Joseph Marcus never showed up for his first audition, but he had a face that landed him a role in the movie “Hoffa” and in dozens of other major films.
Mr. Marcus had the look.
His career in film and television began in 1992 after 35 years working in a Michigan factory. Mr. Marcus quickly established himself as a “must-have” character actor and extra for the major talent agencies in Chicago.
He was hired to appear in movies such as “Natural Born Killers” and “Road to Perdition.”
Mr. Marcus, 87, died from heart problems Friday, June 2, in his St. Joseph, Mich., home, said his daughter, Michelle Rose Marcus.
A call from Chicago talent agencies Ambassador or Baker and Rowley would get Mr. Marcus to pack up his car, drive around the southern tip of Lake Michigan and show up early for filming.
“When I speak about great actors that are a joy to work with, he’s always the first one I mention,” said Diane Rowley, director of Baker and Rowley. “He had a very unique look, a great look, but more than that he was a great human being.”
In many ways, Mr. Marcus’ entry into the movie business after working in a brake factory was a homecoming.
He was training to become a crewmember in a B-17 bomber when World War II ended, according to his family.
He returned home to the family farm in Benton Harbor, Mich., where he met his wife, Lorraine Weinhouse, of Chicago, who was visiting with her family.
The marriage, the first leg of it at least, lasted only two years, but both moved to Chicago in the late 1940s where Mr. Marcus began performing in burlesque houses as a singer and comedian.
He had done previous burlesque work, but only short stints right after the war, his daughter said. “He had so many stories from that time, about the scantily dressed women dancing with snakes and other things,” she said.
He performed at burlesque houses in Chicago, Cicero and Joliet for six years before he and Lorraine reconciled and moved back to Michigan, where Mr. Marcus took a factory job.
During his time there, he was the union steward and became socially active, his family said.
A child of one of two Jewish families living in Benton Harbor, Mr. Marcus wrote in a letter to a researcher that a teacher forced him and his best friend, who was Jewish, to put their hats and coats on a wood pile during class, rather than in the coat room. The teacher told the class that Jews were dirty and lice-ridden, he wrote.
“I think he derived his strong sense of social justice from those years and also some of the things that my grandfather experienced in Russia being Jewish,” Michelle Marcus said.
In 1992, four years after he retired, she said her father was restless and she told him he should try out as an extra for a movie being filmed in Chicago, where she lives.
Mr. Marcus said he didn’t want to go, but his daughter stood in line all day for him with hundreds of other hopefuls. She was holding a picture of her father.
That image was enough to put Mr. Marcus in his first film as an extra–“Hoffa.”
He became a hot commodity almost instantly. Within a year, Mr. Marcus landed his first speaking role, albeit brief. Opposite Paul Newman in “The Hudsucker Proxy,” he played Sears Braithwaite of Bullard.
He appeared in dozens of films: “The Fugitive,” “Love Jones,” “Mercury Rising,” “The Negotiator,” “Save the Last Dance” and “Spider-Man 2.” He also had recurring roles as an extra in television, including “Prison Break,” “ER,” and “Early Edition.”
“It was just a really good look,” said Susan Sherman, director and president of Ambassador Talent Agency.
Mr. Marcus is survived by another daughter, Sheila Rosenthal; a son, Martin; two grandchildren; his brother, David; and two sisters, Clara Kornfeld and Dr. Cyril Ramer.
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csheehan@tribune.com
