Skelton: Whistling in Brooklyn (1943), I Dood It (1943); Al Pacino: ...And Justice for All (1979); his final film role. Film noir Levene established himself as one of the stalwarts of film noir. He is one of several veterans of the genre who are graduates of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, including Lauren Bacall, Hume Cronyn, Kirk Douglas, Nina Foch, Agnes Moorehead, Thelma Ritter and Edward G. Robinson. Levene's best known film noir credits include his performance as Samuels, the murdered GI, in Crossfire (1947) and as Lieutenant Lubinsky in The Killers (1946). The Killers features the movie debut of Burt Lancaster, who just a year prior was professionally credited as Burton Lancaster when Levene helped the former circus acrobat land a part in the original Broadway production of A Sound of Hunting starring Levene. In The Killers, Sam Levene plays Police Lt. Sam Lubinsky, a childhood friend of the Swede, played by Lancaster; Levene's co-starring role was fortuitous as he was credited in making Lancaster feel at ease in his motion picture debut. It was lucky he was on the set with Burt Lancaster maintained actor Jeff Corey because Burt didn't feel too comfortable in his first film. Sam would frequently get on his ass. C'mon, c'mon. Do the goddamn thing. You pick up the piece of jewelry. Can't you do that and say the f....ing line? Lancaster was never offended. He appreciated, because he loved Sam; everyone did. When several Hollywood studios initially wanted to sign Lancaster, Levene, who was Lancaster's co-star in the 1946 Broadway melodrama A Sound of Hunting, agreed to represent him; eventually the two actors became lifelong friends. Together Lancaster and Levene fielded offers from David O. Selznick, 20th Century-Fox and Hal B. Wallis, who had a deal at Paramount Pictures, ultimately introducing Lancaster to Harold Hecht, who became Lancaster's long-time agent and Hollywood film production partner. Burt Lancaster and Sam Levene also worked together in two other film noirs, the 1947 Brute Force, directed by Jules Dassin, Lancaster's second film, which appears on several film noir lists and the acclaimed film noir Sweet Smell of Success included on AFI's Catalogue of Feature Films. Other Sam Levene noir credits include: Dave Woods, as a newspaper reporter, who gives a performance not to be missed who steals the show as a dirt digging journalist who is ultimately fighting for righteousness, writing hard-hitting articles attacking