Timothy Carey had one of the most unusual careers of all Hollywood character actors, obtaining full cult status for his portrayals of the doomed, the psychotic and the plain crazy. Carey's career was an "Only in America" type of story, and he retains his status as a Great American Original a decade after his death. As a 22-year-old acting school graduate, he made his film debut in 1951 as a corpse in a 'Clark Gable and dedicated the film to Carey. Timothy Carey taught acting in his later years. This true American Original died of a stroke on May 11, 1994, at the age of 65. He is sorely missed, as his like will not be seen again.
Has a uniquely twisted screen presence that many great directors tried, and often failed, to harness. He was the only man Elia Kazan ever physically attacked on the set. Marlon Brando cast him in One-Eyed Jacks and ended up, in desperation and frustration, stabbing him with a pen. When John Cassavetes came to his house for the first time, Carey made him wear a bulky, padded suit and then turned his attack dog loose on him. Despite this odd happening, Cassevetes later declared that Carey had the "brilliance of Eisenstein."
Father of Romeo Carey.
Director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to cast him in both The Godfather and The Conversation . Carey turned down the former and walked off the set of the latter.
Quentin Tarantino had a page in his script for Reservoir Dogs where he dedicated the movie to some of his inspirations. Timothy Carey was at the very top. He also auditioned for the role of Joe Cabot, but Tarantino didnt think that he was right for the role.
Performed a spoken word introduction for Brooklyn garage punk band The A-Bones 1993 cover recording of the theme to The Worlds Greatest Sinner , which was released as a 45 on the Australian Giant Claw label.
His father was Irish and his mother was Italian.
Met his wife Doris Carey in 1957 in Germany while acting in Paths of Glory .
The truth is, I never really cared about conventional success. I was,probably fired more than any other actor in Hollywood.
I wanted to be a singer, but I was tone deaf, they said. So they put me,in dramatic class. I really liked that. This was good training; this,was the Stanislavsky method.
