“All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice.”
- Peter Lorre
In the 1940s, no movie show was complete without a cartoon, and no cartoon was complete without an established character like Bugs Bunny or a caricature of a celebrity like Jimmy Durante.This tradition continues today in TV shows like The Simpsons (1989). Peter Lorre is perhaps the most frequently animated movie star of all time. Actors love to play him, and animators love to draw him. He has been voiced by Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Daws Butler, Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen, and Frank Welker. Creators include Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Robert Clampett, Michael Maltese, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, and Tom Ruegger.
Author Matthew Hahn has found over 700 instances of animated cartoons using Lorre’s face or voice or both. Often cast as a mad scientist or a hunchbacked assistant, Lorre has also been seen as a pig, a duck, a fish, a mole, a fox, a toad, a chameleon, a maggot, a weevil, a ghost, an evil spirit, a monster, a robot, a cyborg, a lamp, and the cereal mascot Boo Berry. His animated avatar has played opposite Mr. Magoo, Beany and Cecil, Bozo the Clown, Snagglepuss, Dick Tracy, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby-Doo, Mighty Mouse, Milton the Monster, Secret Squirrel, The Beatles, Tiny Toons, Chip ‘n Dale, Duckman, The Flintstones, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Count Duckula, Yu-Gi-Oh, Animaniacs, The Tick, Timon & Pumbaa, Duck Dodgers, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, and Harvey Birdman. He has appeared in Aladdin (1992), Corpse Bride (2005), The Brave Little Toaster (1987), Stingray (1964), Family Guy (1999), Robot Chicken (2005), Mighty Magiswords (2015), and The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991). Here are all known instances of the animated Peter Lorre in theatrical cartoons, TV shows, commercials, video games, and more, including abandoned projects, coincidences, connections, and apocrypha. Illustrated. Includes index, notes, and bibliography. This book should be on the shelf of all animation aficionados, classic movie fans, gamers, pop culture enthusiasts, history buffs, and lovers of fun facts.
