"Edward G. Robinson, one of the most celebrated film stars of all time, was born in Bucharest, Rumania, and his family emigrated to America when he was nine. He was educated at public schools in New York and, briefly, at CCNY before training for the stage, when he changed his name from Emanuel Goldenberg to Edward G. Robinson. Starting in stock, he shifted to road companies and finally played five different roles in Under Fire for the Selwyns--all for one salary. He proceeded through more than forty plays to become a Broadway star. In the late 1920s he met Gladys Lloyd, who was appearing with Fred Astaire in Funny Face, and eventually married her. Meanwhile, he was cultivating his other loves--art and music--and soon built a great collection of original paintings which was later valued at over $3 million. Robinson at first despised movies, but economic pressures persuaded him to go to Hollywood. He made one silent film, then hit the jackpot with his brilliant portrayal of the vicious gang leader in Little Caesar. It was followed by many other great movies such as Five Star Final, Double Indemnity, and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet. During all this activity he identified with political and social causes, putting his reputation on the line for anything that had to do with peace, democracy, and the betterment of minorities. This resulted in his being blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer. He fought back in every conceivable way and finally returned to the theater for two hit plays: Darkness at Noon and The Middle of the Night. Meanwhile, the marriage to Gladys, who gave him a son, Eddie, Jr., brought its special torments and ended in divorce and a property settlement that saw the breakup of the art collection. However, he found love and peace again with his second wife, Jane, and together they began and completed another picture collection. In a period when most actors retire, Robinson kept working in films, only to be felled by a heart attack in Africa and, later, a near-fatal auto accident in Beverly Hills. In the last years he weathered one bout with cancer but succumbed to the second. Though he did not live to receive the honorary Oscar for his major contribution to the film industry, it didn't matter, for in his seventy-nine years he had had almost every other honor that man is capable of having--and every other grief."--Dust jacket.