Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#13109
of 909177 performers
Top 5%
Marc Lawrence represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 68 years in, and Marc is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Marc Lawrence appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Marc. The Ox-Bow Incident is the clearest case: a film rated 7.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, family, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Joe Dante, Lasse Hallström, Peter Hyams and others, Marc Lawrence helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) as Jeff Farnley · From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) as Old Timer · The Asphalt Jungle (1950) as Cobby
Career snapshot
Ranked #13109 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1935–2003
Career length
68 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.2
The Ox-Bow Incident
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
The Ox-Bow Incident
Most frequent director
Guy Hamilton
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Guy Hamilton
Most common genre
Drama
7 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
7.0
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1950s
7.1 average MV
The 1950s are where the work and the material meet. The Asphalt Jungle — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1950s
7.1
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1950s
7.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1930s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. 'G' Men.
Most productive era
1940s
6 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1970s | 1990s | 2000s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.51 film | 6.42 films | 7.11 film | 7.01 film | 6.71 film | 6.41 film |
| Action | — | — | — | 6.52 films | 6.72 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.92 films | — | 6.64 films | — | — |
| Comedy | — | 6.51 film | — | 6.41 film | 5.91 film | 6.41 film |
| Crime | 6.51 film | 6.92 films | 7.11 film | 7.01 film | 7.11 film | — |
| Romance | — | — | — | — | — | 6.41 film |
| Horror | — | 6.51 film | — | — | 6.72 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1935'G' Men
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Gangster Killed at Lodge (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
7.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2003Looney Tunes: Back in Action
The current state of the argument, as Acme VP, Stating the Obvious.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
18 of 18 films
as Old Timer
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
as Ziggy
Directed by John Huston
as Erhard
Directed by John Schlesinger
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Jeff Farnley
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Performance score7.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Jeff Farnley gives Marc Lawrence a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Old Timer
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Performance score7.0
From Dusk Till Dawn asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Old Timer is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Cobby
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Performance score7.0
The Asphalt Jungle asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Cobby is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Ziggy
Key Largo (1948)
Performance score7.0
Key Largo asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ziggy is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Jeff Farnley
Start here. The Ox-Bow Incident is the clearest statement of what Marc Lawrence does — accessible, 76 minutes, and rated 7.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Marc at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Key Largo (1948)
A deliberate change of key after The Ox-Bow Incident — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Same director as Key Largo, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Marathon Man (1976)
Keeps the crime register of The Asphalt Jungle but asks for a colder reading of it.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Keeps the crime register of Marathon Man but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Huston
Director
2 films together
Notably The Asphalt Jungle
Guy Hamilton
Director
2 films together
Notably The Man with the Golden Gun
William Keighley
Director
1 film together
Notably 'G' Men
Arthur Lubin
Director
1 film together
Notably Hold That Ghost
Henry Hathaway
Director
1 film together
Notably The Shepherd of the Hills
Frank Tuttle
Director
1 film together
Notably This Gun for Hire
William A. Wellman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ox-Bow Incident
Cecil B. DeMille
Director
1 film together
Notably Unconquered
John Schlesinger
Director
1 film together
Notably Marathon Man
Colin Higgins
Director
1 film together
Notably Foul Play
Kenny Ortega
Director
1 film together
Notably Newsies
Quentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together
Notably Four Rooms
Robert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together
Notably From Dusk Till Dawn
Peter Hyams
Director
1 film together
Notably End of Days
Lasse Hallström
Director
1 film together
Notably The Shipping News
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
John Huston
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Asphalt JungleGuy Hamilton
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Man with the Golden GunWilliam A. Wellman
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Ox-Bow IncidentRobert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
From Dusk Till DawnJohn Schlesinger
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Marathon ManKenny Ortega
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NewsiesFrank Tuttle
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
This Gun for HireArthur Lubin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hold That GhostWilliam Keighley
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
'G' MenJoe Dante
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Looney Tunes: Back in ActionLasse Hallström
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Shipping NewsColin Higgins
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Foul PlayCecil B. DeMille
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnconqueredHenry Hathaway
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Shepherd of the HillsPeter Hyams
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
End of DaysQuentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Four RoomsSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Marathon Man
as Erhard
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Shipping News
as Cousin Nolan
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Ox-Bow Incident
as Jeff Farnley
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
'G' Men
as Gangster Killed at Lodge (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Ox-Bow Incident
as Jeff Farnley
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Marc Lawrence has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
68 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
7 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
This Gun for Hire
as Tommy
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
From Dusk Till Dawn
as Old Timer
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Shipping News
as Cousin Nolan
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Foul Play
as Rupert Stiltskin
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
From Dusk Till Dawn
as Old Timer
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Man with the Golden Gun
as Rodney
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Shipping News
as Cousin Nolan
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
End of Days
as Old Man
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — Quentin Tarantino
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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