From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lawrence Tierney (March 15, 1919 – February 26, 2002) was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law. Commenting on the DVD release of a Tierney film in 2005, a New York Times critic observed: "The hulking Tierney was not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature." Description above from the Wikipedia article Lawrence Tierney, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.