Leonid Kinskey, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, performed across Europe and much of Latin America before his arrival in the United States. By 1932 he landed a small role as a radical in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy, Ärger im Paradies (1932). The next year he played an agitator in Die Marx Brothers im Krieg (1933). He went on to play small parts, nearly always foreigners and often comedic, in over sixty films, including Genflou in Die Elenden (1935), the snake charmer in the well-known scene from Bengali (1935), an Arab in Der Garten Allahs (1936), Ivan in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), and Pierre in Carioca (1941). His final film role was Dominiwski in Der Mann mit dem goldenen Arm (1955). Kinskey's most famous role was as Sascha, the humorous bartender at Rick's Cafe Americaine, in Casablanca (1942). The part had originally been given to Leon Mostovoy; Kinskey replaced him because (1) he was funnier than Mostovoy, and (2) by his own testimony, he was a drinking buddy of the star Humphrey Bogart. His contract guaranteed him two weeks at $750 a week. He died on 8 September 1998, in Fountain Hills, Arizona, aged 95. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <[email protected]>
