Joseph Calleja - A Maltese Icon of Film History

Joseph Calleja is perhaps one of the most internationally successful actors ever to come out of the Maltese isles. While his name nowadays might be confused with that of the singer, who has perhaps usurped him locally in being the best-known 'Joseph Calleja', the actor had gained widespread worldwide recognition , taking part in some of the largest Hollywood films of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Read on for a short account of this multi-talented Maltese man's life.

Calleja was born in Mdina, Rabat in 1897. In 1914,  at 17, Calleja joined the British merchant shipping fleet and cruised throughout Europe until the ship he served on was torpedoed and he was hospitalized. Following that, Calleja moved to New York in the US where he worked odd jobs and sang to earn a living. He then found his first on-stage speaking role in a Broadway play called The Broken Wing (1920) which following it's success, moved to London and closed there.

Following this, Calleja returned to Malta in order to visit family and reconcile with his father, which had thus far disapproved of his singing and acting career inclinations, prompting the younger Calleja to initially use his mother's middle name in lieu of his actual surname. Following this visit, Calleja reverted to using his real surname.

Calleja's first prominent stage role was with Abbott and Dunning's highly successful Broadway (1926), a hard-boiled play which depicted the New York underworld during prohibition. A number of other Broadway performances further fleshed out Calleja's acting career, particularly 1934's Small Miracle. He often played shady or malevolent characters, which would later also be true of his film acting career.

Calleja was later contracted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who promoted his first film with them Public Hero No. 1 (1935) as his screen debut, despite having some other small film experience. He subsequently took part in various films, portraying mysterious but sympathetic villains, common to the hard-boiled tradition of the time, in productions such as  Algiers (1938), Five Came Back (1939), Golden Boy (1939), The Glass Key (1942) and Gilda (1946).

Calleja's last and best acclaimed film performance was in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), in which he played a mysterious aid to a corrupt police chief. It is widely regarded as his best performance, which was fitting, seeing as it was his last, having just turned 60 when the film was made.

Calleja later retired to Malta in 1963 with his wife, and died in St. Julians in 1978.

Despite his success abroad, Calleja was not as well known to the Maltese themselves. This was due to Hollywood censorship by the Catholic church, which regarded the industry as evil and sinful. Regardless of this, Calleja remains as one of the most successful and acclaimed actors ever to come out of our shores, and despite leaving us in the late 70s, his excellent work will endure for ages.