Harry Lewis (actor)
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Harry L. Lewis (April 1, 1920June 9, 2013) was a
supporting actor A supporting actor or supporting actress is an actor who performs a role in a play or film below that of the leading actor(s), and above that of a bit part. In recognition of important nature of this work, the theater and film industries give ...
in films and was the founder, along with his wife Marilyn, of the Hamburger Hamlet and Kate Mantilini restaurant chains.


Biography

Lewis was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 1, 1920. His first film role was as a flagman in ''
Dive Bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
'' (1941). He was immediately put under contract to
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, at which he made several films. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Edward "Toots" Bass, one of Edward G. Robinson's henchmen, in 1948's '' Key Largo''. Other small film roles included appearances as
Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British and American actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Academy Award for Best Supp ...
's butler in '' The Unsuspected'' (1947), Sheriff Clyde Boston in '' Gun Crazy'' (1949), the head of a gang of criminals in '' Blonde Dynamite'' (1950), and as a gangster in "The Monkey Mystery" episode of '' Adventures of Superman'' on television (1951). He also had a minor role as a slave in
Cecil B. Demille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most co ...
's epic '' The Ten Commandments''. In 1950, Lewis and his then girlfriend Marilyn Friedman, invested () to open the Hamburger Hamlet restaurant at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Hilldale Avenue on the
Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California, United States. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western bord ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The restaurant was successful and grew into a chain of 24 locations. The couple's two children, David and Adam, joined them in the restaurant business. The Lewises took Hamburger Hamlet public in 1969, and sold the company for $29.2 million in 1987 (equivalent to $ million in ). Lewis and his wife Marilyn later owned the Beverly Hills restaurant institution Kate Mantilini, which closed in 2014 after operating for 27 years. The restaurant was named after a mistress of Marilyn's uncle. Lewis died on June 9, 2013, at the age of 93. His widow Marilyn died on May 3, 2017.


Filmography


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Harry 1920 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American male actors Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from Beverly Hills, California American male film actors American restaurateurs American male television actors Businesspeople from Los Angeles 20th-century American businesspeople it:Harry Lewis (pugile)