A big, brawny villain of many 1940s and 1950s films, Ted de Corsia was
an actor in touring companies and on radio before making a memorable
film debut as the killer in
Die Lady von Shanghai (1947).
Although he occasionally played such sympathetic roles as a judge or
prison warden, de Corsia's imposing size, tough New York street
demeanor - he was born and raised in Brooklyn - and gravelly voice
assured him steady work playing murderous street thugs, outlaw gang
leaders or organized-crime bosses. One of his best-remembered roles was
as the head of a murder-for-hire gang who turns state's evidence in the
Humphrey Bogart crime thriller
Der Tiger (1951).
