could have been a S.Greenstreet type of character actor.
Kisskiss, Bangbang
Funny you should say that, because Lux Radio Theater did a version of The Maltese Falcon with Edward G. Robinson in the Bogart part, and, drum roll, Laird Cregar in the Sydney Greenstreet part. And as expected, Cregar was excellent.
shareLaird was pure genius in this film, as usual. The movie may have been more ordinary without his performance, but he truly makes the difference. He's so subtly sadistic as Cornell; the moment where he watches Vicki through the window or the one where he's sitting in front of Frankie when he wakes up are so genuinely disturbing just because of his brilliant, effortless acting. And the way he gives some feeling of twisted romanticism to his final scene... incredible.
I mean, in basically every movie I've seen in him (which means 13 out of 14; not counting the two where he was an uncredited extra) he managed to be the MVP in a good or exceptional cast, the only exceptions being the films where he was given very little to do, such as 'Hello, Frisco, Hello' and a couple more. George Sanders has been a huge idol of mine since I know what cinema is about, but it's almost impossible to look at someone else than Laird in 'The Lodger' and 'Hangover Square'. I wish he had received an Oscar nom for this one. I prefer him to all the actual nominees, including Greenstreet, as iconic as he may be in 'Falcon'. In the featurette 'Lair Cregar: the tragic mask' it was mentioned that he should have had Oscars for basically everything he's done, but Fox never put any weight behind him (his final leading performances in particular would've been a tough sell when it comes down to Oscar, since they were both in genre films).
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Obviously a looming presence... reminds me of Luca Brasi in The Godfather and whoever it was that played Moose Malloy in the 1975 Farewell, My Lovely. And, apparently, the dude was only 24 (!) years old in this film.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Agree. Cregar's presence makes the movie. He always played characters about twenty years older than his actual age, and projected a barely concealed, obsessive, deviant sexuality which is really the heart of his performance here. I also liked him in Blood & Sand.
shareI'll have to check out Blood & Sand. I think I Wake Up Screaming was the first film of his that I've seen. Right away I said out loud, "I like this guy!" I could tell from this role that he was versatile.
Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.