Quick Facts
Biography
Leonid Kinskey (18 April 1903 – 8 September 1998) was a Russian-born film and television actor who enjoyed a long career. Kinskey is best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca (1942).
Life and career
Kinskey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He fled the Russian Revolution and acted on stage in Europe and South America before arriving in New York City in 1921. He joined the road production of Al Jolson's musical Wonder Bar, before making his first film appearance, in Trouble in Paradise (1932). His looks and accent helped him gain supporting roles in several movies, including the Sylvanian "agitator" in the Marx Bros. film Duck Soup (1933). He told Aljean Harmetz, author of Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, that he was cast in his best-known role, Sascha in Casablanca, because he was a drinking buddy of star Humphrey Bogart. He replaced Leo Mostovoy because the latter was deemed not funny enough.
Kinskey continued to appear on television, well into the 1960s and was in the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes (1965). He decided not to join the cast when the show went into formal production because he was not comfortable playing opposite people pretending to be Nazis.
Kinskey married three times. His second wife was actress Iphigenie Castiglioni, to whom he remained married until her death in 1963. He was married to Tina York from 1983 to his death. He died of complications of a stroke in Fountain Hills, Arizona, at the age of 95.
Partial filmography
- The Big Broadcast (1932) as Ivan
- Trouble in Paradise (1932) as Russian Visitor (uncredited)
- Storm at Daybreak (1933) as Serbian Villager (uncredited)
- Duck Soup (1933) as Agitator
- Girl Without a Room (1933) as Gallopsky
- The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) as Hans - Conservatory Violinist (uncredited)
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934) as Trotskyite Slapping Poppa Rosen (uncredited)
- Change of Heart (1934) as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Strictly Dynamite (1934) as Garçon (uncredited)
- Hollywood Party (1934) as Jake the Cabbie (uncredited)
- Fugitive Road (1934) as Nicholas Petrovich,- Smuggler
- Straight Is the Way (1934) as Mechanic (uncredited)
- The Merry Widow (1934) as Shepherd (uncredited)
- Marie Galante (1934) as Arohnson (uncredited)
- We Live Again (1934) as Simon Kartinkin
- The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) as Snake Charmer (uncredited)
- The Gilded Lily (1935) as Vocal Teacher (uncredited)
- Les Misérables (1935) as Genflou
- Goin' to Town (1935) as Cecil - Interior Decorator (uncredited)
- I Live My Life (1935) as Waiter (uncredited)
- Peter Ibbetson (1935) as Prisoner (uncredited)
- Three Godfathers (1936) as Card Player (uncredited)
- The Road to Glory (1936) as Wounded Soldier
- Rhythm on the Range (1936) as Mischa
- A Son Comes Home (1936) as Hoodlum (uncredited)
- The General Died at Dawn (1936) as Stewart
- The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936) as Russian (uncredited)
- The Garden of Allah (1936) as Voluble Arab (uncredited)
- Love on the Run (1936) as Man on Train (uncredited)
- We're on the Jury (1937) as Professor Nicholas Krakin
- Espionage (1937) as Maxie Burgos
- Maytime (1937) as Student in Bar (uncredited)
- The Woman I Love (1937) (uncredited)
- Cafe Metropole (1937) as Artist
- The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937) as Mischa
- Married Before Breakfast (1937) as Mischa Lapidoff (uncredited)
- Meet the Boyfriend (1937) as Dr. Sokoloff
- Make a Wish (1937) as Moe
- One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) as Pianist at Mrs. Frost's Party (uncredited)
- The Sheik Steps Out (1937) as Allusi Ali
- My Dear Miss Aldrich (1937) as A Waiter
- Nothing Sacred (1937) as Ferdinand Roassare - Poet (uncredited)
- Wise Girl (1937) as Eccentric Greenwich Village Writer (uncredited)
- Outside of Paradise (1938) as Cafe Owner Ivan Petrovich
- The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) as Ivan (uncredited)
- A Trip to Paris (1938) as Emile
- Three Blind Mice (1938) as Young Man
- Professor Beware (1938) as Tableau Director (uncredited)
- Algiers (1938) as L'Arbi
- The Great Waltz (1938) as Dudelman
- Flirting with Fate (1938) as Pedro Lopez
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) as Artist
- Exile Express (1939) as David
- The Spellbinder (1939) as Harry Beldon - Saxophone Player
- On Your Toes (1939) as Ivan Boultonoff
- Day-Time Wife (1939) as Coco
- Everything Happens at Night (1939) as Groder
- He Stayed for Breakfast (1940) as Comrade Nicky
- Down Argentine Way (1940) as Tito Acuna
- So Ends Our Night (1941) as The Chicken
- That Night in Rio (1941) as Pierre
- Broadway Limited (1941) as Ivan
- Week-End in Havana (1941) as Rafael
- Ball of Fire (1941) as Prof. Quintana
- Lady for a Night (1942) as Boris
- Brooklyn Orchid (1942) as Ignatz Rachkowsky
- I Married an Angel (1942) as Zinski
- The Talk of the Town (1942) as Jan Pulaski
- Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) as Dorloff (uncredited)
- Casablanca (1942) as Sacha
- Cinderella Swings It (1943) as Vladimir Smitkin
- Let's Have Fun (1943) as Gregory Loosnikoff
- El circo (1943) as Cliente ruso zapatero
- Presenting Lily Mars (1943) as Leo
- Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) as Window Washer
- Five Were Chosen (1944)
- The Fighting Seabees (1944) as Johnny Novasky
- That's My Baby! (1944) as Doctor Svatsky
- Can't Help Singing (1944) as Koppa
- Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) as Rene
- Alimony (1949) as Joe Wood
- The Great Sinner (1949) as Bandleader in Park (uncredited)
- Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) as Ivan Putroff (uncredited)
- Honeychile (1951) as Chick Lister
- Gobs and Gals (1952) as Ivan
- The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) as Dominiwski
- Glory (1956) as Vasily
- The Helen Morgan Story (1957) as Stanislausky - Accordion Player (uncredited)