Aug. 27, 1963 - New York will be the setting for the feature film “The Pawnbroker,” which goes into production September 16. Rod Steiger (pictured) has been signed to play the title role. The film, adapted from the 1961 novel by Edgar Lewis Wallant, deals with a Jewish pawnbroker in Harlem, his relationships with clients, and his memories of life in a Nazi concentration camp where his wife and two children were murdered. The film will employ flashbacks to reveal the pawnbroker’s past. Much of the picture will be filmed on Park Avenue in Harlem, where the pawnbroker shop is located. The film is believed to be the first produced in the United States to deal with the Nazi concentration camps from the viewpoint of a survivor. Mr. Steiger previously appeared with Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” (1954), for which he received an Academy Award nomination; with Humphrey Bogart in “The Harder They Fall” (1956); and as the title character in “Al Capone” (1959).
