Book Review: The Life and Times of Sydney Greenstreet

Vintage Hollywood is filled with iconic actors whose life and work has become a part of cinema folklore. But there is also that long list of supporting players who enhanced so many movies and commanded so many scenes.

Sydney Greenstreet was a long time stage actor whose first film, “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) was made when he was already past 60. Working with a fledgling director, John Huston, and established movie veterans Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Peter Lorre, the newcomer not only held his own, he carved a firm and lofty niche within the parameters of this enduring classic.

There is a brief moment in the classic “Casablanca” in which Greenstreet angrily swats a fly. It is only seconds long, but quickly establishes another dimension of the otherwise jovial character whom protagonist Rick (Bogart) is about to entrust with his coveted café. “Sam gets 40 percent,” Bogart says of the beloved piano player. “I happen to know he gets twenty,” Greenstreet responds, “but Sam is worth it.” Only moments on screen, Greenstreet’s performance resonates in a film that is filled with fine acting.

Derek Sculthorpe’s new book, “The Life and Times of Sydney Greenstreet” is the first book-length study to examine the actor’s life and work, and, as with his past bios of Van Heflin and Brian Donlevy, it is definitive. We learn a great deal about the actor’s past life before entering movies, when he offered the same level of command on stage. Sydney Greenstreet only worked in movies for eight years, but acted in the theater for four decades before that. Our limited knowledge being based on his screen work is greatly enhanced by Sculthorpe’s painstaking research, allowing us to understand how the actor learned his craft and applied it successfully through a variety of different genres.

Along with his work, we see a personal side to Greenstreet that is equally fascinating. He got on very well with both Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre while filming “The Maltese Falcon,” “Casablanca,” and “Across the Pacific,” but not so well with George Raft when working on “Background to Danger.” Sullen and withdrawn while Bogart was friendly and approachable, George Raft also conflicted with Peter Lorre on that film. But conflicts like this were few. In fact, as late as 1962, after both Bogart and Greenstreet had gone, and two years before he’d join them, Peter Lorre recalled, “Bogie and Sydney could switch you from laughter to shock in a split second.”

Sydney Greenstreet’s story is very unusual. He began his comparatively short film career with a top movie and a performance that netted him an Oscar nomination. He was voted as one of the “Stars of Tomorrow” by the Hollywood Trade Press when he was 64 years old. After decades of traveling for the theater, Greenstreet was finally able to settle down and work in movies as he got older.

The book fills in all of the details, including Sydney’s personal life, his wife and family, and his sad passing in 1954, five years after leaving movies, due to kidney failure as a result of his diabetes.

“The Life and Times of Sydney Greenstreet” adds another layer to the scholarship of vintage Hollywood actors, and it offers a great many details about a performer, and a man, about which we know too little. The information is all here. This book is most highly recommended to all libraries, and fans of classic cinema.

“The Life and Times of Sydney Greenstreet” is available here.