Peter Lorre calling home? Deciding where to live in Los Angeles generated friction between Peter and Celia. Always protective of his privacy, he preferred to live as far as possible from the Hollywood studios. She, on the other hand, knowing that her husband was not a good driver, wanted to live close to his work. On the set of Mad Love (MGM, 1935).

During filming of Mad Love (1935), Peter chats with MGM contract player Maureen O’Sullivan, best remembered for her role as “Jane” opposite Johnny Weissmuller’s “Tarzan.”

A series of photos depicting Peter Lorre having a bust of himself made during the filming of Mad Love for MGM in the summer of 1935.

The completed bust of Peter Lorre, 1935.

Dan “Danno” O’Mahoney, heavyweight wrestling champion of the world (1935-1936), gives Peter Lorre a hard time during a visit to Columbia Studios, 1935. The Irish wrestler was on a tour of the West Coast that summer. Peter was a huge fan of professional wrestling and frequently attended matches. A “thank you” goes to Janet Fuentes for identifying “Danno” for us.

Out with Italian actress Elissa Landi, an unidentified woman, and Alan Mowbray. An English character actor of the “stiff upper lip school” of British acting, Mowbray was also a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild and sat on its Board of Directors. It appears that Lorre’s hair is growing out after filming Mad Love. June, 1935.

Peter Lorre getting a shave during filming of Crime and Punishment (1935). Tonsorial treatments notwithstanding, Lorre felt he was no match for the “extraordinarily handsome” Raskolnikov. “If only I looked like Joseph Schildkraut,” he confided to co-star Marion Marsh. “He was a very, very handsome fellow. This is how someone should look.”

Peter Lorre makes time to study the script of Crime and Punishment while readying for the day’s shoot. Co-workers reported that the actor kept very much to himself during filming. Said Marion Marsh: “He hardly spoke to anyone and I really thought it was because of his English. It wasn’t very good. It was proper when he did speak, but I think he was a little bit timid about it.”

Peter Lorre clowns around on the set of “Raskolnikov’s apartment” between shots on Crime and Punishment (Columbia, 1935).

Josef von Sternberg directs Peter Lorre and Edward Arnold on the “Inspector Porfiry’s office” set for Columbia’s Crime and Punishment (1935).

To announce Peter Lorre’s upcoming role in Secret Agent (1936), the American magazine Vanity Fair made use of his distinctive appearance for the caricature (drawn by Italian artist Paolo Garretto) and his screen image for the caption: “That bland smile of his is ten times as nasty as the frowns from lesser villains . . .”

Peter Lorre in make-up as “The General” for Hitchcock’s Secret Agent (1936). Lorre seemed to be fascinated with the owl. In the endpaper of Celia Lovsky’s diary, he wrote, “Dear Untier, for 1936, the memorable year in which the fairylike rise of the owl begins” and signed it with a sketch of an owl. Peter also loved to amuse Celia with his owl faces. In fact, the most prominently displayed photo of him in her apartment pictured – in several images, side by side – making his famous day and night owl faces. In Crack-Up (1936), he even worked the “faces” into his portrayal of “Colonel Gimpy.”

Lorre and Sir John Gielgud perch on trunks behind the scenes on Secret Agent (1936). Gielgud reported that Lorre was nice to him in rehearsals, but in takes, expertly positioned himself in ways that earned him a reputation as a scene stealer.

Alfred Hitchcock (center) directs Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, and an unbilled actor on the set of Secret Agent (Gaumont-British, 1936), as Lorre and Gielgud take a tour of a chocolate factory acting as a front for espionage activities.

The wrap party on Secret Agent (Gaumont-British, 1936) was held in December, 1936, with a Christmas theme, complete with “Father Christmas” (center). Director Alfred Hitchcock (far right), John Gielgud (behind Hitchcock), Peter Lorre (in costume as “The General” and standing behind the flag, “The Poocha Cake”), and Madeleine Carroll are among the celebrants.

As Peter Lorre’s voice lent itself to comic imitation, so his unique features – especially his eyes, which he described as “soft-boiled eggs” – inspired caricature. Lorre was gratified by impersonations, whether vocal or artistic. While Secret Agent (1936) was in release in London, the artist Gitano created a portrait of Lorre’s character “The General” for the British publication The Bystander, a tabloid published weekly by the Illustrated London News – using skeins of black silk, a scarf, a gold earring, a boutonniere, and a tie-pin, in addition to paint.