Actor: Edward G. Robinson

Edward G Robinson made Little Caesar, which alongside Cagney’s Public Enemy created the studio gangster cycle, and spent decades escaping the typecast.

Double Indemnity gives him the best performance, as an insurance investigator whose affection for the man he is pursuing is the film’s actual heart, and the little man speech is famous.

He was gray-listed during the McCarthy period and appeared before HUAC three times to clear himself. He assembled one of the great private Impressionist collections and had to sell it in a divorce settlement. He never won a competitive Academy Award.