Leonid Kinskey

Highest Rated: 100% The Fighting Seabees (1944)

Lowest Rated: 40% The Garden of Allah (1936)

Birthday: Apr 18, 1903

Birthplace: Not Available

Forced to flee his native St. Petersburg after the Bolshevik revolution, Russian-born actor Leonid Kinskey arrived in New York in 1921. At that time, he was a member of the Firebird Players, a South American troupe whose act consisted of dance-interpreting famous paintings; since there was little call for this on Broadway, Kinskey was soon pounding the pavements. The only English words he knew were such translation-book phrases as "My good kind sir," but Kinskey was able to improve his vocabulary by working as a waiter in a restaurant. Heading west for performing opportunities following the 1929 Wall Street Crash, Kinskey joined the road tour of the Al Jolson musical Wonder Bar, which led to a role in his first film Trouble in Paradise (1932). His Slavic dialect and lean-and-hungry look making him ideal for anarchist, artist, poet and impresario roles, Kinskey made memorable appearances in such films as Duck Soup (1933), Nothing Sacred (1937) and On Your Toes (1939). His best known appearance was as Sacha, the excitable bartender at Rick's Cafe Americain in Casablanca (1942). The film's star, Humphrey Bogart, was a drinking buddy of Kinskey's, and when the first actor cast as the barkeep proved inadequate, Bogart arranged for Kinskey to be cast in the role. During the Red Scare of the '50s, Kinskey was frequently cast as a Communist spy, either comic or villainous. In 1956 he had a recurring role as a starving artist named Pierre on the Jackie Cooper sitcom The People's Choice. Kinskey cut down on acting in the '60s and '70s, preferring to write and produce, and help Hollywood distribution companies determine which Russian films were worth importing. But whenever a television script (such as the 1965 "tribute" to Stan Laurel) called for a "crazy Russian", Leonid Kinsky was usually filled the bill.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

		Credit
No Score Yet	Glory	Vasily	—	1956
86%	The Man With the Golden Arm	Dr. Dominowski	—	1955
No Score Yet	Nancy Goes to Rio	Ivan Putroff	—	1950
No Score Yet	The Great Sinner	Band Leader	—	1949
No Score Yet	Alimony	Joe Wood	—	1949
No Score Yet	Monsieur Beaucaire	Rene	—	1946
No Score Yet	Can't Help Singing	Koppa	—	1944
No Score Yet	That's My Baby	Doctor Svatsky	—	1944
100%	The Fighting Seabees	Johnny Novasky	—	1944
No Score Yet	Presenting Lily Mars	Leo	—	1943
98%	Casablanca	Sascha	—	1942
No Score Yet	I Married an Angel	Zinski	—	1942
No Score Yet	Lady for a Night	Boris	—	1942
93%	The Talk of the Town	Jan Pulaski	—	1942
No Score Yet	Somewhere I'll Find You	Dorloff	—	1942
No Score Yet	Week-End in Havana	Rafael	—	1941
No Score Yet	Broadway Limited (The Baby Vanishes )	Ivan	—	1941
No Score Yet	That Night in Rio	Pierre Dufont	—	1941
No Score Yet	So Ends Our Night	The Chicken	—	1941
100%	Ball of Fire	Prof. Quintana	—	1941
No Score Yet	Down Argentine Way	Tito Acuna	—	1940
No Score Yet	He Stayed for Breakfast	Comrade Nicky	—	1940
No Score Yet	Day-Time Wife	Coco	—	1939
No Score Yet	On Your Toes	Ivan Boultonoff	—	1939
71%	The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle	Artist	—	1939
No Score Yet	Exile Express	David	—	1939
No Score Yet	Everything Happens at Night	Groder	—	1939
No Score Yet	Flirting with Fate	Lopez	—	1938
No Score Yet	Professor Beware	Tableau director	—	1938
No Score Yet	Algiers	L'Arbi	—	1938
No Score Yet	The Great Waltz	Dudelman	—	1938
No Score Yet	Three Blind Mice	Young Man	—	1938
86%	100 Men and a Girl	Pianist	—	1937
No Score Yet	Make a Wish	Moe	—	1937
No Score Yet	Married Before Breakfast (Married by Noon)	Lapidoff	—	1937
No Score Yet	Cafe Metropole	Artist	—	1937
100%	Maytime	Student in Bar	—	1937
No Score Yet	The Big Broadcast of 1937	Russian	—	1937
No Score Yet	We're on the Jury	Nicholas Krakin	—	1937
No Score Yet	The Big Broadcast of 1938	Ivan	—	1937
80%	Love on the Run	Bit	—	1936
40%	The Garden of Allah	Voluble Arab	—	1936
83%	The General Died at Dawn	Stewart	—	1936
No Score Yet	Rhythm on the Range	Mischa	—	1936
No Score Yet	The Road to Glory	Ledoux	—	1936
91%	Les Miserables	Genflon	—	1935
No Score Yet	The Gilded Lily	Vocal Teacher	—	1935
100%	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer	Snake Charmer	—	1935
No Score Yet	Goin' to Town	Interior Decorator	—	1935
80%	The Merry Widow	Shepherd	—	1934
No Score Yet	We Live Again	Simon Kartinkin	—	1934
No Score Yet	Hollywood Party	Cab Driver	—	1934
No Score Yet	Change of Heart	Guest	—	1934
80%	Manhattan Melodrama	Trotsky Aide	—	1934
No Score Yet	Fugitive Road	Nicholas Petrovich (Tall Smuggler)	—	1934
92%	Duck Soup	Agitator	—	1933
No Score Yet	Three Cornered Moon	Interpreter	—	1933
No Score Yet	Storm at Daybreak	Villager	—	1933
92%	Trouble in Paradise	Radical	—	1932
No Score Yet	The Big Broadcast	Ivan	—	1932

TV

		Credit
No Score Yet	Hogan's Heroes 1965-1971	Vladimir Minsk	1968 1965
93%	Batman 1966-1968	Prof. Overbeck	1967
No Score Yet	Perry Mason 1957-1966	Gerznov	1966
No Score Yet	My Favorite Martian 1963-1966	Prof. Hammerschlag	1964 1963

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