The Incredible Lorre Coincidence

For four months in late 1977 to early 1978, a duo of men terrorized the Los Angeles community by kidnapping and killing your women from the age of 12-28. These two men were known as what the papers called them: "The Hillside Strangler". The men were called this because at the time, it wasn't known that the Strangler was actually two men. The term 'hillside' was used because this was the hills above Los Angeles where they found their victims.

This is a morbid, tragic event in Los Angeles history. There were two pieces of good news that come from this: one is the regular good news, and the other is the unique, which is why this story has made it into the expendablenlightenment lore.

For the first piece of good news. Both men (Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Biancha) were both captured. Buono was first captured, and Biacha escaped to Washington state before he was captured. Biancha tried an insanity plea, but it was obvious he was faking, so he plead guilty and testified against Buono. They both received life sentences.

Now for the second piece of good news, this is one of those pieces of information that your friends might find interesting. Did you know that one woman escaped from the Hillside Strangler? Her name was Catherine Lorre. In 1977, the two men picked her up. She needed a ride, they wanted to kill her. In the car, they talked and they found out who she was. Her father was a really famous actor who'd died in 1964. They were such huge fans of the actor, that they decided to let her go out of respect for the actor they loved to watch. She had no idea who they were until months later when it was revealed that the men had been arrested.

Who was the actor? You might heave guessed. It was none other than screen legend Peter Lorre. Peter Lorre was born in a town in Austria-Hungary (the town is now located in Slovakia) and starred in German movies before coming to the US to perform in movies. At first, he learned his English lines phonetically, having to be told what the lines were and memorizing the sound. Most known for his smooth, accented voice and his unmistakable eyes, Peter Lorre was an icon of the screen for many years before dying of a heart attack in 1964. His most famous roles were in films such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the German movie M.

Iconic image from the film M.
Peter Lorre sees himself.

If you are not familiar with Peter Lorre's career and filmography, then here's your coincidence moment of this posting. Before Lorre began appearing in English movies, he made the movie M in 1931, a German masterpiece of cinema. The movie is about a child serial killer that the police can't capture, so they enlist other criminals to help them. Peter Lorre played the serial killer. Perhaps Buono and Biancha appreciated Lorre for this performance? Or maybe it was one of the others? Either way, Catherine Lorre is lucky to be alive, thanks to the work her father did.