In today’s restrained mainstream cinema smoking is hardly seen. But who is the most cigarette-loving character of all time?

One that springs to mind is Dr. Rothke from the great German postwar noir “Der Verlorene (The Lost One)”. Dr. Rothke (played by Peter Lorre, who also directed the film) lits 2-3 cigarretes in every scene, be it in hospital, train, his own house or laboratory.

At one point he asks a companion:

“Do you know why I’m still alive?”

And answers himself:

“Because of a cigarette.”