Leonid Kinskey - 16985

Russian-born character actor. Kinskey worked as a mime before leaving Russia in 1921 but in New York was only able to find work as a waiter. His break came with a role in Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise in 1932. His Slavic dialect and lean-and-hungry look made him ideal for anarchist, artist, poet and impresario type roles and over 60 films followed. Kinskey's credits include the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933), The Lives of a A Bengal Lancer (as the snake charmer, 1935), Gary Cooper's The General Died at Dawn (1936), Charles Boyer's Algiers 91938), Bob Hop's Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) and Frank Sinatra's The Man With the Golden Arm (1955). Kinskey, a drinking buddy of Humphrey Bogart, was immortalised by his role as Sascha, the bartender at Rick's Café Americaine in the great screen classic, Casablanca (1942). Other than tirelessly trying his charms on Madeleine LeBeau, his most memorable scene came after Rick arranged his rigged roulette table to pay off a young Bulgarian (Helmut Dantine), the money he needed for an exit visa, thus saving his wife (Joy Page) the need to "do a bad thing" with Renault (Claude Rains) for the visas. At this, Sascha impulsively grabs Rick and kisses him on both cheeks, saying "Boss, you done a beautiful thing." Rick shoves him away: "Go away, you crazy Russian.” Kinskey was one of the last Casablanca cast members to die, at the age of 91. This is a very fine black and white photograph (7" x 5"), signed, inscribed and dated in later years (1993) in black ink across the image. In excellent condition. RARE.