Richard Conte

Richard Conte (1910-1975) was an American actor, who often appeared in Film Noirs and crime dramas of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Two decades later, he returned to the screen as gangster boss Don Barzini in The Godfather (1972).


Spanish postcard, no. 4025. Richard Conte and Barbara Lawrence in Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949).


Spanish postcard by Sobe, no. 638. Valentina Cortese and Richard Conte in Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949).

The 'New John Garfield'

Nicholas Peter Conte was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1910. He was the son of Pasquale Conte, an Italian-American barber and his wife, Giulia Fina, a seamstress. Before becoming an actor, he held a series of jobs, from truck driver to shoe salesman to messenger on Wall Street.

In 1935, he was discovered by Elia Kazan and John Garfield, director and actor respectively of New York City's Group Theatre Company, at a resort in Connecticut, where Conte had a job as a singing waiter. Through them, he gained access to the theatre world. With Kazan's help, he earned a scholarship to study at the Neighbourhood Playhouse in New York, where he became a standout student. He made his Broadway debut in 'My Heart's in the Highlands' (1939) for the Group Theatre. Also for the Group, he was in Clifford Odets' 'Night Music' (1940). He also performed in the road company of 'Golden Boy'. On Broadway, he was in 'Heavenly Express' (1941) and 'Walk Into My Parlor' (1941). He was a hit in 'Jason' (1942) and then was in 'The Family' (1943).

In 1939, he also made his film debut in Heaven with a Barbed Fence (Ricardo Cortez, 1939), written by Dalton Trumbo. He played Tony, a hobo who meets up with Joe (Glenn Ford who was also making his film debut) and Anita (Jean Rogers). The three of them make their way west hopping trains. During World War II, Conte served in the United States Army, but he was discharged because of eye trouble.

Conte's film career took off during the war period. Many actors had been recruited and were serving in the military. In 1943, Conte signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox and changed his name from Nicholas Conte to Richard Conte. Ironically, he was promoted as the 'New John Garfield', the man who helped discover him. His first Fox film was the War film Guadalcanal Diary (Lewis Seiler, 1943), where he was billed fourth.

He followed it with another war drama, The Purple Heart (Lewis Milestone, 1944) in which he was billed second, beneath Dana Andrews. Conte had a smaller part in Captain Eddie (Lloyd Bacon, 1945), a biopic about Eddie Rickenbacker (Fred MacMurray), and played an Italian POW in A Bell for Adano (Henry King, 1945) starring Gene Tierney. Conte had the starring role in another war film for Lewis Milestone, A Walk in the Sun (Lewis Milestone, 1945), again with Dana Andrews.


Italian postcard by Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F.), no. 2784. Photo: Universal International.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 621. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 3138. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Centre stage in Film Noir

After the war, Richard Conte alternated roles in minor films with major productions. Fox promoted Conte to top billing with the Film Noir The Spider (Robert D. Webb, 1945). Although a B film for the studio, it was successful enough to establish Conte in Film Noir. Soon followed supporting roles in Somewhere in the Night (Joseph Mankiewicz, 1946) and the Spy film 13 Rue Madeleine (1946), directed by Henry Hathaway.

In Film Noir and gangster roles his stern face and powerful physique put him centre stage, even in supporting roles. His best work includes the innocently captured man in Call Northside 777 (Henry Hathaway, 1947) with James Stewart and the lead role as a truck driver in Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949). He also co-starred with Gene Tierney in Otto Preminger's Film Noir Whirlpool (1950).

In the 1950s, his contract at Fox was terminated. He then starred mainly in B-movies such as The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953) and Highway Dragnet (Nathan Juran, 1954) with Joan Bennett. He then went to England to make Mask of Dust (Terence Fisher, 1954) for Hammer Films. Back in the U.S., Conte played a vicious but philosophical gangster in the Film Noir classic The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) and had the second lead in I'll Cry Tomorrow (Daniel Mann, 1955), an MGM biopic about Lillian Roth starring Susan Hayward.

Conte also appeared frequently on television, in such series as The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It culminated in a starring role in the series The Four Just Men (1959-1960). As interest in Film Noir waned in the 1960s, Richard Conte's career seemed to stall. He appeared with Frank Sinatra in the Heist film Ocean's Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960). Sinatra gave him the role of Lt. Dave Santini in his crime film Tony Rome (Gordon Douglas, 1967) and its sequel Lady in Cement (Gordon Douglas, 1968). Eventually, Conte left for Europe, where he starred in the Spaghetti Western Sentenza di more / Death Sentence (Mario Lanfranchi, 1968) and directed Operation Cross Eagles (Richard Conte, 1969), filmed entirely in Yugoslavia.

He returned to the US in the early 1970s to play the role of Don Emilio Barzini, Don Vito Corleone's chief rival in The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972). Conte himself was briefly in the running to play the role of Don Corleone, but that role eventually went to Marlon Brando. After The Godfather, he returned to Europe, appearing in several Italian films, including Anastasia mio fratello / My Brother Anastasia (Steno, 1973) with Alberto Sordi and the Poliziottesco Roma violenta / Violent Rome (Marino Girolami, 1975). The second was a huge box office hit in Italy and launched the career of actor Maurizio Merli. In 1975, Conte died of a heart attack in Los Angeles. He was 65 years old. Richard Conte was married twice, to actress Ruth Storey from 1943 to 1962 and to Shirlee Garner from 1973 until he died in 1975. Together with Storey, he had an adopted son, Mark Conte, who would later become an editor. Richard Conte is buried in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.


Spanish postcard by Sobe, no. 691. Valentina Cortese and Richard Conte in Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Spanish postcard. Anne Baxter and Richard Conte in The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, Italian and English) and IMDb.