Born 1910 as Nicholas Peter Conte in Jersey City, New Jersey, American actor Richard Conte made his film debut in Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939) at 20th Century Fox. He made his Broadway debut in My Heart’s in the Highlands (1939) for the Group Theatre. Also for the Group, he was in Clifford Odets’ Night Music (1940). He performed in the road company of Golden Boy. On Broadway, he was in Heavenly Express (1941), Walk Into My Parlor (1941), and a hit in Jason (1942).
In May 1943, Conte signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. His first Fox film was Guadalcanal Diary (1943). He had the star role in A Walk in the Sun (1945). Fox promoted Conte to top billing with the film noir The Spider (1945). Although a B film for the studio, it was successful enough to establish Conte in film noir. He was top billed in Thieves’ Highway (1949), and co-starred with Gene Tierney in Otto Preminger’s film noir Whirlpool (1950).
Conte made a series of films for Columbia. He co-starred with Judy Holliday in Full of Life (1956), played the lead in The Brothers Rico (1957), andn had supporting roles in This Angry Age (1957) and They Came to Cordura (1959).
Conte had one of his memorable performances in The Godfather (1972) as Don Barzini. He was at one time also considered for the title role, Don Vito Corleone, a role performed by Marlon Brando.
Conte appeared in more than 100 films from 1939 through the 1970s. He died in 1975 in Los Angeles, California, aged 65. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of a handsome Richard Conte in the 1940s and 1950s.
Man, could he rock a suit! Richard Conte looks just like my Dad, who was also of Italian descent.
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