Happy Birthday, Peter Lorre!

Friday, June 26, 2015, is Peter Lorre’s 111th birthday, and the celebration begins on Sunday, June 21, as Radio Classics channel host Greg Bell salutes “Love for Lorre”, his annual birthday tribute to Peter.

For two hours, Lorre fans can enjoy four of Peter’s old-time radio performances – two episodes from Peter’s own 13-week summer series Mystery in the Air, “The Mask of Medusa” (Sept. 4, 1947) and “The Queen of Spades” (Sept. 11, 1947); an episode of the anthology series Suspense, “Of Maestro and Man” (July 20, 1944), and finally, a guest appearance on Jack Benny’s show The Lucky Strike Program, “I Stand Condemned” (Mar. 24, 1946).

The Lorre tribute will air these dates and times:

Sunday, June 21:
9 am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern

Wednesday, June 24:
3 am Pacific, 6 am Eastern

Friday, June 26:
7 pm Pacific, 10 pm Eastern

Satellite radio providers XM and Sirius air Radio Classics over channel 82. Subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet. Log-in with your User ID and password. Not a subscriber? A free 30-day trial is also available through the XM radio website.

The party continues on television where two cable TV channels will show Lorre movies on Friday, June 26.

On the Turner Classic Movies channel, the “Summer of Darkness” film noir festival continues with The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) at 8 pm, hosted by Eddie Muller, who presents the “Noir City” film festivals in various U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

The GetTV channel presents a Lorre triple feature – Beat the Devil (1954) at 7 pm; The Face Behind the Mask (1941) at 9:05 pm; and finally Island of Doomed Men (1940) at 10:40 pm.

The life and career of Peter Lorre is chronicled in the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin, who interviewed two of Peter’s brothers, his first wife Celia Lovsky, his sister-in-law through his second wife Karen Verne, his daughter Catherine Lorre, friends, fellow actors, and the directors, producers and crew who worked with him throughout his career.

The Appendix of The Lost One includes the most complete list available of Peter’s credits – radio, film, stage, and television.

The Lorre radio programs airing this week in honor of Peter’s birthday are available through many merchants, including Radio Showcase. Many of Peter’s movies, as well as some of his television appearances, are available on DVD.

Published in 2005 through University Press of Kentucky, The Lost One is available in hard-cover, soft-cover, Amazon’s Kindle, and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.