After establishing himself on the New York stage, Elliott Sullivan headed to Hollywood in 1937, where over the next dozen years he would appear in nearly 80 films. Somewhat forbidding in appearance, Sullivan specialized in gangster roles, impersonating such characters as "Lefty" and "Mugsy" in films like King of the Underworld (1938) and The Man Who Talked Too Much (1942). He managed to squeeze in a few early TV assignments before falling victim to the Hollywood Blacklist. Sullivan spent the 1950s working in England as a dialogue coach. In the years just prior to his death, Elliot Sullivan made a brief comeback in such films as On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), The Spikes Gang (1974) and The Great Gatsby (1974).