Lee J. Cobb ✝

Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby; December 8, 1911 – February 11, 1976) was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his television role as the star of the TV series The Virginian. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectable figures such as judges and police officers. Cobb originated the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's 1949 play Death of a Salesman under the direction of Elia Kazan, and was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Brothers Karamazov (1958). His film performances included Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men (1957), Dock Tobin in Man of the West (1958), Barak Ben Canaan in Exodus (1960), Marshall Lou Ramsey in How the West Was Won (1962), Cramden in Our Man Flint (1966), and Lt. William Kinderman in The Exorcist (1973). On television, Cobb starred in the Western series The Virginian as Judge Henry Garth and the ABC legal drama The Young Lawyers as David Barrett, and nominated for an Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor Emmy Award three separate times. In 1981, Cobb was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.