On March 23, 1964, Peter Lorre was supposed to go to a divorce hearing to work out the details of ending his marriage to his estranged wife, but he never arrived. He was still in his pajamas, lying on the floor beside the bed in his apartment on Hollywood Blvd. After years of high blood pressure, he had suffered a stroke.
As reported by the New York Times, his funeral, which included rites from a rabbi, was attended by around 500 people, many of whom were colleagues from his decades of work in film. Along with famous classics like Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Casablanca,” and “The Maltese Falcon,” Peter Lorre was famous for playing villains, like the terrifying child killer in “M” and the comedic plastic surgeon in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” At his funeral, fellow horror veteran Vincent Price gave the eulogy. Prior to the service, Price told the LA Times that he was crushed at the loss of his friend and frequent co-star, saying, “Peter [Lorre] liked to make pictures which entertained people, not critics. He didn’t have any pretensions about conveying messages to the world.”
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Fans wishing to pay tribute to Lorre can find his cremated remains at the Cathedral Mausoleum, Corridor C, Alcove of Reverence, niche 5, tier 1.
[Image by Arthur Dark via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]
