24. From Marine to Plumber to Hollywood Star
After he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, Lee Marvin drifted for a while, before he eventually got a job as a plumber’s assistant. One day he was in the midst of a pipe repair job in a theater when an actor got sick. Marvin was recruited on the spot to step into the role, which fit his personality – a big and boisterous drunk. He took to acting like a fish to water, and after a few years in off-Broadway productions, followed by a small role in a Broadway piece, he moved to Hollywood in 1950.
There, Marvin got started with bit parts in war movies, where his real-life combat experience lent authenticity to his performances. That experience also made him a sought-after consultant by directors and actors who wanted to get a feel for authentic infantry behavior. Throughout his career, Marvin excelled most in roughneck roles, mainly because he actually was a roughneck in real life, with a violent streak that made his malevolent and tough-guy characters ring true. Lee Marvin died in 1987 at age sixty-three and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.