Actor. The son of a barber, he held down jobs ranging from truck driver, to Wall Street clerk before becoming an actor. In 1935, he became a waiter/entertainer in a Connecticut resort where he was discovered by Elia Kazan and John Garfield. Through Kazan's help, Richard Conte earned a scholarship to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first Broadway appearance was in "Moon Over Mulberry Street." In 1939, while known as Nicholas Conte, the actor made his first film, "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence". 20th Century Fox promoted him as the "New John Garfield" upon signing him to a contract in 1943. Some of his better known roles while working for Fox included the wrongly imprisoned man who is exonerated by crusading reporter James Stewart in "Call Northside 777" (1947), and his role as a trucker in "Thieves' Highway" (1949). He also appeared in many TV roles, including a co-starring assignment with Dan Dailey, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica on the 1959 syndicated series "The Four Just Men." Appearing primarily in European films in his later years, he directed the Yugoslavian-filmed "Operation Cross Eagles." Richard Conte's most important Hollywood role in the 1970s was as rival Mafia Don Barzini in the Oscar-winning "The Godfather" (1972).
Actor. The son of a barber, he held down jobs ranging from truck driver, to Wall Street clerk before becoming an actor. In 1935, he became a waiter/entertainer in a Connecticut resort where he was discovered by Elia Kazan and John Garfield. Through Kazan's help, Richard Conte earned a scholarship to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first Broadway appearance was in "Moon Over Mulberry Street." In 1939, while known as Nicholas Conte, the actor made his first film, "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence". 20th Century Fox promoted him as the "New John Garfield" upon signing him to a contract in 1943. Some of his better known roles while working for Fox included the wrongly imprisoned man who is exonerated by crusading reporter James Stewart in "Call Northside 777" (1947), and his role as a trucker in "Thieves' Highway" (1949). He also appeared in many TV roles, including a co-starring assignment with Dan Dailey, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica on the 1959 syndicated series "The Four Just Men." Appearing primarily in European films in his later years, he directed the Yugoslavian-filmed "Operation Cross Eagles." Richard Conte's most important Hollywood role in the 1970s was as rival Mafia Don Barzini in the Oscar-winning "The Godfather" (1972).
Inscription
Richard Nicholas Peter Conte
1910 - 1975 - ?
Actor-Writer-Painter-Composer-Poet
A man of many talents and graces
Loved by a thousand unknown faces
But he loved best and is loved most by his lover-friend-mother-child-wife
Shirlee Colleen
Nicky-the master of gentle words and deeds
You shared so much, gave so much-received so little, until now when all is yours
Fly with joy that I may greet you on the wings of our friend, the bird of blue may the fates be kinder in our next life and take us both together-to be-at long last complete
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