COBB, LEE J.

COBB, LEE J. (Leo Jacoby; 1911–1976), U.S. actor. Born in New York City, Cobb studied at New York University. He then performed with the Group Theater, N.Y., during the 1930s, acting in Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy, The Gentle People, and Winged Victory. His portrayal of Willy Loman in arthur miller 's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Death of a Salesman (1949) won him awards. Miller wrote the part specifically for him in the original stage play. In 1951 Cobb was named by Larry Parks as having leftwing views and was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. For two years he refused to appear, during which time his passport was confiscated, he was followed and threatened, and his wife suffered a breakdown and was institutionalized as a result of the pressure. In 1953, worn down, out of money, unemployable, and with a family to support, he succumbed and named 20 people as former members of the Communist Party. After giving evidence, he was able to go back to work. In his 1987 book Timebends – A Life, Arthur Miller describes the situation in this way: "I could not help thinking of Lee Cobb, my first Willy Loman, as more a pathetic victim than a villain, a big blundering actor who simply wanted to act, had never put in for heroism, and was one of the best proofs I knew of the Committee's pointless brutality toward artists. Lee, as political as my foot, was simply one more dust speck swept up in the 1930s idealization of the Soviets, which the Depression's disillusionment had brought on all over the West." Cobb appeared in many motion pictures, including Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937), Golden Boy (1939), The Moon Is Down (1943), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), Johnny O'Clock (1947), Sirocco (1951), On The Waterfront (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, 1954), The Left Hand of God (1955), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), 12 Angry Men (1957), Three Faces of Eve (1957), The Brothers Karamazov (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, 1958), Exodus (1960), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), Come Blow Your Horn (1963), Our Man Flint (1966), Coogan's Bluff (1968), The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970), The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973), The Exorcist (1973), and That Lucky Touch (1975). Television audiences knew him as Judge Henry Garth (1962–66) on the TV western series The Virginian. In 1966 he played Willy Loman again, this time in the TV version of Death of a Salesman, a role that earned him an Emmy nomination. In the short-lived series The Young Lawyers (1970–71), Cobb played the starring role of attorney David Barrett. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: V. Navasky, Naming Names (1980). (Jonathan Licht / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)