Diva's Classics

Ali Zaoua

2011-07-29T16:20:00.000+03:00

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

2011-07-29T16:16:00.000+03:00

Ghatashraddha (1979)

2011-06-12T17:15:00.002+03:00

Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954)

2011-03-28T16:10:00.004+03:00

Date of Birth
28 April 1878, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Date of Death
15 November 1954, Van Nuys, California, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name
Lionel Herbert Blythe

Early life

He was a member of a famous internationally known theatrical family and was born Lionel Herbert Blythe on April 28, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the son of actors Maurice Barrymore (nee: Herbert Blythe) and Georgina Drew. He made his acting debut, with his parents, at age 5 months as a crying child. He was the first-born of the three famed Barrymores; sister Ethel was born in 1879 and brother John "the Profile" was born in 1882. He was educated at the Gilmore School in London, England; St. Vincent's Academy in New York; Seton Hall in New Jersey and the Arts Students League in New York. He didn't act professionally until in his teens. He traveled the world in stage productions and was a man of many talents including musician, composer and artist. He studied art in Paris and intended to become a serious painter. He worked for a time in Manhattan as an illustrator until persuaded by his brother John to return to acting. He became a respected Broadway actor at the age of 22 and sometimes appeared with his uncle, John Drew. He was among the first stage actors to successfully make the transition to films.
During World War One Lionel staved off the deadly Spanish Influenza by taking cold alcohol baths as an antiseptic.

He was married twice, to actresses Doris Rankin and Irene Fenwick, a one-time lover of his brother John. Doris's sister Gladys was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew which made Doris Lionel's aunt as well as his wife.
His brother John remarried numerous times but their sister Ethel never remarried after her 1923 divorce staying true to their mother's Catholic conversion. Doris Rankin bore Lionel two daughters, Ethel Barrymore II (b. 1908) and Mary Barrymore. Unfortunately, neither baby girl survived infancy, though Mary lived a few months. Lionel never truly recovered from the deaths of his girls, and their loss undoubtedly strained his marriage to Doris Rankin which ended in 1923. Years later, Barrymore developed a fatherly affection for Jean Harlow, who was born around the same time as his two daughters and would have been around their age. When Jean died in 1937, Lionel and Clark Gable mourned her as though she had been family.

Stage career

Barrymore began his stage career in the mid 1890s acting with his grandmother Louisa Lane Drew. He appeared on Broadway in his early twenties with his uncle John Drew Jr. in such plays as The Second in Command (1901) and The Mummy and the Hummingbird (1902), both produced by Charles Frohman. In 1905 Lionel and his siblings John and Ethel were all being groomed under the tutelage of Frohman. That year Lionel appeared with John in a short play called Pantaloon while John appeared with Ethel in Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire. In 1910, after he and Doris had spent many years in Paris, Lionel came back to Broadway, where he established his reputation as a dramatic and character actor. He and his wife Doris often acted together when in the theater. He proved his talent in many other plays such as Peter Ibbetson (1917) (with brother John), The Copperhead (1918) (with wife Doris) and The Jest (1919) (again with John). Lionel gave a short lived performance on stage as Macbeth in 1921. The play was not successful and more than likely convinced Lionel to return to films permanently. One of Lionel's last plays was Laugh, Clown, Laugh in 1923 with his second wife Irene Fenwick. This play would later be made into a 1928 silent film starring Lionel's friend Lon Chaney.

Film career

Barrymore entered films around 1911 with D.W. Griffith. There are claims Lionel entered films in 1908 for Griffith in The Paris Hat but Griffith did not make a movie in 1908 with this title. Lionel and Doris were in Paris in 1908 where Lionel was attending art school and where their first baby Ethel was born. Lionel claims in his autobiography We Barrymores that he and Doris were in France when Bleriot flew the channel on July 25, 1909.
Lionel entered films the same year his uncle Sidney Drew began his film career at Vitagraph, which might have had an influence on Lionel. With Griffith, Lionel made such titles as The Battle (1911), The New York Hat (1912) and Three Friends (1913). In 1915 he co-starred with Lillian Russell in a movie called Wildfire, one of the legendary Russell's few film appearances. He also made a foray into directing at Biograph. The last silent film he directed, Life's Whirlpool (Metro Pictures 1917), starred his sister Ethel. Lionel seemingly forged a good relationship with Louis B. Mayer early on at Metro Pictures and before the formation of MGM in 1924.
Lionel made numerous silent features for Metro, most of them now lost. He was also in a position to freelance occasionally such as returning to Griffith in 1924 to film America. He would make his last film for Griffith in 1928's Drums of Love.

After Lionel and Doris divorced in 1923, he married Irene Fenwick. The two of them went to Italy for Metro Pictures to film The Eternal City in Rome, blending work and honeymoon.
Prior to his marriage to Irene he and his brother John came to disharmony on the issue of Irene's past as one of John's lovers, after which the brothers didn't speak again for two years. They were next seen together at the premiere of John's film Don Juan in 1926 having patched up their differences. In 1924, he left Broadway for Hollywood permanently. Lionel made several more freelance motion pictures such as The Bells (Tiffany Pictures 1926) with unknown Boris Karloff. After 1926 however Lionel worked almost exclusively for MGM appearing opposite such luminaries as John Gilbert, Lon Chaney Sr, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Greta Garbo and his brother John. On the occasional loan-out he had a great success with Gloria Swanson in 1928's Sadie Thompson and the aforementioned Griffith film Drums of Love. Sound films were now a reality and Lionel's wonderful stage-trained voice recorded well in sound tests. Lionel in 1929 returned to directing films during this early and imperfect sound film period making the controversial His Glorious Night with John Gilbert, Madame X starring Ruth Chatterton and Rogue Song, Laurel & Hardy's first color film appearance. Barrymore returned to acting in front of the camera in 1931. In 1931, he won an Academy Award for his role of an alcoholic lawyer in A Free Soul (1931), after having been nominated in 1930 for Best Director for Madame X. He could play

many types of characters, such as the evil Rasputin in the 1932 Rasputin and the Empress (in which he co-starred with siblings John and Ethel Barrymore) and the ailing Oliver Jordan in Dinner at Eight (1933 - also with John Barrymore, but they had no scenes together).However, during the 1930s and 1940s, he was stereotyped as grouchy, but usually sweet, elderly men in such films as The Mysterious Island (1929), Grand Hotel (1932, with John), Captains Courageous (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Key Largo (1948).
He played the irascible Doctor Gillespie in a series of Doctor Kildare movies in the 1930s and 1940s, repeating the role in the radio series throughout the 1940s. He also played the title role in another 1940s radio series, Mayor of the Town. Barrymore had broken his hip in an accident, hence he played Gillespie in a wheelchair; later, his worsening arthritis kept him in the chair. The injury also precluded his playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 MGM film version of A Christmas Carol, a role which Barrymore had played annually on the radio since 1934, and would continue to 1951.
Perhaps his best known role, due to perennial Christmas time replays on television, was Mr. Potter, the miserly and mean-spirited banker in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The role suggested that of the "unreformed" stage of Barrymore's "Scrooge" characterization.
Barrymore died on November 15, 1954 from a heart attack in Van Nuys, California, and was entombed in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

Orbituary from New York Times, published November 16, 1954

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15--Lionel Barrymore died tonight at Valley Hospital in Van Nuys. He was 76 years old. His physician, John Paul Ewing, attributed his death to a heart ailment.

The actor was stricken last night at the home of Mrs. J. E. Wheeler. He had resided with Mrs. Wheeler and her two daughters, Miss Benson Wheeler and Miss Florence Wheeler, for the last eighteen years.
Mr. Barrymore was taken to the hospital and placed in an oxygen tent. Dr. Ewing said he lapsed into unconsciousness about midnight and failed to respond to treatment.
Lionel Barrymore once estimated that members of his famous family of the Drews and the Barrymores had appeared on the stage for 200 continuous years. He, himself, despite his protests that his interest in acting had arisen only from a necessity to eat, accounted for 61 of these years.
Mr. Barrymore, although he would have preferred to be an artist and composer, became an outstanding success of stage, screen and radio. His yearly radio interpretation of Scrooge in Dickens' "Christmas Carol" became traditional. In his later years when a hip injury confined him to a wheelchair, it was a tribute to his popularity and ability that parts were written around him and audiences never questioned the appearance of an actor in a wheelchair. Born in Philadelphia April 28, 1878, he was the eldest of the three children of Maurice (Blythe) and Georgie (Drew) Barrymore. He was also later to be known as the quietest of the triumvirate of Lionel, Ethel and John, born in that order.
His reluctant stage debut came at the age of 6 when the Barrymores

were on tour. He was pressed into action when a child actor became ill. When he followed up his cue with a good cry instead of his lines, he was retired from the stage by his famous parents until he was 15.
At that time another of his family, his grandmother, the prominent Louisa (Mrs. John) Drew, ventured on the stage with him in "The Rivals." His debut with the famous Mrs. Malaprop of her time was apparently successful, for he next appeared with her in "The Road to Ruin."

Took to Painting
Mr. Barrymore, who was already proclaiming his desire not to act, then left the stage to study painting for three years. The attempt was not outstanding and he returned to acting, appearing in "Squire Kate," "Cumberland '61" and several plays with Nance O'Neil's company.
He toured with the late J. A. Herne in "Sag Harbor," was cast with his uncle, John Drew, in "Second in Command," and by 1904 had appeared in many more works and was counted as a star.
In 1904, having married Doris Rankin, the young sister of his uncle Sidney Drew's wife, Mr. Barrymore, still determined to become an artist, went to Paris with his bride where he continued his painting studies for several years.
Returning to New York and still plagued with the need to earn a living, he heard of D. W. Griffith's movie-making enterprise in the Biograph Studios on Fourteenth Street. He asked for a job. Disclaiming an interest in "stars" Mr. Griffith, according to Mr. Barrymore's account of the incident, reluctantly hired the six-foot, dark-haired young man at $10 a day.

One of the first pictures made by Mr. Barrymore in those early days of silent movies was "The New York Hat," with a young actress, Mary Pickford. The script, her first, was written by Anita Loos. Others of his co-workers were Mabel Norman, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mack Sennett and James Kirkwood. Many of the scripts of the first two-reelers were written by actors. Mr. Barrymore himself admitted to having written "dozens" at $25 apiece.
When, as he said, he was brought "kicking and protesting back to the stage," it was one of his most famous roles, that of Colonel Ibbetson in "Peter Ibbetson," in 1917. The next year he was persuaded to leave the play for the role of Milt Shanks in "The Copperhead," described by the late Heywood Broun as

"the best piece of acting I ever saw."
It was to see Lionel in this part that John Barrymore, the incorrigible brother, bought out the whole house of his own play, "Peter Ibbetson," in which he was appearing in Hartford. It developed later that John's boss, Lee Shubert, had refused to let John pay for the expensive $3,000 ticket to his brother's opening night.
Lionel followed up this success in 1921 with "Macbeth," described as the hit of the season. The same year, starring in "The Claw," Mr. Barrymore met Irene Fenwick, who became his second wife July 14, 1923, after his divorce from Doris Rankin. The marriage was known as a happy one. Mrs. Barrymore retired from the stage soon after the marriage. She died Christmas Eve in 1936.
Before he "escaped permanently to California" in 1925, he had also played in "Laugh, Clown, Laugh," "The Piker" and "Man or Devil." In the movies he made what was known as "quickies" until the Thirties, when he again became a star in that medium.
"Free Soul", in which he portrayed a drunkard lawyer defending his daughter against a murder charge, won him an Academy Award for the best performance of the year in 1931. From then on, his movies, made with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, included "Grand Hotel", "Reunion in Vienna", "Dinner at Eight", "Treasure Island" and "David Copperfield".

Three Appear in 'Rasputin'

The three Barrymores appeared together in "Rasputin and the Empress". It was Lionel and Ethel's first appearance together since Ethel staged a production of "Camille" when she was 10. That early performance, with Lionel starred as Armand, also marked his first and last appearance in a romantic role. He declined to be cast in such a part after the experience.
In 1938, "Young Dr. Kildaire", the first in the well-known series, appeared. This was the year that Lionel, after several years' in and out of his wheelchair with a hip injury had the final accident that confined him to the chair for the rest of his career.
While he was gaining his reputation on the stage, screen and in radio, he also received recognition for his artistic and musical achievements. Several of his etchings were grouped with the "Hundred Prints of the Year," and he was elected to the Society of American Etchers.

In the summer of 1944, his symphony, "Partita," was performed at Lewisohn Stadium by Fabien Sevitzky. "In Memoriam," a tone poem in memory of his brother, John, who had died in 1942, was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. "Tableau Russe," another of his compositions, was presented in the Hollywood Bowl. The theme song for the "Mayor of the Town" radio feature, in which he played the sage and samaritan mayor, was also his composition.
As recently as 1952 another of his compositions was presented on records. This was a musical setting of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" with the composer as the narrator.

Narrator for Record Album

He was narrator for an album of records made during World War II by the Armed Forces Radio service, entitled "Great Music." He was active in community affairs, often appearing in benefits for special civic causes. At one time he was chairman of the national board of sponsors of the National Arthritis Research Foundation.
Mr. Barrymore's political activity in behalf of Governor Dewey during the 1944 Presidential campaign was reported to have brought a protest from the Roosevelt family when Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer announced him for the role of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film "The Beginning of the End," in 1946. He was withdrawn from the picture.
In May, 1951, Mr. Barrymore added writing to his creative achievements. His book, "We Barrymores," written with Cameron Shipp, was published by Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.
Mr. Barrymore also wrote a novel, "Mr. Cantonwine: A Moral Tale," published by Little, Brown & Co. The story was about a snake-oil peddling preacher.

Last March, he was one of a group of motion-picture stars who received Treasury Department citations for cooperation in helping to promote investment in United States Savings Bonds.

Trivia

He was buried a Roman Catholic next to his second wife and his brother, John Barrymore, in Calvary Cemetery, Hollywood.

He played Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" on the radio annually. On radio, the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in annual broadcasts of "A Christmas Carol". This role led directly to his being cast as Mr. Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life".

The three Barrymore siblings appeared in only one film together: Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Lionel and John appeared without Ethel in Arsène Lupin (1932), Grand Hotel (1932), Night Flight (1933) and Dinner at Eight (1933). A decade after John's demise, Lionel and Ethel appeared in Main Street to Broadway (1953), Lionel's last film.

Screen, stage, radio, vaudeville actor, film producer, and screenwriter.

Acted from wheelchair from 1938 due to the effects of arthritis and hip injury.

Interred at Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Main Mausoleum, Block 352.

Son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore; grandson of Louisa Drew and stage actor John Drew (1827-62); nephew of Sidney Drew; cousin of S. Rankin Drew. Fathered two daughters: Ethel (1909-1910) and Mary (1916- 1917).

Reared Roman Catholic by their mother, the three Barrymore siblings all had suffered the stigma of divorce (doubtless connected to the family business) and only Ethel Barrymore was a practicing Catholic in adulthood.

Great uncle of Drew Barrymore.

Notice ANY resemblance?

Portrayed Dr. Gillespie on the syndicated radio show "The Story of Dr. Kildare" (1950-1951).

His name appeared in the Looney Toons Cartoon One Froggy Evening (1955) (directed by Chuck Jones) in a newspaper on a park bench before the distraught man was sent to a psychiatric ward because the frog would not sing in front of anyone else.

Uncle of John Drew Barrymore, Diana Barrymore, Samuel Colt, Ethel Colt, and John Drew Colt.

In the 1960s cartoon series "Underdog" (1964), Underdog's nemesis, Simon Bar Sinister, has a voice reminiscent of Barrymore.

He and his sister Ethel Barrymore were the first Oscar-winning brother and sister in acting categories.

Invented the boom microphone

He was one of the very few screen actors in the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s who had a prolific career despite being in a wheelchair. From 1938, his screen roles were written to accommodate his disability.

Started as a stock player at the Biograph Company. His first film was The Paris Hat (1908), which seems to be a lost Biograph film. His second film was Fighting Blood (1911), produced by the Biograph Company in 1911.

In 1930, he lived at 802 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.

In Rasputin and the Empress (1932), he played Rasputin, allegedly the lover of Czar Nicholas II's wife Alexandra, played by Barrymore's real life sister Ethel Barrymore.

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1724 Vine Street and for Radio at 1651 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Personal quotes

This is the age of insincerity. The movies had the misfortune to come along in the twentieth century, and because they appeal to the masses there can be no sincerity in them. Hollywood is tied hand and foot to the demands for artificiality of the masses all over the world.

I've got a lot of ham in me.

I can remember when nobody believed an actor and didn't care what he believed. Why, the fact that he was an actor made everything he said open to question, because acting was thought to be a vocation embraced exclusively by scatter-brains, wastrels and scamps. I don't believed that's true today and I don't think that it ever was.

[1943 comment on Margaret O'Brien] If that child had been born in the middle ages, she'd have been burned as a witch.

Filmography (actor)

Lone Star (1952) .... Andrew Jackson
Bannerline (1951) .... Hugo Trimble
Right Cross (1950) .... Sean O'Malley
Malaya (1949) .... John Manchester
... aka East of the Rising Sun (UK)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1949) .... Capt. Bering Joy
Key Largo (1948) .... James Temple
Dark Delusion (1947) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
... aka Cynthia's Secret (UK) (USA: working title)
Duel in the Sun (1946) .... Sen. Jackson McCanles
... aka King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (UK: complete title) (USA: complete title)
The Secret Heart (1946) .... Dr. Rossiger
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) .... Henry F. Potter
... aka Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (USA: complete title)
Three Wise Fools (1946) .... Dr. Richard Gaunght
The Valley of Decision (1945) .... Pat Rafferty
Between Two Women (1945) .... Dr. Leonard B. Gillespie
Dragon Seed (1944) (uncredited) (voice) .... Narrator
Since You Went Away (1944) .... Clergyman
Three Men in White (1944) .... Dr. Leonard B. Gillespie
A Guy Named Joe (1943) .... The General
The Last Will and Testament of Tom Smith (1943) .... Gramps
... aka War Information Film No. 76
Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943) .... Dr. Leonard B. Gillespie
... aka Crazy to Kill (UK)
Tennessee Johnson (1942) .... Thaddeus Stevens
... aka The Man on America's Conscience (UK)
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
... aka The Doctor and the Debutante (UK)
Lady Be Good (1941) .... Judge Murdock
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
... aka Mary Names the Day (UK)
The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
... aka My Life Is Yours (UK)
The Bad Man (1941) .... Uncle Henry Jones
... aka Two-Gun Cupid (UK)
The Penalty (1941) .... 'Grandpop' Logan
Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
The Stars Look Down (1940) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939) .... Dr. Leonard Barry Gillespie
On Borrowed Time (1939) .... Julian Northrup (Gramps)
Calling Dr. Kildare (1939) .... Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Let Freedom Ring (1939) .... Thomas Logan
... aka Song of the Plains (Australia)
Young Dr. Kildare (1938) .... Dr. Gillespie
You Can't Take It with You (1938) .... Grandpa Martin Vanderhof
Test Pilot (1938) .... Howard B. Drake
A Yank at Oxford (1938) .... Dan Sheridan
Navy Blue and Gold (1937) .... Capt. 'Skinny' Dawes
Saratoga (1937) .... Grandpa Clayton
Captains Courageous (1937) .... Captain Disko Troop
... aka Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous (USA: complete title)
A Family Affair (1937) .... Judge James K. Hardy
... aka Skidding
... aka Stand Accused
Camille (1936) .... Monsieur Duval
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) .... Andrew Jackson
The Devil-Doll (1936) .... Paul Lavond
... aka The Witch of Timbuctoo
The Road to Glory (1936) .... Papa La Roche/Pvt. Moran
The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936) .... Springfield 'Spring' Davis
Ah, Wilderness! (1935) .... Nat Miller
The Return of Peter Grimm (1935) .... Peter Grimm
Public Hero #1 (1935) .... Dr. Josiah Glass
Mark of the Vampire (1935) .... Professor Zelen
... aka Vampires of Prague
The Little Colonel (1935) .... Col. Lloyd
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935) .... Dan Peggotty
... aka David Copperfield (USA: short title)
Treasure Island (1934) .... Billy Bones
The Girl from Missouri (1934) .... T.R. Paige
... aka 100 Per Cent Pure (UK)
... aka Born to Be Kissed (USA)
Carolina (1934) .... Bob Connelly
... aka House of Connelly (UK)
This Side of Heaven (1934) .... Martin Turner
Should Ladies Behave (1933) .... Augustus Merrick
Christopher Bean (1933) .... Dr. Milton Haggett
... aka Her Sweetheart, Christopher Bean
... aka The Late Christopher Bean (UK)
Night Flight (1933) .... Robineau
One Man's Journey (1933) .... Dr. Eli Watt
Dinner at Eight (1933) .... Oliver Jordan
The Stranger's Return (1933) .... Grandpa Storr
Looking Forward (1933) .... Tim Benton
... aka The New Deal
Sweepings (1933) .... Daniel Pardway
Rasputin and the Empress (1932) .... Grigori Rasputin
... aka Rasputin the Mad Monk (UK)
The Washington Masquerade (1932) .... Jefferson Keane
... aka Mad Masquerade (UK)
Grand Hotel (1932) .... Otto Kringelein
Arsène Lupin (1932) .... Det. Guerchard
Broken Lullaby (1932) .... Dr. H. Holderlin
... aka The Man I Killed (UK)
Mata Hari (1931) .... Gen. Serge Shubin
The Yellow Ticket (1931) .... Baron Igor Andrey
... aka The Yellow Passport (UK)
Guilty Hands (1931) .... Richard Grant
A Free Soul (1931) .... Stephen Ashe
Free and Easy (1930) .... Bedroom Scene
The Mysterious Island (1929) .... Count Andre Dakkar
The River Woman (1928) .... Bill Lefty
West of Zanzibar (1928) .... Mr. Crane
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) .... Doyle
Road House (1928) .... Henry Grayson
The Lion and the Mouse (1928) .... John Ryder
Drums of Love (1928) .... Duke Cathos de Alvia
... aka Sentimental Tommy (USA)
Sadie Thompson (1928) .... Alfred Davidson
The Thirteenth Hour (1927) .... Prof. Leroy
Body and Soul (1927) .... Dr. Leyden
Women Love Diamonds (1927) .... Hugo Harlan
The Show (1927) .... The Greek
The Temptress (1926) .... Canterac
The Bells (1926) .... Mathias
The Lucky Lady (1926) .... Count Ferranzo
Paris at Midnight (1926) .... Vautrin
Wife Tamers (1926) .... Mr. Barry
The Barrier (1926) .... Stark Bennett
Brooding Eyes (1926) .... Slim Jim Carey
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) (uncredited) .... Crowd extra in chariot race
... aka Ben-Hur (USA: short title)
Die Frau mit dem schlechten Ruf (1925) .... Allan Merrick
... aka The Woman Who Did (UK)
The Splendid Road (1925) .... Dan Clehollis
Fifty-Fifty (1925) .... Frederick Harmon
The Wrongdoers (1925) .... Daniel Abbott
Children of the Whirlwind (1925) .... Joe Ellison
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work (1925) .... Gordon Kent
A Man of Iron (1925) .... Philip Durban
... aka The Iron Man
I Am the Man (1924) .... James McQuade
Isn't Life Wonderful (1924)
Meddling Women (1924) .... Edwin Ainsworth/John Wells
Decameron Nights (1924) .... Saladin
... aka Dekameron-Nächte (Germany)
America (1924) .... Capt. Walter Butler
... aka Love and Sacrifice (UK)
Wedding Women (1924)
The Eternal City (1923) .... Baron Bonelli
Unseeing Eyes (1923) .... Conrad Dean
Enemies of Women (1923) .... Prince Lubimoff
The Face in the Fog (1922) .... Boston Blackie Dawson
Boomerang Bill (1922) .... Boomerang Bill
Jim the Penman (1921) .... Jaames Ralston
The Great Adventure (1921) .... Priam Farll
The Devil's Garden (1920) .... William Dale
The Master Mind (1920) .... Henry Allen
... aka Sinners Three (USA)
The Copperhead (1920) .... Milt Shanks
National Red Cross Pageant (1917) .... Undetermined role and episode
The Millionaire's Double (1917) .... Bide Bennington
His Father's Son (1917) .... J. Dabney Barro
The End of the Tour (1917) .... Bron Bennett
The Brand of Cowardice (1916) .... Cyril Hamilton
The Upheaval (1916) .... Jim Gordon
The Quitter (1916/I) .... Happy Jack Lewis
Dorian's Divorce (1916) .... Richard Dorian
A Yellow Streak (1915) .... Barry Dale
Dora Thorne (1915) .... Lord Earle
The Flaming Sword (1915) .... Steve
The Romance of Elaine (1915) .... Marcus Del Mar/Mr. X
The Curious Conduct of Judge Legarde (1915) .... Judge Randolph Legarde
... aka The Valley of Night (USA: reissue title)
A Modern Magdalen (1915) .... Lindsay
Wildfire (1915) .... John Keefe
Under the Gaslight (1914) .... William Byke
The Exploits of Elaine (1914) .... Undetermined Role
The Seats of the Mighty (1914) .... Monsieur Doltaire
The Span of Life (1914) .... Richard Blunt
The Woman in Black (1914/I) .... Robert Crane
The Power of the Press (1914) .... Steve Carson
Men and Women (1914) .... Stephen Rodman/Robert Stevens
Woman Against Woman (1914)
Brute Force (1914)
... aka In Prehistoric Days
... aka Primitive Man (USA: short title)
... aka The Primitive Man (USA)
... aka Wars of the Primal Tribes
Strongheart (1914) .... Billy Saunders
Judith of Bethulia (1914) .... Extra
... aka Her Condoned Sin (International: English title: reissue title)
The Massacre (1914)
Her Father's Silent Partner (1914)
Classmates (1914) .... Dumble
The House of Discord (1913)
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913)
aka The Battle of Elderbush Gulch
All for Science (1913) .... In Detective Agency
So Runs the Way (1913) (unconfirmed) .... Undetermined Role
The Stolen Treaty (1913) .... The Japanese Diplomat
The Strong Man's Burden (1913) .... John
The Crook and the Girl (1913) .... The Nephew
The Work Habit (1913) .... The Father
The Suffragette Minstrels (1913) (unconfirmed)
An Indian's Loyalty (1913) .... The Cattle Buyer
I Was Meant for You (1913) .... Lavina's Father
Under the Shadow of the Law (1913) .... Charles Darnton, the Employer
The Vengeance of Galora (1913) (unconfirmed)
The Mirror (1913) .... Daisy's Father
The Enemy's Baby (1913) .... Ben Brown
A Gamble with Death (1913) .... Jim Benton, the Bartender
In Diplomatic Circles (1913) .... The Japanese Ambassador
Almost a Wild Man (1913) .... In Audience
The Switch Tower (1913) .... First Counterfeiter
Death's Marathon (1913) .... The Financial Backer
The Well (1913) .... The Farmer
Red Hicks Defies the World (1913) .... The Referee
A Timely Interception (1913) .... The Farmer's Brother
The Ranchero's Revenge (1913) .... The Ranchero
Just Gold (1913) .... First Brother
The Yaqui Cur (1913) .... The Easterner
The House of Darkness (1913) .... The Doctor
The Wanderer (1913/II) .... The Male Lover
The Lady and the Mouse (1913) .... The Young Woman's Father
A Misunderstood Boy (1913) .... The Father
The Little Tease (1913) .... In Bar
The Perfidy of Mary (1913) .... Mary's Father
The Sheriff's Baby (1913) .... Third Bandit
Fate (1913/I) .... Father, Loving Family
Near to Earth (1913) .... Gato
The Unwelcome Guest (1913) .... At Auction
... aka An Unwelcome Guest (USA: alternative title)
A Girl's Stratagem (1913)
The Wrong Bottle (1913) .... The Father
Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913) .... In Hotel Lobby
A Chance Deception (1913) .... A Policeman
Oil and Water (1913) .... In First Audience/In Second Audience/Visitor
The Tender Hearted Boy (1913)
An Adventure in the Autumn Woods (1913) .... The Father
The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913) .... The Desk Sergeant
Three Friends (1913) .... Second Friend
The God Within (1912) .... The Woman of the Camp's Lover
A Cry for Help (1912) .... The Bum
The Burglar's Dilemma (1912) .... The Householder
My Hero (1912)
The New York Hat (1912) .... Preacher Bolton (minister)
Brutality (1912) .... At Wedding
The Informer (1912) .... Union Soldier
My Baby (1912) .... At Table
Gold and Glitter (1912) .... The Lover
Heredity (1912) .... Woodsman
The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) .... The Musician's Friend
The Painted Lady (1912) .... At Ice Cream Festival
The One She Loved (1912) .... The Neighbor
The Chief's Blanket (1912) .... The Young Man
So Near, Yet So Far (1912) .... In Club
Friends (1912) .... Grizzley Fallon (Dandy Jack's friend)
Home Folks (1912)
The Miser's Heart (1911) .... Jules, the Thief
The Battle (1911) .... Wagon Driver
Fighting Blood (1911)
The Paris Hat (1908)

Filmography (director)

Guilty Hands (1931) (uncredited)
Ten Cents a Dance (1931)
The Sea Bat (1930) (uncredited)
The Rogue Song (1930)
Redemption (1930) (retakes) (uncredited)
His Glorious Night (1929)
The Unholy Night (1929)
Madame X (1929)
... aka "Absinthe" - USA (TV title)
Confession (1929)
Life's Whirlpool (1917)
Chocolate Dynamite (1914)
Just Boys (1914)
No Place for Father (1913)
Where's the Baby? (1913)
His Secret (1913)

dv: last check - August 10, 2010

Lee J. Cobb (1911 - 1976)

2011-03-28T13:31:00.001+03:00

Date of Birth
8 December 1911, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death
11 February 1976, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name
Leo Jacoby

Biography

Lee J. Cobb, one of the premier character actors in American film for three decades in the post-World War II period, was born Leo Jacoby in New York City's Lower East Side on December 8, 1911. The son of a Jewish newspaper editor, young Leo was a child prodigy in music, mastering the violin and the harmonica. Any hopes of a career as a violin virtuoso were dashed when he broke his wrist, but his talent on the harmonica may have brought him his first professional success. At the age of 16 or 17 he ran away from home to Hollywood to try to break into motion pictures as an actor. He reportedly made his film debut as a member of Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals (their first known movie appearance was in the 1929 two-reeler Boyhood Days), but that cannot be substantiated. However, it's known that after Leo was unable to find work he returned to New York City, where he attended City College of New York at night to study accounting while acting in radio dramas during the day.

An older Cobb tried his luck in California once more, making his debut as a professional stage actor at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1931. After again returning to his native New York, he made his Broadway debut as a saloonkeeper in a dramatization of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, but it closed after 15 performances (later in his career, Dostoevsky would prove more of a charm, with Cobb's role as Father Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov (1958) garnering him his second Oscar nomination).

^{Golden Boy (1939)}

Cobb joined the politically progressive Group Theater in 1935 and made a name for himself in Clifford Odets' politically liberal dramas Waiting for Lefty and Til the Day I Die, appearing in both plays that year in casts that included Elia Kazan, who later became famous as a film director. Cobb also appeared in the 1937 Group Theater production of Odets' Golden Boy, playing the role of Mr. Carp, in a cast that also included Kazan, Julius Garfinkle (later better known under his stage name of John Garfield), and Martin Ritt, all of whom later came under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the heyday of the McCarthy Red Scare hysteria more than a decade later. Cobb took over the role of Mr. Bonaparte, the protagonist's father, in the 1939 film version of the play, despite the fact that he was not yet 30 years old. The role of a patriarch suited him, and he'd play many more in his film career.

It was as a different kind of patriarch that he scored his greatest success. Cobb achieved immortality by giving life to the character of Willy Loman in the original 1949 Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. His performance was a towering achievement that ranks with such performances as Edwin Booth as Richard III and John Barrymore as Hamlet in the annals of the American theater. Cobb later won an Emmy nomination as Willy when he played the role in a made-for-TV movie of the play (_Death of a Salesman (1966/II) (TV)_ ). Miller said that he wrote the role with Cobb in mind.

Before triumphing as Miller's Salesman, Cobb had appeared on Broadway only a handful of times in the 1940s, including in Ernest Hemingway's The Fifth Column (1940), Odets' "Clash by Night" (1942) and the US Army Air Force's Winged Victory (1943-44). Later he reprised the role of Joe Bonaparte's father in the 1952 revival of Golden Boy opposite Garfield as his son, and appeared the following year in The Emperor's Clothes. His final Broadway appearance was as King Lear in the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center's 1968 production of Shakespeare's play.

^{Boomerang! (1947)}

Aside from his possible late 1920s movie debut and his 1934 appearance in the western The Vanishing Shadow (1934), Cobb's film career proper began in 1937 with the westerns North of the Rio Grande (1937) (in which he was billed as Lee Colt) and Rustlers' Valley (1937) and spanned nearly 40 years until his death. After a hiatus while serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Cobb's movie career resumed in 1946. He continued to play major supporting roles in prestigious A-list pictures. His movie career reached its artistic peak in the 1950s, when he was twice nominated for Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards, for his role as Johnny Friendly in On the Waterfront (1954) and as the father in The Brothers Karamazov (1958). Other memorable supporting roles in the 1950s included the sagacious Judge Bernstein in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), as the probing psychiatrist Dr. Luther in The Three Faces of Eve (1957) and as the volatile Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men (1957).

It was in the 1950s that Cobb achieved the sort of fame that most artists dreaded: he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee on charges that he was or had been a Communist. The charges were rooted in Cobb's membership in the Group Theater in the 1930s. Other Group Theater members already investigated by HUAC included Clifford Odets and Elia Kazan, both of whom provided friendly testimony before the committee, and John Garfield, who did not.

Cobb's own persecution by HUAC had already caused a nervous breakdown in his wife, and he decided to appear as a friendly witness in order to preserve her sanity, and his career, by bringing the inquisition to a halt. Appearing before the committee in 1953, he named names and thus saved his career. Ironically, he would win his first Oscar nomination in On the Waterfront (1954) directed and written by fellow HUAC informers Kazan and Budd Schulberg. The film can be seen as a stalwart defense of informing, as epitomized by the character Terry Malloy's testimony before a Congressional committee investigating racketeering on the waterfront.

Major films in which Cobb appeared after reaching his career plateau include Otto Preminger's adaptation of Leon Uris' ode to the birth of Israel, Exodus (1960); the Cinerama spectacle How the West Was Won (1962); the James Coburn spy spoofs, Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967); Clint Eastwood's first detective film, Coogan's Bluff (1968); and legendary director William Wyler's last film, The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970).

In addition to his frequent supporting roles in film, Cobb often appeared on television. He played Judge Henry Garth on "The Virginian" (1962) from 1962-66 and also had a regular role as the attorney David Barrett on "The Young Lawyers" (1970) from 1970-71. Cobb also appeared in made-for-TV movies and made frequent guest appearances on other TV shows. His last major Hollywood movie role was that of police detective Lt. Kinderman in The Exorcist (1973).

Lee J. Cobb died of a heart attack in Woodland Hills, California, on February 11, 1976, at the age of 64. He is buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Though he will long be remembered for many of his successful supporting performances in the movies, it is as the stage's first Willy Loman in which he achieved immortality as an actor. Bearing in mind that the role was written for him, it is through Willy that he will continue to have an influence on American drama far into the future, for as long as Death of a Salesman is revived.

^{Call Northside 777 (1948)}

Spouse

Mary Hirsch (27 June 1957 - 11 February 1976) (his death)
Helen Beverly (February 1940 - ?) (divorced)

^{On the Waterfront (1954)}

Trivia

He was also an accomplished harmonica artist. He was a member of the famed Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals, who appeared in the 1928 film, The Patriot (1928) starring Lewis Stone, and directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

Was succeeded in two of his roles by the late George C. Scott. Cobb died shortly after playing Lt. Kendrick in The Exorcist (1973). Scott took over the part in the third film. Cobb played Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men (1957) and Scott played that part in the television remake. Scott also played Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman," a part Cobb originated. 12 Angry Men (1997) (TV).

Father of Julie Cobb who was married to James Cromwell.

The part of Willy Loman in the stage play "Death of a Salesman" was written specifically for him by Arthur Miller.

Arthur Miller offered him the lead role of Eddie Carbone in his Broadway play "A View from the Bridge." While an outsider might think that the politically progressive Miller would be hostile to the actor due to Cobb's friendly testimony before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, during which he "named names," Miller thought Cobb would be ideal for the role. Himself a target of the witch hunt for alleged Communists undertaken by the government, Miller believed that Cobb would bring real intensity to Carbone, who informs on his relatives to the immigration service, as he himself had been an informer. Cobb turned down the role, as he believed that to accept it would open him up to retaliation from the reactionary right and jeopardize his career.

^{12 Angry Men (1957)}

In his autobiography "Timebends," Arthur Miller says that Lee J. Cobb was his favorite Willy Loman. He also says that Cobb was never really a leftist as he was apolitical, but that he had been attracted to left-wing and anti-Nazi causes during the Depression as had many people who were trying to do right. Thus, Miller never held the fact that he was a friendly witness before HUAAC against him. A decade after his testimony, Cobb's Willy Loman was captured for posterity, with the 1966 video version. By then, Miller had even worked again with Elia Kazan, the most famous and unrepentant of the people who knuckled under and "named names."

Was a good friend with screenwriter Alvah Bessie, a Communist Party member who was one of the Hollywood 10, until Cobb refused to lend him $500 in the late 1940s. Bessie had been ruined financially by legal fees connected to his appeals of his contempt citation issued by the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC). Bessie and other members of the Hollywood 10 braved the Committee's inquisition into communists and fellow-travelers in the film industry by refusing to cooperate. When Cobb told him that $500 wouldn't solve his problems, their friendship was over. Cobb later turned out with hundreds of sympathizers of the Hollywood 10 to show their support for the members who were flying to Washington, D.C. for their trials on charges of contempt of Congress levied by HUAC. Later, Cobb would be a friendly witness before HUAC, naming names of fellow former communists and leftists from his Group Theater days in New York in the 1930s.

Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003).

^{Party Girl (1958)}

Personal Quotes

We all want to play romantic figures. But because I lost my hair I was stuck playing butchers and crooks.

[interview with Victor Navasky for the book "Naming Names", about the McCarthy "Red Scare" witch-hunts of the 1950s] When the facilities of the government of the United States are drawn on an individual it can be terrifying. The blacklist is just the opening gambit - being deprived of work. Your passport is confiscated. That's minor. But not being able to move without being tailed is something else. After a certain point it grows to implied as well as articulated threats, and people succumb. My wife did, and she was institutionalized. In 1953 the HUCA did a deal with me. I was pretty much worn down. I had no money. I couldn't borrow. I had the expenses of taking care of the children. Why am I subjecting my loved ones to this? If it's worth dying for, and I am just as idealistic as the next fellow. But I decided it wasn't worth dying for, and if this gesture was the way of getting out of the penitentiary I'd do it. I had to be employable again.

[testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 23, 1953] I would like to thank you for the privilege of setting the record straight, not only for whatever subjective relief it affords me, but if belatedly this information can be of any value in the further strengthening of our Government and its efforts at home as well as abroad, it will serve in some way to mitigate whatever feeling of guilt I might have for having waited this long.

The theater is the actor's medium. Movies are the director's medium. Television is nobody's medium.

Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards, USA

1959: Nominated Oscar - Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
1955: Nominated Oscar - Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: On the Waterfront (1954)

Emmy Awards

1967: Nominated Emmy - Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama for: Death of a Salesman (1966) (TV)
1960: Nominated Emmy - Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor (Lead or Support) for: "Playhouse 90" (1956) (episode "Project Immortality")
1958: Nominated Emmy - Actor - Best Single Performance - Lead or Support for: "Studio One" (1948) (episode "No Deadly Medicine")

Golden Globes, USA

1964: Nominated Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor for: Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
1958: Nominated Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor for: 12 Angry Men (1957)

Laurel Awards

1964: Won 3rd place Golden Laurel - Top Male Supporting Performance for: Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
1961: Nominated 4th place Golden Laurel - Top Male Supporting Performance for: Exodus (1960)
1958: Won 3rd place Golden Laurel - Top Male Dramatic Performance for: The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

Filmography

"Alle origini della mafia" .... Bartolomeo Gramignano (1 episode, 1976)
... aka "Origins of the Mafia" - International (English title)
   - Gli antenati (1976) TV episode .... Bartolomeo Gramignano
La legge violenta della squadra anticrimine (1976) .... Dante Ragusa
Gli amici di Nick Hezard (1976) .... Robert Clark
... aka "Nick the Sting" - Europe (English title) (informal title), USA
That Lucky Touch (1975) .... Lt. Gen. Henry Steedman
Mark il poliziotto spara per primo (1975) .... Il commedator Benzi
... aka "Mark Shoots First" - International (English title)
Mark il poliziotto (1975) .... Benzi
... aka "Blood, Sweat and Fear" - USA
... aka "Mark of the Cop" - USA
... aka "Mark the Narc" - Europe (English title)
"Gunsmoke" .... Col. Josiah Johnson (1 episode, 1974)
... aka "Marshal Dillon" - USA (rerun title)
   - The Colonel (1974) TV episode .... Col. Josiah Johnson
The Great Ice Rip-Off (1974) (TV) .... Willy Calso
Trapped Beneath the Sea (1974) (TV) .... Victor Bateman
Dr. Max (1974) (TV) .... Dr. Maxwell 'Max' Gordon
Il venditore di palloncini (1974) .... Vent'anni
The Exorcist (1973) .... Lt. Kinderman
... aka "The Exorcist: The Version You Haven't Seen Yet" - USA (recut version)
... aka "The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen" - USA (promotional title)
... aka "William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist" - USA (reissue title)
Ultimatum (1973)
La polizia sta a guardare (1973) .... Jovine
... aka "Ransom! Police Is Watching" - USA (video title)
Double Indemnity (1973) (TV) .... Barton Keyes
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973) .... Lapchance
"McCloud" .... Alexander Montello (1 episode, 1973)
   - Showdown at the End of the World (1973) TV episode .... Alexander Montello
Heat of Anger (1972) (TV) .... Frank Galvin
"The Young Lawyers" .... Attorney David Barrett (24 episodes, 1970-1971)
   - Is There a Good Samaritan in the House? (21 September 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - A Simple Thing Called Justice (28 September 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Two Dollar Thing (5 October 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Alienation Kick (12 October 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Where's Aaron (19 October 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - We May Be Better Strangers (26 October 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Glass Prison (2 November 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Russell Incident (9 November 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - At the Edge of the Night (16 November 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Are You Running with Me, Jimmy? (23 November 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - A Busload of Bishops (30 November 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Legacy of Miles Turner (7 December 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Remember Chris Gately? (14 December 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - MacGillicuddy Always Was a Pain in the Neck (21 December 1970) - Attorney David Barrett
   - False Witness (4 January 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Legal Maneuver (20 January 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Outspoken Silence (3 February 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Victims (10 February 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Bradbury War (17 February 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - And the Walls Came Tumbling Down (24 February 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Down at the House of Truth, Visiting (3 March 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - The Whimper of Whipped Dogs (10 March 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - Conrad and the Taxi Squad (17 March 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
   - I've Got a Problem (24 March 1971) - Attorney David Barrett
Lawman (1971) .... Vincent Bronson
Macho Callahan (1970) .... Duffy
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970) .... Oman Hedgepath
"The Dean Martin Show" (1 episode, 1970)
... aka "The Dean Martin Comedy Hour" - USA (new title)
   - Episode dated 19 February 1970 (1970) TV episode
Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man (1970) (TV)
To Confuse the Angel (1970) (TV)
Mackenna's Gold (1969) .... The Editor
Las Vegas, 500 millones (1968) .... Steve Skorsky
... aka "Our Man in Las Vegas" - USA (TV title)
... aka "They Came to Rob Las Vegas" - USA
Coogan's Bluff (1968) .... Lt. McElroy
Day of the Evil Gun (1968) (uncredited) .... Rancher
Il giorno della civetta (1968) .... Don Mariano Arena
In Like Flint (1967) .... Lloyd C. Cramden
Death of a Salesman (1966) (TV) .... Willy Loman
"The Virginian" .... Judge Henry Garth / ... (120 episodes, 1962-1966)
... aka "The Men from Shiloh" - USA (new title)
   - The Mark of a Man (1966) TV episode .... Judge Henry Garth
   - A Bald-Faced Boy (1966) TV episode .... Judge Henry Garth
   - No Drums, No Trumpets (1966) TV episode .... Judge Henry Garth
   - That Saunders Woman (1966) TV episode .... Judge Henry Garth
   - The Wolves Up Front, the Jackals Behind (1966) TV episode .... Judge Henry Garth
   (115 more)
Our Man Flint (1966) .... Cramden
"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" .... Ernie Wigman (1 episode, 1963)
   - It's Mental Work (1963) TV episode .... Ernie Wigman
Come Blow Your Horn (1963) .... Harry R. Baker
How the West Was Won (1962) .... Marshal Lou Ramsey
"General Electric Theater" .... Dominic Roma / ... (2 episodes, 1960-1962)
... aka "G.E. Theater" - USA (informal short title)
... aka "G.E. True Theater" - USA (new title)
   - The Unstoppable Gray Fox (1962) TV episode .... Grayson Foxhall
   - Lear vs. the Committeeman (1960) TV episode .... Dominic Roma
The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) .... Julio Madariaga
"Naked City" .... Paul Delito (1 episode, 1961)
   - Take Off Your Hat When a Funeral Passes (1961) TV episode .... Paul Delito
"The DuPont Show with June Allyson" .... Captain Maximillian Gault (1 episode, 1961)
   - School of the Soldier (1961) TV episode .... Captain Maximillian Gault
Exodus (1960) .... Barak Ben Canaan
"The DuPont Show of the Month" .... Alonso Quijana / ... (2 episodes, 1959-1960)
   - Men in White (1960) TV episode
   - I, Don Quixote (1959) TV episode .... Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quijana
But Not for Me (1959) .... Jeremiah MacDonald
"Playhouse 90" .... Al Bengsten / ... (2 episodes, 1957-1959)
   - Project Immortality (1959) TV episode .... Dr. Lawrence Doner
   - Panic Button (1957) TV episode .... Al Bengsten
Green Mansions (1959) .... Nuflo
The Trap (1959) .... Victor Massonetti
"Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" .... El Jefe (1 episode, 1959)
   - Trial at Devil's Canyon (1959) TV episode .... El Jefe
"Zane Grey Theater" .... Captain Andrew Watling / ... (2 episodes, 1956-1958)
... aka "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater" - USA (complete title)
... aka "The Westerners" - USA (rerun title)
   - Legacy of a Legend (1958) TV episode .... Drifter
   - Death Watch (1956) TV episode .... Captain Andrew Watling
Party Girl (1958) .... Rico Angelo
Man of the West (1958) .... Dock Tobin
The Brothers Karamazov (1958) .... Father Karamazov
"Studio One" .... Dr. Joseph Pearson (2 episodes, 1957)
... aka "Studio One Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
... aka "Studio One in Hollywood" - USA (new title)
... aka "Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
... aka "Westinghouse Studio One" - USA (alternative title)
... aka "Westinghouse Summer Theatre" - USA (summer title)
   - No Deadly Medicine: Part 2 (1957) TV episode .... Dr. Joseph Pearson
   - No Deadly Medicine: Part 1 (1957) TV episode .... Dr. Joseph Pearson
The Three Faces of Eve (1957) .... Doctor Curtis Luther
The Garment Jungle (1957) .... Walter Mitchell
12 Angry Men (1957) .... Juror #3
Miami Expose (1956) .... Lt. Barton 'Bart' Scott
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) .... Judge Bernstein
"The Alcoa Hour" .... Zocco (1 episode, 1956)
   - A Patch of Faith (1956) TV episode .... Zocco
"Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1 episode, 1956)
... aka "Goodyear Playhouse" - USA (new title)
   - A Patch of Faith (1956) TV episode
The Left Hand of God (1955) .... Mieh Yang
The Road to Denver (1955) .... Jim Donovan
"Producers' Showcase" .... Rubashev (1 episode, 1955)
   - Darkness at Noon (1955) TV episode .... Rubashev
"Medic" .... Henry Fisher (1 episode, 1955)
   - Break Through the Bars (1955) TV episode .... Henry Fisher
"Lux Video Theatre" (1 episode, 1955)
... aka "Summer Video Theatre" - USA (summer title)
   - The Life of Emile Zola (1955) TV episode
The Racers (1955) .... Maglio
Day of Triumph (1954) .... Zadok
On the Waterfront (1954) .... Johnny Friendly
Gorilla at Large (1954) .... Detective Sgt. Garrison
"The Ford Television Theatre" .... Matt Erwin (1 episode, 1954)
... aka "Ford Theatre" - USA (short title)
   - Night Visitor (1954) TV episode .... Matt Erwin
Yankee Pasha (1954) .... Sultan
The Tall Texan (1953) .... Captain Theodore Bess
The Fighter (1952) .... Durango
"Lights Out" (1 episode, 1951)
   - The Veil (1951) TV episode
"Tales of Tomorrow" .... Wayne Crowder (1 episode, 1951)
   - Test Flight (1951) TV episode .... Wayne Crowder
The Family Secret (1951) .... Howard Clark
Sirocco (1951) .... Col. Feroud
"Somerset Maugham TV Theatre" .... Charles Strickland (1 episode, 1951)
   - The Moon and Sixpence (1951) TV episode .... Charles Strickland
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) .... Lt. Ed Cullen
Thieves' Highway (1949) .... Mike Figlia
... aka "Collision" - USA (alternative title)
... aka "The Thieves' Market" - USA (alternative title)
The Dark Past (1948) .... Dr. Andrew Collins
The Luck of the Irish (1948) .... David C. Augur
The Miracle of the Bells (1948) .... Marcus Harris
Call Northside 777 (1948) .... Brian Kelly
Captain from Castile (1947) .... Juan Garcia
Boomerang! (1947) .... Chief Harold F. 'Robbie' Robinson
Johnny O'Clock (1947) .... Inspector Koch
Anna and the King of Siam (1946) .... Kralahome
Winged Victory (1944) (as Cpl. Lee Cobb) .... Doctor
The Song of Bernadette (1943) .... Dr. Dozous
... aka "Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette" - USA (complete title)
Buckskin Frontier (1943) .... Jeptha Marr
Tonight We Raid Calais (1943) .... Bonnard
The Moon Is Down (1943) .... Dr. Albert Winter
Down Rio Grande Way (1942) (uncredited)
Paris Calling (1941) .... Captain Schwabe
... aka "Paris Bombshell" - USA (reissue title)
Men of Boys Town (1941) .... Dave Morris
This Thing Called Love (1940) .... Julio Diestro
Golden Boy (1939) .... Mr. Bonaparte
Danger on the Air (1938) .... Tony Lisotti
Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) (uncredited) .... Arab
Rustlers' Valley (1937) (as Lee Colt) .... Cal Howard
North of the Rio Grande (1937) (as Lee Cobb) .... RR President Wooden
The Vanishing Shadow (1934) (uncredited) .... Road work foreman [Chs.3,4]

Joseph Cotten (1905-1994)

2011-03-23T15:33:00.004+02:00

Date of Birth
15 May 1905, Petersburg, Virginia, USA

Date of Death
6 February 1994, Westwood, California, USA (pneumonia)

Birth Name
Joseph Cheshire Cotten

Biography

Joseph Cheshire Cotten was born into a well-to-do Southern family, the eldest of three sons born to Sally Bartlett and Joseph Cotten, Sr. Jo (as he was known) and his brothers Whit and Sam spent their summers at their aunt and uncle's home at Virginia Beach. And there and at an early age he discovered a passion for story-telling, reciting, and performing acts for his family. Cotten studied acting at the Hickman School of Expression in Washington, D.C. and worked as an advertising agent afterward. But by 1924 tried to enter acting in New York. His money opportunities were limited to shipping clerk, and after a year of attempting stage work, he left with friends, heading for Miami.

There he found a variety of jobs: lifeguard, salesman, a stint as entrepreneur -- making and selling 'Tip Top Potato Salad' - but more significantly, drama critic for the Miami Herald. That evidently led to appearance in plays at the Miami Civic Theater. Through a connection at the Miami Herald he managed to land an assistant stage manager job in New York. In 1929 he was engaged for a season at the Copley Theatre in Boston, and there he was able to expand his acting experience, appearing in 30 plays in a wide variety of parts. By 1930 he made his Broadway debut. In 1931 Cotten married Lenore La Mont (usually known as Kipp), a pianist, divorced with a two-year-old daughter.

To augment his income as an actor in the mid-30s, Cotten took on radio shows in addition to his theatre work. At one audition he met an ambitious, budding actor/writer/director/producer with a mission to make his name-Orson Welles. Cotten was 10 years his senior, but the two found a kindred spirit in one another. For Cotten, Welles association would completely redirect his serious acting life. Their early co-acting attempts boded ill for employment in formal acting vehicles. At a rehearsal for CBS radio the two destroyed a scene taking place on a rubber tree plantation. One or the other was supposed to say the line: "Barrels and barrels of pith...." They could not overcome uncontrolled laughter at each attempt. The director berated them as acting like 'school-children' and 'unprofessional', and thereafter both were considered unreliable. Welles's ambition put that quickly behind them when he formed The Mercury Theatre Players. Coming on board were later Hollywood stalwarts: Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, and Ray Collins. In 1937, Cotten starred in Welles's Mercury productions of "Julius Caesar" and "Shoemaker's Holiday". And he made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson (1938), a comedy based on William Gillette's 1890 play. The short was occasionally screened before or after Mercury productions, but never received an official release. Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, starring as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original production of Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story".

The uproar over Welles's "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, was rewarded with an impressive contract from RKO Pictures. The two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director, and Welles brought his Mercury players on-board in feature roles in what he chose to bring to the screen. But after a year, nothing had germinated until Welles met with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, resulting in the Citizen Kane (1941) idea - early 1940. The story of a slightly veiled William Randolph Hearst with Welles as Kane and Cotten, in his Hollywood debut, as his college friend turned confidant and theater critic, Jed Leland, would become film history, but at the time it caused little more than a ripple. Hearst owned the majority of the country's press outlets and so forbade advertisements for the film. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1942 but was largely ignored by the Academy, only winning for Best Screenplay for Welles and Mankiewicz. The following year Cotten and Welles collaborated again in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), acclaimed but again ignored at Oscar time, and the next year's Nazi thriller Journey Into Fear (1943). Cotten, along with some Welles ideas, wrote the screenplay. Welles with his notorious overrunning of budgeting was duly dropped by RKO thereafter. Later in 1943 Cotten's exposure and acquaintance with young producer David O. Selznick resulted in a movie contract and the launching of his mainstream and very successful movie career as a romantic leading man. Thereafter he appeared with some of the most leading of Hollywood leading ladies - a favorite being Jennifer Jones, Selznick's wife with the two of them being his most intimate friends. Cotten got the opportunity to play a good range of roles through the 1940s - the darkest being the blue beard-like killer in Alfred Hitchcock thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943) with Teresa Wright. Perhaps the most fun was The Farmer's Daughter (1947) with a vivacious Loretta Young. Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones in four films: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away (1944), the romantic drama Love Letters (1945), the western Duel in the Sun (1946), and later in the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie (1948), from the haunting Robert Nathan book. Cotten is thoroughly convincing as a second-rate, unmotivated artist who finds inspiration from a chance acquaintance budding into love with an incarnation of a girl who died years before. Welles and Cotten did not work again until The Third Man (1949), directed by Carol Reed. For Cotten, the role as the hapless boyhood friend and second-rate novel writer Holly Martins would be a defining moment in a part both comedic and bittersweet, its range making it one of his best performances. Unfortunately, he was again overlooked for an Oscar.

Cotten was kept in relative demand into his mature acting years. Into the 1950s the movie roles were becoming more B than A. He had a brief role as a member of the Roman Senate, reuniting with lifelong friend Welles in his The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952). There were a few film-noir outings along with the usual fare of the older actor with fewer roles. However, he was much more successful in returning to theater roles in the new television playhouse format. He also did some episodic TV and some series ventures, as with On Trial, which was later called The Joseph Cotten Show. He had a memorable role in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dead Weight, where he was a man in a lone and isolated car accident, trapped and unable to speak. He voices over and shows his great acting skill simply through facial expressions. His one last stint with Welles was uncredited and sort of Jed Leland-revisited as the hokey coroner early in Welles's over-the-top Touch of Evil (1958). Of his association with Welles, Cotten said: "Exasperating, yes. Sometimes eruptive, unreasonable, ferocious, yes. Eloquent, penetrating, exciting, and always - never failingly even at the sacrifice of accuracy and at times his own vanity - witty. Never, never, never dull."

With the passing of his first wife in 1960 Cotten met and married British actress Patricia Medina. The 1960s found him equally busy in TV and film. He made the circuit of the most popular detective and cowboy series of the period. By 1964 he returned to film with the money making old-Hollywood-dame- horror-movie genre hit Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) with other vintage Hollywood legends Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and Agnes Moorehead. His other films of that decade were of the quick entertainment variety along with some foreign productions, and TV movies. There were also more TV series and guests appearances, especially The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular stop during its long run.

In the 1970s Cotten was still in demand-for even more of the curiosity-appeal of the populace for an older star. Along with the new assortment of TV series, he anchored himself at Universal with small parts in forgettable movies, the sluggish Universal epic dud Tora! Tora! Tora! for instance, and the steady diet of TV series being cranked out there. Though older actors have laughed in public about their descent into cheap horror movies, one can only wonder at the impetus to do them -- by such greats, as Claude Rains -- besides a can't-pass-up alluring salary. Cotten did the campy The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) with Vincent Price and about that time two second rate Italian horror outings where he was Baron Blood and Baron Frankenstein. Then again there was better exposure in the Universal minor sci-fi classic Soylent Green (1973). And in yet another Universal sequel, where the profit-logic was to gather a cast of veterans from the Hollywood spectrum in any situation spelling disaster and watch the ticket sales skyrocket, Cotten joined the all-star cast of Airport '77 (1977). He rounded out the decade with the ever faddish Fantasy Island and more Universal TV rounds. This contributor met and worked with Joseph Cotten during this latter evolution of one of Hollywood's greats. He wore his own double-breasted blue blazer and tan slacks in several roles - no need for wardrobe. His pride and joy was a blue 1939 Jaguar SS, something of a fixture on the Universal lot.

Joseph Cotten was not ready to turn his back on Hollywood until the beginning of the 1980s when he managed to appear in the epic flop Heaven's Gate (1980). After a Love Boat episode (1981), Cotten joined his wife and his love of gardening and entertaining friends in retirement. He also had the time to write an engaging autobiography Vanity Will Get You Somewhere (1987). Cotten's somewhat matter-of-fact and seemingly gruff acting voice served him well. Certainly his command of varied roles deserved more than the snub of never being nominated for an Academy Award. He was not the only actor to suffer being underrated, but that is largely forgotten in those memorable roles that speak for him. And for what it is worth, the Europeans had the very good sense to award him the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor for Portrait of Jennie, one of his favorite roles.

Spouse:

Patricia Medina (20 October 1960 - 6 February 1994) (his death)
Lenore Kipp (1931 - 1960) (her death)

Trivia:

Retired from acting in the early 1980s after a stroke and a laryngectomy.

Had a step-daughter from first marriage.

Like Orson Welles, he has appeared in the top films of both the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute; for AFI it was Citizen Kane (1941) as Jedediah Leland and for BFI, its The Third Man (1949) as Holly Martins.

Despite their mercurial relationship, he and Orson Welles remained friends until Welles' death.

Before his celebrated appearance as Charles Foster Kane's best friend, Jed Leland, in Citizen Kane (1941), he appears as one of the reporters in the March of Time parody sequence early in the film. He is seated in the back of the projection room, in the last row at the far left, and is only clearly visible in one shot, but his voice along with that of Everett Sloane's (who plays Bernstein) can often be heard in the darkness on the soundtrack.

Served as best man at Orson Welles's wedding to Rita Hayworth.

Was cast as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original 1939 Broadway production of Phillip Barry's play Philadelphia StoryZ with Katharine Hepburn. When Hepburn, who owned the rights, sold the story to MGM, Cary Grant was cast in the part.

Personal Quotes:

Orson Welles lists Citizen Kane (1941) as his best film, Alfred Hitchcock opts for Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Sir Carol Reed chose The Third Man (1949) - and I'm in all of them.

[on Orson Welles] I know a little about Orson's childhood and seriously doubt if he ever was a child.

My wife told me one of the sweetest things one could hear: "I am not jealous. But I am truly sad for all the actresses who embrace you and kiss you while acting, for with them, you are only pretending."

I was a so-called star because of my limitations and that was always the case. I couldn't do any accents. So I had to pretend. Luckily I was tall, had curly hair and a good voice. I only had to stamp my foot and I'd play the lead -- because I couldn't play character parts.

[on Bette Davis] I loved working with her.

[on making Citizen Kane (1941) with Orson Welles] Orson must have been about 22 then and I still think he's one of the greatest directors in the world. I don't know why people regard him as a difficult man. He was the easiest, most inspiring man I've ever worked with. He was the only one who seemed to know what he was doing because we were all virgins on that picture.

Filmography

The Survivor (1981) .... Priest
Heaven's Gate (1980) .... The Reverend Doctor
... aka Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (USA: complete title)
The Hearse (1980) .... Walter Pritchard
Delusion (1980) .... Ivar Langrock
... aka The House Where Death Lives
Guyana: Crime of the Century (1979) .... Richard Gable
... aka Guayana, el crimen del siglo (Spain)
... aka Guyana, el crimen del siglo (Mexico: dubbed version)
... aka Guyana: Cult of the Damned (USA)
Concorde Affaire '79 (1979) .... Milland
... aka Affare Concorde (Italy)
... aka Concorde Inferno '79 (Philippines: English title)
... aka S.O.S. Concorde (UK: video title)
... aka The Concorde Affair (USA: video title)
L'isola degli uomini pesce (1979) .... Prof. Ernest Marvin
... aka The Island of the Fishmen (literal English title) (Philippines: English title)
... aka Island of Fishmen (Australia: poster title)
... aka Island of Mutations
... aka Screamers (USA)
... aka Something Waits in the Dark (USA)
... aka The Fish Men
Indagine su un delitto perfetto (1978) .... Sir Arthur Dundee
... aka The Perfect Crime (USA: video title)
Caravans (1978) .... Crandall
L'ordre et la sécurité du monde (1978) .... Foster Johnson
... aka Concorde Affair (International: English title)
... aka Last In, First Out (USA)
Airport '77 (1977) .... Nicholas St. Downs III
... aka Airport 1977 (International: English title: informal title)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) .... Arthur Renfrew - Secretary of State
... aka Das Ultimatum (West Germany)
... aka Nuclear Countdown
... aka Todeskommando Feuerblitz Ultimatum (West Germany)
Un sussurro nel buio (1976) .... The Professor
... aka A Whisper in the Dark
Timber Tramps (1975)
... aka The Big Push
... aka The Timber Tramp (USA)
Il giustiziere sfida la città (1975) .... Paternò
... aka Final Payment (Canada: English title: cut version)
... aka One Just Man (Europe: English title)
... aka Rambo's Revenge (USA: dubbed version)
... aka Syndicate Sadists (USA)
Vérités et mensonges (1974) [Actor .... Special Participant]
... aka ?: About Fakes (USA)
... aka F for Fake (USA: promotional title)
... aka F wie Fälschung (West Germany)
... aka Truths and Lies (International: English title: literal title)
A Delicate Balance (1973) .... Harry
... aka Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (Australia: DVD box title)
Soylent Green (1973) .... Simonson
Lo Scopone scientifico (1972) .... George
... aka The Scientific Cardplayer
... aka The Scopone Game (USA: video title)
Doomsday Voyage (1972) .... Captain Jason
... aka Questions (USA)
Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga (1972) .... Baron Otto von Kleist / Alfred Becker
... aka The Torture Chamber of Baron Blood (USA: long title)
... aka Baron Blood (USA)
... aka Chamber of Tortures
... aka The Blood Baron
... aka The Thirst of Baron Blood
La figlia di Frankenstein (1971) .... Baron Frankenstein
... aka Daughter of Frankenstein
... aka Lady Frankenstein (USA)
... aka Madame Frankenstein
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) .... Dr. Vesalius
... aka Dr. Phibes (USA: promotional title)
... aka The Curse of Dr. Phibes
Journey to Murder (1971) .... Jeff Wheeler (Do Me a Favor - Kill Me!)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) .... Henry Stimson
The Grasshopper (1970) .... Richard Morgan
... aka Passions (USA: video title)
... aka The Passing of Evil
Ido zero daisakusen (1969) .... Capt. Craig McKenzie/Cmdr. Glenn McKenzie
... aka Atragon II (International: English title)
... aka Kaitei Daisenso - Ido Zero Daisakusen
... aka Latitude Zero (USA)
... aka Latitude Zero Military Tactics
... aka Latitude Zero: Big Military Operation
Keene (1969)
Comanche blanco (1968) .... Sheriff Logan
... aka Hour of Vengeance
... aka Rio Hondo (USA)
... aka White Comanche
Petulia (1968) .... Mr. Danner
Un giorno di fuoco (1968)
... aka Days of Fire
Gangster '70 (1968) .... Destil
Jack of Diamonds (1967) .... Ace of Diamonds
... aka Der Diamantenprinz (West Germany)
Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967) .... Jim Owen
... aka Brighty
I crudeli (1967) .... Jonas
... aka Hellbenders (USA)
... aka Los despiadados (Spain)
... aka The Cruel Ones (USA)
... aka The Hellbenders (USA)
Some May Live (1967) .... Col. Woodward
... aka In Saigon, Some May Live
The Oscar (1966) .... Kenneth Regan
Gli uomini dal passo pesante (1965) .... Temple Cordeen
... aka Les forcenés (France)
... aka Showdown
... aka The Tramplers (USA)
The Money Trap (1965) .... Dr. Horace Van Tilden
The Great Sioux Massacre (1965) .... Major Reno
... aka Massacre at the Rosebud
... aka The Custer Massacre
... aka The Great Sioux Raid
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) .... Drew
... aka What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?
The Last Sunset (1961) .... John Breckenridge
"The Barbara Stanwyck Show" .... Mac McClay (1 episode, 1961)
- The Hitch-Hiker (1961) TV episode .... Mac McClay
The Angel Wore Red (1960) .... Hawthorne
... aka La sposa bella (Italy)
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" .... Courtney Masterson / ... (3 episodes, 1955-1959)
   - Dead Weight (1959) TV episode .... Courtney Masterson
   - Together (1958) TV episode .... Tony Gould
   - Breakdown (1955) TV episode .... William Callew
From the Earth to the Moon (1958) .... Victor Barbicane
Touch of Evil (1958) (uncredited) .... Coroner
The Halliday Brand (1957) .... Daniel Halliday
The Killer Is Loose (1956) .... Det. Sam Wagner
The Bottom of the Bottle (1956) .... Pat 'P.M.' Martin
... aka Beyond the River (UK)
Vom Himmel gefallen (1955) .... John Adams
... aka Special Delivery (USA)
A Blueprint for Murder (1953) .... Whitney 'Cam' Cameron
Egypt by Three (1953) .... Narrator
Niagara (1953) .... George Loomis
The Steel Trap (1952) .... Jim Osborne
Untamed Frontier (1952) .... Kirk Denbow
The Wild Heart (1952) .... Narrator
... aka Gypsy Blood
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) (uncredited) .... Senator
... aka Othello (Australia) (France) (USA)
... aka Otello (Italy)
The Man with a Cloak (1951) .... Dupin
Peking Express (1951) .... Michael Bachlin
Half Angel (1951) .... John Raymond Jr.
Walk Softly, Stranger (1950) .... Chris Hale aka Steve
Two Flags West (1950) .... Col. Clay Tucker
September Affair (1950) .... David Lawrence
Beyond the Forest (1949) .... Doctor Louis Moline
Under Capricorn (1949) .... Sam Flusky
The Third Man (1949) .... Holly Martins
... aka The 3rd Man (USA: poster title)
Portrait of Jennie (1948) .... Eben Adams
... aka Jennie (UK)
... aka Tidal Wave
The Farmer's Daughter (1947) .... Glenn Morley
Duel in the Sun (1946) .... Jesse McCanles
... aka King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (UK: complete title) (USA: complete title)
Love Letters (1945) .... Allen Quinton
I'll Be Seeing You (1944) .... Zachary Morgan
Since You Went Away (1944) .... Lieutenant Tony Willett
Gaslight (1944) .... Brian Cameron
... aka Murder in Thornton Square (UK)
Hers to Hold (1943) .... Bill Morley
Journey Into Fear (1943) .... Howard Graham
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) .... Uncle Charlie Oakley
... aka Shadow of Doubt (USA: poster title)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) .... Eugene Morgan
Lydia (1941) .... Michael Fitzpatrick
... aka Illusions
Citizen Kane (1941) .... Jedediah Leland
Too Much Johnson (1938) .... Augustus Billings

Monty Woolley (1888-1963)

2011-03-22T20:29:00.002+02:00

Date of Birth
17 August 1888, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death
6 May 1963, Albany, New York, USA (kidney and heart ailment)

Birth Name
Edgar Montillion Wooley

Nickname:
The Beard

Mini Biography

Large and hearty Monty Woolley was born to privilege on August 17, 1888, the son of a hotel proprietor who owned the Marie Antoinette Hotel on Broadway. A part of Manhattan's elite social circle at a young age, he studied at both Yale (Master's degree) and Harvard and returned to Yale as an English instructor and coach of graduate dramatics. Among his students were Thornton Wilder and Stephen Vincent Benet.

Directly involved in the theater arts via his close association with intimate Yale friend and confidante Cole Porter, Monty directed several Broadway musicals and reviews, many in collaboration with Porter, including "Fifty Million Frenchmen" (1929) (an early success for Porter), "The New Yorkers" and "Jubilee" (1935). In 1936, at age 47, the witty, erudite gent had a career renaissance and gave up his Ivy League professorship once and for all in order to pursue the stage professionally. He took his first Broadway bow in the hit musical "On Your Toes" alongside Ray Bolger. That very same year he made his unbilled film debut with Ladies in Love (1936). Hollywood soon took notice and he began receiving supporting credit as assorted judges and doctors for such MGM fare as Live, Love and Learn (1937), Everybody Sing (1938), the Margaret Sullavan tearjerker Three Comrades (1938), Lord Jeff (1938), the Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy musical The Girl of the Golden West (1938) and Young Dr. Kildare (1938).

_{Monty Woolley and Bette Davis between takes of The Man Who Came to Dinner}

Typically playing cunning character leads and support roles, he was affectionately nicknamed "The Beard" by friend Cole Porter for his distinguished, impeccably-trimmed white whiskers. It was Monty that introduced Porter into the famed New York theater circle. Known for his sartorial elegance, ribald sense of humor and snob appeal, he and Porter were highly prominent carousers in the New York gay social underground.

Monty came into his own in 40s films, earning a best actor Oscar nomination for his role in the WWII drama The Pied Piper (1942), a supporting actor nod in another war classic, Since You Went Away (1944), and portrayed himself in the absurdly fictionalized (and sanitized) "biography" of Cole Porter entitled Night and Day (1946) starring a woefully miscast but admittedly flattering Cary Grant in the lead. A flashy delight in other movie roles, Monty received top billing in Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) with June Haver and Dick Haymes, playing a twinkle-eyed con man; appeared opposite Brit comedienne Grace Field in the English-humored Molly and Me (1945) and Holy Matrimony (1943); again with Cary Grant along with Loretta Young and David Niven as a professor in the perennial Christmas classic The Bishop's Wife (1947); plots against his own retirement in the mild comedy As Young as You Feel (1951) opposite another scene-stealing favorite, Thelma Ritter; and ended his film career with the role of Omar Khayyam in the glossy MGM operetta Kismet (1955).

_{Anne Baxter, Monty Woolley, Roddy McDowall -- The Pied Piper}

Above all, however, Monty will be forever and indelibly cherished as the irascible (and definitive) radio personality Sheridan Whiteside in the stage and film versions of Kaufman and Hart's screwball classic The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942). Playing the razor-tongued, wheelchair-bound celebrity who wreaks havoc for everyone within knife-throwing distance, this would be the hallmark of his never-too-late-to-try career. He played another uppity and bombastic celebrity, this time a washed-up classical actor, in the more sentimental Life Begins at Eight-Thirty (1942), another role dripping with crusty sarcasm.

He was also a frequent radio presence as a guest performer, from the time he first appeared in the medium as a foil to Al Jolson.[6] Woolley became a familiar guest presence on such shows as The Fred Allen Show, Duffy's Tavern, The Big Show, The Charlie McCarthy Show, and others. In 1950, Woolley landed the starring role in the NBC series, The Magnificent Montague. He played a former Shakespearean actor whose long fall onto hard times forced him to swallow his pride and take a role on daily network radio, becoming an unlikely star while sparring with his wife, Lily (Anne Seymour); and, his wise-cracking maid, Agnes (Pert Kelton). The show lasted from November 1950 through September 1951.

_{A party on the set of The Man Who Came to Dinner: Monty Woolley, director William Keighley, Ann Sheridan and cinematographer Tony Gaudio}

Woolley appeared on television at first in cameos, then his own dramatic play series On Stage with Monty Woolley. He starred in a CBS TV adaptation of The Man Who Came To Dinner in 1954, which he and some reviewers lambasted, and appeared in other televised dramas in the series Best of Broadway.

After completing his last film, Kismet (1955), he returned to radio for about a year, after which he was forced to retire due to ill health.

Woolley was nominated twice for the Academy Award, as Best Actor in 1943 for The Pied Piper and as Best Supporting Actor in 1945 for Since You Went Away. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his television work.

Death

Monty Woolley, affectionately known as "The Beard," died due to complications with kidney and heart ailments on May 6, 1963, in Albany, New York, 74 years old. He is interred at the Greenridge Cemetery, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York.

_{Monty Woolley, Ilka Chase -- Miss Tatlock's Millions}

Personal life

Woolley and Cole Porter enjoyed many adventures together in New York and on foreign travels, although Porter reportedly disapproved of Woolley taking a black man as his lover.

According to Bennett Cerf in his 1944 book Try and Stop Me, Woolley was at a dinner party and suddenly belched. A woman sitting nearby glared at him; he glared back and said, "And what did you expect, my good woman? Chimes?" Cerf wrote, "Woolley was so pleased with this line that he insisted it be written into his next role in Hollywood."

_{Ida Lupino, Monty Woolley -- Life Begins at Eight-Thirty}

Trivia

Star of NBC Radio's "The Magnificent Montague" (1950-1951).

Long-time friend and confidant of Cole Porter stretching back to their days at Yale.

A member of New York's gay theatrical society during the Roaring 20s. Woolley was close friends with Clifton Webb and Cole Porter.

A member of the National Guard, Woolley served as an intelligence officer in France during World War I. After the war, he commandeered the Yale Experimental Theater, a position he held until 1927.

Monty is referred to in Cole Porter's song "Farming" and also served as the witty player of words in Porter's classic "De-Lovely". Monty's favorite song for entertaining at parties was Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets".

Known for his famous whiskers Monty once valued them at $8,000. When Paramount Pictures asked to shave them off for a movie role, Monty asked for $2,000 down and $500 a week for the three months it would take to grow it back. Parmamount declined the offer.

_{As Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942): "My, how time flies when you're having fun!"}

FILMOGRAPHY

Kismet (1955) .... Omar
As Young as You Feel (1951) .... John R. Hodges
Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948) .... Miles Tatlock
The Bishop's Wife (1947) .... Prof. Wutheridge
Molly and Me (1945) .... John Graham
Night and Day (1946) .... Himself
Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) .... Edgar Brawley
Since You Went Away (1944) .... Colonel William G. Smollett
Holy Matrimony (1943) .... Priam Farrell
Life Begins at Eight-Thirty (1942) .... Madden Thomas
... aka The Light of Heart (UK)
The Pied Piper (1942) .... John Sidney Howard
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) .... Sheridan Whiteside
See Your Doctor (1939) (uncredited) .... Doctor
Dancing Co-Ed (1939) .... Professor Lange
... aka Every Other Inch a Lady (UK)
Honeymoon in Bali (1939) (uncredited) .... Parker, Smitty's Publisher
... aka Husbands or Lovers (UK)
... aka My Love for Yours (USA: video title)
Man About Town (1939) .... Henri Dubois
Never Say Die (1939) .... Dr. Schmidt
Midnight (1939) .... The Judge
Zaza (1939) (uncredited) .... Fouget-interviewer
Artists and Models Abroad (1938) .... Gantvoort
... aka Stranded in Paris (UK)
Young Dr. Kildare (1938) .... Dr. Lane-Porteus
Vacation from Love (1938) (uncredited) .... Wedding Guest in Car
Lord Jeff (1938) .... Jeweler
... aka The Boy from Barnardo's (UK)
Three Comrades (1938) .... Dr. Jaffe
The Forgotten Step (1938) .... The Art Collector
The Girl of the Golden West (1938) .... The governor
Arsène Lupin Returns (1938) .... Georges Bouchet
Everybody Sing (1938) .... John 'Jack' Fleming
Nothing Sacred (1937) (uncredited) .... Dr. Oswald Vunch - of Prague
Live, Love and Learn (1937) .... Mr. Bawltitude
Ladies in Love (1936) (uncredited) (unconfirmed) .... Man in Box Seat

John Garfield (1913 - 1952)

2011-03-18T15:31:00.011+02:00

Date of Birth
4 March 1913, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death
21 May 1952, New York City, New York, USA (coronary thrombosis)

Birth Name
Jacob Julius Garfinkle

Nickname
Julie

Biography

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on March 4, 1913 into the poverty of New York City's Lower East Side. His parents were first-generation Americans of Ukranian peasant ancestry. His father, David, a clothes-presser by trade and by all acounts was a slow, plodding man, was immersed in the culture of the Old Country. Garfield was later to describe him as "an ignorant man, a religious fanatic."

Hannah, John's mother, was just the opposite - warm, outgoing and supportive of her young son. But hard life in the slums took its toll, and following a difficult pregnancy and the birth of John's brother Max, Hannah's health began to fail. She died in 1920 when John was seven years old and his brother Max was two.David moved his remaining family to a tenement in East Brooklyn and over the next several years would parcel out his sons to various relatives, unable, or unwilling, to take responsibility for them himself.

"Julie", as Garfield was known to friends and family all his life, was described as an outgoing child with endless energy, a great mop of thick hair and an engaging grin. Small for his age, he soon had to pick up survival tactics on the streets, learning "all the meanness, all the toughness it's possible for kids to acquire." But despite the squalor of his surroundings, Julie thrived on the adversity and relished his triumphs over formidable odds. Just like a movie with the "Dead End" kids, Julie was a member of a street gang and gained a reputation for being a clown - everything Julie did he did better if he had an audience.

He also was apparently adept at petty theft - with "quick hands and could run like hell." This potentially bleak future took a turn for the better when Julie came under the wing of Angelo Patri at Public School 45. Patri was able to channel the boy's high spirits into performing on a stage, and a whole new world suddenly opened for young Julie.
Previously a very poor student, his scholastic record improved solely because it was a requirement for being eligible to take part in plays. Garfield was later to say of Patri, " For reaching into the garbage pail and pulling me out, I owe him everything." Patri was later instrumental in Julie's receiving a scholarship to the Heckscher Foundation where Julie learned the fundamentals of theater work.
By 1930, at age 17, Julie had landed a few walk-on parts in the theater where he was able to observe and learn from actors at work. He also succumbed to a sense of adventure and went on a sojourn of his own - hitchhiking and riding freight trains across the country.
For months he lived the life of a hobo, staying in roadside camps, picking fruit or working as a waiter at truck stops to earn some change. Later, the Hollywood publicity machine would romanticize this experience (and reportedly director Preston Sturges got the idea for his now-classic "Sullivan's Travels" from listening to Garfield's stories), but in reality it was a dirt-poor existence at the height of the Depression.
Back in New York, Julie worked as an apprentice with the Civic Repertory Theater, attending acting classes and receiving more bit parts on the stage.
1932 was a turning point. Julie, or, Jules Garfield, as he was now calling himself, joined up with the new avant-garde Theater Group. There he would form friendships that would remain influential throughout his life. Writer Clifford Odets, Stella and Luther Adler, Morris Carnovsky, Elia Kazan -- all important names in the theater and in Hollywood for decades to come.

Garfield also met the vivacious young actress who would become his wife, Roberta (known as Robbie) Seidman. The newlyweds took a flat in Greenwich Village and over the next few years Garfield would gain bigger and bigger parts on the stage, honing his craft.

Garfield's staunch devotion to the Theater Group received a serious blow when the plum part of Joe Bonaparte in Clifford Odets' new play "Golden Boy" - a part Odets wrote specifically with Garfield in mind - was given to Luther Adler. Garfield felt that the Group had shunned its purported policy of taking chances and nurturing new talent by choosing an established name for the lead part. Disllusioned, Garfield decided to take a chance on an offer that had come from Warner Bros Studio in Hollywood.
Fully expecting Garfield to stay only temporarily in California - his heart and soul belonged to the New York stage - Robbie stayed behind while her husband made the trip to the West Coast in a rickety old automobile.

The year was 1938. Garfield's arrival in Hollywood was without fanfare. He took a room in a boarding house, got a tour of the Warner Studio and met his new boss, Jack Warner - who promptly gave him a new first name - John.The studio announced that Garfield would make his first appearance in The Sisters, with Errol Flynn and Bette Davis, then it was to be in The Patent Leather Kid, then Girls on Probation - but for one reason or another, none of these came through.

What did materialize was a supporting role in a film in which Warners hoped to promote a new leading man, Jeffrey Lynn, entitled Four Daughters. Co-starring Priscilla Lane, her sisters Rosemary and Lola, and Gale Page in the title roles, it told the story of a small-town family nicely ensconced in then-typical wholesomeness. Into this sweetness-and-light comes Mickey Borden, out-of-work musician (Garfield) - brash, sarcastic, brooding, and....dangerous. To audiences he was like a dash of cold water in the face, and his naturalness and sheer presence made all around him suddenly seem two-dimensional. The role of Mickey literally made Garfield an overnight star. Success was heady, and Garfield eventually accepted Warners' offer of a seven-year contract. Robbie soon joined him and the two took up residence in Hollywood.

In the fall, their daughter Katherine was born, and Garfield was on top of the world. Warner Bros Studio in the '30s and '40s was a factory - and Garfield became part of the well-oiled machinery, turning out 4 and 5 films per year. Not unlike Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, his initial role had made such an impact on audiences (and on the Warner coffers) that he was continuously cast in replicas of Mickey Borden roles. And, also like Cagney and Robinson, Garfield would fight this typecasting - with only marginal success.
Although there was written in his contract a stipulation that Garfield could accept stage roles, he only took advantage of it occasionally - he had come to realize the enormous power of the film media and became totally committed to it.
Garfield was a staunch liberal, idolized FDR, and during World War II did more than almost any big star of the time to further America's cause. Turned down for military service because of heart problems, Garfield became a travelling entertainer, a war bond salesman, and joined with Bette Davis to form the Hollywood Canteen - a combination restaurant/showplace where servicemen on leave in Los Angeles could, at no cost, have meals served to them by the likes of Joan Crawford and Lana Turner, dance with Ann Sheridan or Joan Leslie, and watch Benny Goodman or Tommy Dorsey perform live. Reports filtered into gossip columns that all was not entirely well with the Garfield marriage; it wasn't that John chased women - quite the opposite - but he apparently had a low threshold of resistance.

But in 1945 a tragedy occured that was to bring John much closer to his home and family. Daughter Katherine suffered from severe allergies that had always been controllable - until a day she was on a picnic at a friend's ranchhouse. Kat was struck with an attack and had difficulty breathing. Her condition worsened when she returned home, and before she could be rushed to the hospital, she died of strangulation. She was just 6 years old.

Garfield was totally devastated and never fully recovered from the loss - a gloom that had never been apparent before would at times overshadow his naturally sunny disposition.
When Garfield's contract at Warner Bros expired in 1946 he opted to go it alone. Not many stars ventured out of the safe, if artistically confining, studio system but Garfield formed his own production company, Enterprise, saying, "I've saved every penny I made and now I'm going to do the pictures I want to do."
The first project he chose turned out to be one of his very best films - Body and Soul. Garfield's performance garnered him his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his fledgling independent company was off to a promising start.
But clouds were forming over Hollywood in the late 1940s - a paranoia in Washington DC would spread, becoming the scourge called the House of Un-American Activities Committee. A veritable witch-hunt would ensue over the coming years, plucking victims from the actors, actresses, writers and directors in the movie industry and stomping on their careers, their very lives.

The premise was that the film industry, which had such tremendous influence over audiences, was somehow infiltrated with dangerous Communists who were out to destroy the American way of life.
Artists' pasts were dug up and examined down to the minutest details - and anyone who had even a slight glimmer of leftist leanings was raked over the coals. The damage done by this insanity left wounds still raw today. One of the HUAC's most destructive ploys was to bring to the stand so-called "friendly" witnesses - in other words, anyone who would point the finger at a colleague.

No matter that a charge of being a Communist could not be substantiated - once singled out a person was as good as finished in the movie business.
That Garfield would come under the microscope was inevitable, given the extremity of the HUAC's criteria. His association with the Theater Group a decade earlier was enough - any such unique group was viewed as a 'commune', a hotbed of liberals who had dared to be different, and therefore were 'suspicious.'
Though his wife had been a member of the Communist Party, Garfield was never officially charged with Communist sympathies - it was his refusal to name names that would bring disaster upon him. Perhaps harking back to his boyhood street-gang days, he stubbornly refused to 'rat on a pal' - and it would be his downfall. Operating under the premise that if you weren't for them you were against them, the HUAC succeeded in making John Garfield too hot to handle. Opportunities for work dropped off, doors were (figuratively and in some cases, not so figuratively) slammed in his face, former 'friends' avoided him.

Such was the power of the Blacklist that any contact with one under suspicion was certain vocational death. Members of the film industry were running scared, and the majority didn't care who got trampled, as long as they themselves remained unscathed.

Hemmed in on all sides by vague accusations he knew not how to fight, Garfield spent his last days futilely going over past letters, old tax forms, anything that could disprove that he had ever been any harm to the country he loved. His fierce loyalty to his friends and his beliefs never wavered, but he succumbed to a great anger, born of confusion and fear. He became estranged from his family, disappeared for days on end, began drinking heavily and would go without sleep for long periods of time.

On May 21, 1952 he was found dead in the apartment of a former showgirl, the victim of a heart attack at age 39.

Garfield's funeral in New York was mobbed by 10,000 distraught fans, a sight not seen since the death of silent screen idol Rudolph Valentino over two decades before. Garfield was buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Garfield's son David would become an actor and film editor. He died of heart failure in 1995.

Daughter Julie Garfield is an actress and acting teacher.

Robbie Seidman Garfield Cohn (she remarried in 1954) returned to live in New York. She was later a victim of Alzheimer's and Parkinsons, and died on January 20, 2004. "She was devoted to my father," says Julie Garfield, "very in love with him until the end, even when she remarried - that was true. She is buried next to him now."

Awards and nominations

Garfield was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Four Daughters in 1939 and Best Actor for Body and Soul in 1948.
He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard.

Trivia

Father of actors David Garfield and Julie Garfield.

Comforted Sidney Poitier on his first plane ride by telling him to put a handkerchief over his face and think about nothing.

Won a state-wide debating contest sponsored by the New York Times as a boy.

Was producer Irene Mayer Selznick's first choice to play Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway premiere of "A Streetcar Named Desire.".

Wife Roberta Seidman was his childhood sweetheart.

His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss.

When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. He was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so.

Blacklisted during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. He was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a former showgirl, Iris Whitney on May 21, 1952, the day after Clifford Odets, testifying before HUAC, reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. His funeral in New York was mobbed by thousands of fans.

Buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Is portrayed by Bruce Ornstein in Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983) (TV)

Garfield's widow Roberta married labor lawyer Sidney Cohn in 1954. He died in 1991 and Roberta Garfield Cohn died of Alzheimer's Disease in January 2004.

Was Nelson Algren's choice to play Frankie Machine in the film version of Algren's novel "The Man With the Golden Arm".

Parents were Russian immigrants.

When he turned down the chance to play the male lead on Broadway in "A Streetcar Named Desire," the part written originally by Tennessee Williams for an Italian-American was rewritten for a Polish-American to accommodate the blonde looks of the then unknown Marlon Brando. Brando's performance made him a star.

The role of Bill Sampson in All About Eve (1950) was originally intended for him, but Gary Merrill was cast instead.

The role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) was originally written for Garfield, however he passed away before the film was made.

Filmography

He Ran All the Way (1951) .... Nick Robey
... aka He Ran All the Way Home (UK)
The Breaking Point (1950) .... Harry Morgan
Under My Skin (1950) .... Dan Butler
We Were Strangers (1949) .... Anthony L. 'Tony' Fenner
Jigsaw (1949) (uncredited) .... Loafer with Newspaper
... aka Gun Moll (USA: reissue title)
Force of Evil (1948) .... Joe Morse
Anni difficili (1948) (voice) .... Narrator of American version
... aka Difficult Years
... aka The Little Man
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) .... Dave Goldman
... aka Laura Z. Hobson's Gentleman's Agreement (UK: complete title) (USA: complete title)
Body and Soul (1947) .... Charlie Davis
... aka An Affair of the Heart
Humoresque (1946) .... Paul Boray
Nobody Lives Forever (1946) .... Nick Blake
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) .... Frank Chambers
Pride of the Marines (1945) .... Albert A. 'Al' Schmid
... aka Forever in Love (UK)
Between Two Worlds (1944) .... Tom Prior
Destination Tokyo (1943) .... Wolf
The Fallen Sparrow (1943) .... John 'Kit' McKittrick
Air Force (1943) .... Aerial Gunner
Tortilla Flat (1942) .... Daniel Alvarez
Dangerously They Live (1941) .... Dr. Michael 'Mike' Lewis
Out of the Fog (1941) .... Harold Goff
The Sea Wolf (1941) .... George Leach
East of the River (1940) .... Joseph Enrico 'Joe' Lorenzo
... aka Mama Raviola
Flowing Gold (1940) .... John Alexander/Johnny Blake
Saturday's Children (1940) .... Rims Rosson
Castle on the Hudson (1940) .... Tommy Gordon
... aka Years Without Days (UK)
Four Wives (1939) .... Michael 'Mickey' Borden
Dust Be My Destiny (1939) .... Joe Bell
Daughters Courageous (1939) .... Gabriel Lopez
... aka A Family Affair
... aka American Family
... aka Family Reunion
Juarez (1939) .... Gen. Porfirio Diaz
Blackwell's Island (1939) .... Tim Raydon
They Made Me a Criminal (1939) .... Johnnie Bradfield, aka Jack Dorney
... aka I Became a Criminal
... aka They Made Me a Fugitive
Four Daughters (1938) .... Mickey Borden
Footlight Parade (1933) (uncredited) .... Sailor

Archive Footage

Warner at War (2008) (TV)
Crawford at Warners (2008) (V) .... Himself
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)
The John Garfield Story (2003) (TV) .... Himself
Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998) (TV) .... Himself

S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall (1884-1955)

2011-03-11T11:43:00.003+02:00

Date of Birth
2 February 1884, Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]

Date of Death
12 February 1955, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name
Gerõ Jenõ

Nickname
Cuddles also affectionatley known as "Uncle Felix"

Biography

Szőke Szakáll known as S.Z. Sakall (February 2, 1883 – February 12, 1955) was a Hungarian-Jewish film character actor. He was in many films including In the Good Old Summertime, Lullaby of Broadway, Christmas in Connecticut and Casablanca in which he played Carl, the head waiter.
Chubby-jowled Sakall played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1940s and 1950s. His rotund cuteness earned Sakall the nickname "Cuddles," and he was often billed as S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall in his later films, though he was never happy with the name. He was famous for using the phrase "everything hunky dory."
Szőke Szakáll was born Gerő Jenő, but even during his schooldays he was writing sketches for Budapest vaudeville shows under the pen-name Sz?ke Szakáll ("blonde beard", in reference to his own beard, grown to make him look older), which he retained when at the age of 18 he turned to acting.
The actor became a star of the Hungarian stage and screen in the 1910s and 1920s. At the beginning of the 1920s, he moved to Vienna, where he appeared in Hermann Leopoldi's Kabarett Leopoldi-Wiesenthal. In the 1930s, he was, next to Hans Moser, the most significant representative of the Wiener Film, the Viennese light romantic comedy genre. He also appeared in Berlin.

His first film role was in 1927, in Familientag im Hause Prellstein. In 1929, he appeared in Ihre Majestät die Liebe (which was remade in Hollywood as Her Majesty Love, with W.C. Fields in Sakall's role) and Two Hearts in Waltz Time in 1930. For a brief period during this time, he ran his own production company.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Sakall was forced to return to Hungary. He was involved in over 40 movies in his native land. When Hungary joined the Axis in 1940, he headed for Hollywood with his wife. Many of Sakall's close relatives later died in Nazi concentration camps, including all three of his sisters and his niece, as well as his wife's brother and sister.
Sakall began a career that included "an endless succession of excitable theatrical impresarios, lovable European uncles and befuddled shopkeepers." His first Hollywood role was in the 1940 comedy It's a Date opposite Deanna Durbin. His first big hit was Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Later, he signed a contract with Warner Brothers, where he had a number of other small roles, including in 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney.
Later that year, at the age of 59, he portrayed his most famous character, Carl the head waiter in Casablanca. Producer Hal Wallis signed Sakall for the role three weeks after filming had begun. When he was first offered the part, Sakall hated it and turned it down. Sakall finally agreed to take the role provided they gave him four weeks of work. The two sides eventually agreed on three weeks. He received $1,750 per week for a total of $5,250. He actually had more screen time than either Peter Lorre or Sydney Greenstreet.
Sakall appeared in 30 more movies after this, including 1945's Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck. Sakall appeared in four films in 1948: the drama Embraceable You, followed by April Showers, Michael Curtiz's Romance on the High Seas (Doris Day's film debut), and Whiplash.
1949 was a big year for Sakall. He was in four top movies. First Sakall played Felix Hofer in the Doris Day's second film, My Dream Is Yours. Later that year, he starred with June Haver and Ray Bolger in Look for the Silver Lining. Next, he played Otto Oberkugen in In the Good Old Summertime, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson. Finally, Sakall was given the principal role of songwriter Fred Fisher in Oh, You Beautiful Doll, though top billing went to June Haver.
Sakall appeared in nine more movies during the 1950s, two of them musicals with Doris Day, playing J. Maxwell Bloomhaus in Tea for Two and Adolph Hubbell in Lullaby of Broadway. His other roles included: Poppa Schultz in the Errol Flynn western Montana; Miklos Teretzky in the June Haver musical The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady; Don Miguel in the Randolph Scott western Sugarfoot; Uncle Felix in the musical Painting the Clouds With Sunshine with Virginia Mayo; in one of the episodes in the movie It's A Big Country which featured such famous names as Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Gary Cooper, Janet Leigh, Fredric March and Ethel Barrymore. His last movie was in 1954 where he had the role of Joseph Ruder in The Student Prince.
Sakall died of a heart attack in Hollywood shortly after filming the The Student Prince on February 12, 1955, ten days after his 72nd birthday. Sakall is buried in the Garden of Memory in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, which is also the resting place of Casablanca co-stars Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, and John Qualen along with producer Hal B. Wallis, director Michael Curtiz and composer Max Steiner.

Spouse

Anne Kardos (1920 - 12 February 1955) (his death)
Giza Grossner (1916 - 1918) (her death)

Trivia

Second wife was Ann Kardos, who was the sister of László Kardos. László's wife, Lenka, was the sister of director Joe Pasternak. Because of his befuddled amiability on-screen, his trademark jowls and comical exasperation, he was nicknamed "Cuddles" and was often billed that way. All three of his sisters perished in Nazi concentration camps. He originally turned down his waiter's role in "Casablanca", the part that initially made him famous.

The initials preceding his name are from the Hungarian for Szoke Szakall, meaning 'blonde beard', so called because he wore one as a young actor to look older.

Filmography

The Student Prince (1954) (as S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall) .... Joseph Ruder
Small Town Girl (1953) .... Papa Eric Schlemmer
It's a Big Country (1951) .... Stefan Szabo
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951) .... Felix Hoff aka Uncle Felix
Lullaby of Broadway (1951) .... Adolph Hubbell
Sugarfoot (1951) .... Don Miguel Wormser
... aka Swirl of Glory (USA: reissue title)
Tea for Two (1950) .... J. Maxwell Bloomhaus
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950) (as S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall) .... Miklos 'Mike' Teretzky
Montana (1950) (as S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall) .... Poppa Otto Schultz
Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949) .... Fred Fisher ... aka Alfred Breitenbach
In the Good Old Summertime (1949) (as S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall) .... Otto Oberkugen
Look for the Silver Lining (1949) .... Shendorf
My Dream Is Yours (1949) .... Felix Hofer
Whiplash (1948) .... Sam
Embraceable You (1948) .... Sammy
Romance on the High Seas (1948) .... Uncle Lazlo Lazlo
... aka It's Magic (UK)
April Showers (1948) .... Mr. Curley
Cynthia (1947) .... Prof. Rosenkrantz
... aka Cynthia: The Rich, Full Life
... aka The Rich Full Life (UK)
The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946) (as S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall) .... Ladislaus Cassel
Never Say Goodbye (1946) (as S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall) .... Luigi Restaurateur
Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) .... Count Oswald
... aka Royal Flush (UK)
Cinderella Jones (1946) .... Gabriel Popik
San Antonio (1945) (as S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall) .... Sacha Bozic
The Dolly Sisters (1945) .... Uncle Latsie Dolly
Christmas in Connecticut (1945) .... Felix Bassenak
... aka Indiscretion (UK)
Wonder Man (1945) .... Schmidt
Shine on Harvest Moon (1944) .... Poppa Carl
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) (as S. K. Sakall) .... Dr. Schlenna
Wintertime (1943) .... Hjalmar Ostgaard
The Human Comedy (1943) (uncredited) .... Mr. Ara
Casablanca (1942) (as S.K. Sakall) .... Carl
Seven Sweethearts (1942) .... Mr. Van Maaster, the Father
... aka Tulip Time
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) .... Schwab
Broadway (1942) .... Nick
Ball of Fire (1941) .... Prof. Magenbruch - Physiology
... aka The Professor and the Burlesque Queen
That Night in Rio (1941) .... Arthur Penna
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) .... George - Merrick's Butler
The Man Who Lost Himself (1941) .... Paul
Spring Parade (1940) .... Laci Teschek - the Baker
My Love Came Back (1940) .... Geza Peyer
Florian (1940) .... Max
It's a Date (1940) .... Karl Ober
Bubi (1937) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Moller
... aka Der kleine Kavalier (Austria)
... aka Mircha (Hungary)
The Lilac Domino (1937) .... Sandor
Fräulein Lilli (1936) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Prokurist Seidl
... aka Fräulein Lilly (Austria)
Barátságos arcot kérek (1936) (as Szõke Szakáll) .... Blazsek Mátyás fényképész
... aka Keep Smiling (USA: informal English title)
Tagebuch der Geliebten (1935) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Dr. Walitzky
... aka Affairs of Maupassant (USA)
... aka Maria Baschkirtzeff (Austria)
Viereinhalb Musketiere (1935) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Sattler, drummer
... aka Four and a Half Musketeers (International: English title: informal literal title)
... aka Harom és fél musketas (Hungary)
Bretter, die die Welt bedeuten (1935) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Franz Novak
Il diario di una donna amata (1935) (as Szöke Szakall)
... aka Affairs of Maupassant (USA)
Ende schlecht, alles gut (1934) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Anton Polgar, Stationery Shop Owner
... aka All's Well That Ends Badly (International: English title: informal literal title)
Helyet az öregeknek (1934) (as Szõke Szakáll) .... Polgár papírkerskedõ
... aka Minden jó, ha a vége rossz (Hungary: informal alternative title)
... aka Room for the Aged (International: English title)
Wenn du jung bist, gehört dir die Welt (1934) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Beppo
Mindent a nöért! (1934) (as Szõke Szakáll)
... aka Everything for the Woman (USA)
... aka Mindent a noért! (Hungary)
Az ellopott szerda (1933) (as Szõke Szakáll) .... Schmidz,fotóriporter
Frühlingsstimmen (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Krüger, Schuldiener
Skandal in Budapest (1933) (as Szöke Szakáll) .... Stangl
... aka Romance in Budapest
Abenteuer am Lido (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Michael
Pardon, tévedtem (1933) (as Szõke Szakáll) .... Strangel úr, Murray menedzsere
Großfürstin Alexandra (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Dimitri, Chefkoch im Hause der Großfürstin
... aka Granddutchess Alexandra
Es war einmal ein Musikus (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Häberlein
Eine Frau wie Du (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Theobald Roehn, Fabrikant
... aka A Woman Like You (USA)
Kaiserwalzer (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Leitner - Fabrikant aus Budapest
... aka The Emperor's Waltz (International: English title)
Eine Stadt steht kopf (1933) .... Der Bürgermeister
... aka A Town Stands on Its Head (USA)
... aka The Town Stands on Its Head (USA: new title)
Muß man sich gleich scheiden lassen (1933) .... Professor Friedrich Hornung
Tokajerglut (1933) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Schmidt, Pressephotograph
Glück über Nacht (1932) .... Haase
Mein Name ist Lampe (1932) (as Szöke Szakall)
Gräfin Mariza (1932) .... Lampe
Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist (1932) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Ottokar
... aka I Do Not Want to Know Who You Are (USA)
Ein harmloser Fall (1932) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Herr Werner
Melodie der Liebe (1932) .... Bernhard
... aka Right to Happiness (USA)
Mädchen zum Heiraten (1932) .... Alois Novak
Streichquartett (1932)
Besserer Herr gesucht zwecks (1932)
Der unbekannte Gast (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Leopold Kuhlmann2
... aka The Unknown Guest (USA)
Die schwebende Jungfrau (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Onkel Lampe
... aka The Soaring Maiden (USA)
Die Frau von der man spricht (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Salewski Moretti
... aka The Woman They Talk About (USA)
Meine Cousine aus Warschau (1931) .... Burel, Luciennes Gatte
... aka My Cousin from Warsaw (USA: literal English title)
Der Zinker (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Bill "Billy" Anerley
... aka The Informer
... aka The Squeeker (International: English title)
Der Stumme von Portici (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Ehemann
Ich heirate meinen Mann (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Adolphe
Walzerparadies (1931) (as Szöke Szakáll) .... Schwartz, Theateragent
... aka Waltz Paradise (USA: informal English title)
Ihr Junge (1931) (as Szöke Szakall)
Die Faschingsfee (1931) (as Szöke Szakáll) .... Matthias, Diener
Kopfüber ins Glück (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Baron Monteuil
Ihre Majestät die Liebe (1931) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Bela Török/Lias Vater
... aka Her Majesty Love (USA)
Der Hampelmann (1930) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Eickmeyer - Parfümfabrikant
... aka The Jumping Jack (USA)
Susanne macht Ordnung (1930) (as Szöke Sakall) .... Dr. Fuchs, juristischer Berater
Komm' zu mir zum Rendezvous (1930) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Crepin
... aka Rendez-Vous (USA)
... aka Rendez-vous (Germany)
... aka Rendezvous (USA)
Zweimal Hochzeit (1930) .... Grafenbergs Schwager
... aka Twice Wedding (International: English title)
Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt (1930) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Der Theaterdirektor
... aka Two Hearts in Waltz Time
Wer wird denn weinen, wenn man auseinandergeht? (1929) .... Gottgetreu, Kassierer von Harder & Co.
... aka No Use Crying If Your Sweetheart Goes Away (International: English title)
... aka Why Cry at Parting? (USA)
Großstadtschmetterling (1929) .... Paul Bennet, Maler
... aka Ballade einer Liebe (Germany: subtitle)
... aka City Butterfly
... aka Pavement Butterfly (UK)
Rutschbahn (1928) (as Szöke Szakall)
... aka Whirl of Youth (USA)
Mary Lou (1928) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Jongleur
Familientag im Hause Prellstein (1927) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Sami Bambus
Der Himmel auf Erden (1927) .... Geschäftsführer
... aka Heaven on Earth (International: English title: festival title)
Der fidele Bauer (1927) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Dorfpolizist
... aka The Jolly Peasant (USA)
... aka The Merry Farmer (International: English title)
Da hält die Welt den Atem an (1927) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Theaterdirektor
... aka Make Up (International: English title)
Wenn das Herz der Jugend spricht (1926) (as Szöke Szakall) .... Dr. Hecht
A Dollárnéni (1917)

_{S.Z.Sakall and wife Anne Kardos}

Rembrandt Revisited

2011-02-03T10:20:00.006+02:00

Diva's tribute to Rembrandt

A Tribute to Akira Kurosawa

2011-02-03T10:08:00.003+02:00

Diva's tribute to Akira

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

2011-02-03T09:56:00.006+02:00

Diva's tribute to Frida Kahlo

Carole Lombard (1908 - 1942)

2011-01-30T16:14:00.009+02:00

Date of Birth
6 October 1908, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

Date of Death
16 January 1942, Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, USA (airplane crash)

Birth Name
Jane Alice Peters

Known as the Screwball Queen of the Screen, Carole Lombard, with her silky blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, radiant smile and perfectly chiseled high cheekbones was one of the most classically beautiful actresses to ever grace the screen. A brilliant, bright comedienne, Carole Lombard had the rare quality of being as elegant drenched in water or with a pie in her face, as she was with her willowy figure draped in long, shimmering gowns. In retrospect, her distinctive, rapid-fire breathless delivery of dialogue makes it seem as though she was in a rush. It was almost as though she knew she would not be with us for long.

A Star Is Born

Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters on October 6, 1908 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Oscar nominated actress was the daughter of Frederick C. Peters and Elizabeth Knight. Lombard grew up the youngest of three children in a two-story home at 704 Rockhill Street in Fort Wayne. She had two older brothers, Frederick and Stuart, and enjoyed playing with them more than making paper cutouts or valentines, A childhood friend remembered that "every other afternoon this 5 year old blonde would come screeching across the street, demanding a chance to play one of the ends [in football]. She was always sent home again." All of Lombard's life, her mother, "Bessie," remained her closest confidant. They died together on the airplane in 1942. In 1914, her parents separated and Carole moved with her mother and brothers, to Los Angeles where she would attend Virgil Mary Middle School and Fairfax High School. She left school after Junior High, and often participated in exhibition ballroom dancing at the Coconut Grove in Hollywood. It was here, in 1925, that a Fox Studio executive spotted her and gave her a screen test. Her career had begun.

Carole made her first film at the age of twelve after having been “discovered” by director Alan Dwan while playing baseball out in the streets. He cast her as Monte Blue’s little sister in 1921’s A Perfect Crime. In 1925 she signed a contract with Fox and became “Carole Lombard.”
Her film career was interrupted when Carole was injured in a car accident. Her face hit the windshield and was cut from her nose to her left cheekbone. The doctor sewed 14 stitches into her cut without the use of anesthetic, so her facial muscles would not relax. Still, Carole was left with a deep, red scar. While recuperating, she studied motion picture photography. Eventually, she had plastic surgery which made the scar less noticeable. Carole still had to utilize her knowledge of photography. Cameraman Harry Stradling later said: "She knows as much about the tricks of the trade as I do! In close up work, I wanted to cover her scar by focusing the lights on her face so that it would seem to blend with her cheek. She was the one to tell me that diffusing glass in my lens would do the same job better, and she was right!"
Over the next few years Carole made several low-budget westerns with Buck Jones and comedy shorts when she signed a contract with Mack Sennett in 1927. She made several two reel comedies with him, and told interviewers that she enjoyed working with him. He remembered her as a "scamp and a madcap."

_{Carole Lombard getting ready to film a scene of Sinners in the Sun}

By 1929 Hollywood was beginning to take notice of the up and coming Lombard who was now leading lady in a string of successes starting with High Voltage that year. After leaving Sennett she appeared in various films for Pathe. One of them was Man of the World, with William Powell. In 1930, she began working for Paramount Pictures where she would go on to make a majority of her most memorable comedies. It was her performance in 1934’s Twentieth Century that really established her as a bon-a-fide star, earning her praise from fans and film critics alike. One critic wrote “Lombard is like no other Lombard you’ve seen before. When you see her, you’ll forget the rather stilted Lombard of old. You’ll see a star blaze out of this scene, high spots Carole never dreamed of hitting.” Carole credited her co-star John Barrymore with her success in that film. She once explained: "It was Barrymore who taught me to "let go", to abandon myself to my part. When as Oscar Jaffee, the producer, he bellowed at Lily Garland, the actress, I found myself shrieking back at him. When he threw her in his arms and tore his hair, I clutched my throat and "hystericated" -- forgetting everything except to live the character." Upon completion of filming Twentieth Century her co-star, John Barrymore, presented her an autographed portrait in scripted with “To the finest actress I have worked with, bar none.” This moved Carole deeply. When Barrymore’s film career was later on the decline, Carole insisted he be cast with her in another breezy, lighthearted comedy True Confession (1937).

_{Director Howard Hawks, Carole Lombard and John Barrymore between scenes of Twentieth Century}

Lombard and Powell

16 years her senior, William Powell and Carole Lombard wed on June 26, 1931. Though their marriage would end in divorce two years later, the two remained friends. In fact, it was on the recommendation of William Powell that Lombard was cast in the film My Man Godfrey for which she would later receive an Oscar nomination for. Carole said later that "career had little to do with the divorce. We were just two completely incompatible people." Carole later saw Powell through a battle with cancer. Ironically, William Powell outlived almost all of his contemporaries.

Ma and Pa

_{Carole Lombard and Clark Gable sitting at the lunch counter with the rest of studio's employees}

Lombard had known Clark Gable since 1932, but their romantic attachment began in 1936, when John Hay Whitney gave an elaborate costume party in Hollywood. The invitations requested the guests appear in something white. With her unfailing sense of humor, Carole arrived at the party in a white ambulance and was carried into the Whitney mansion on a stretcher. She and Gable renewed their friendship at "The White Ball," becoming constant companions. Gable was still married to his second wife at the time, Ria. On March 7, 1939 Gable was granted a divorce and he and Lombard married soon after on March 29, 1939.
In the summer of 1939, they settled on a 20 acre estate in the Encino section of the San Fernando Valley where they would live a happy life together as Ma and Pa, as the two would affectionately call one another. They loved the outdoor life and shared times hunting and riding together. Lombard was the ideal mate for Gable, a woman who could be glamorous and lovely, but who also could be as companionable as a pal. To this day, every one who knew Gable has declared that Lombard was the love of his life.
In 1941 the U.S. entered World War II and Carole returned to her home state Indiana. Gable was made chairman of the Hollywood Victory Committee. In January 1942, he arranged for Lombard to embark on a bond selling tour that would climax in Indianapolis on January 15. On Friday, January 16, 1942 at 4:00 in the morning, Carole and her mother boarded a Trans World Airlines DC-3 airplane to return to California. Before boarding, she spoke publicly for the last time. Lombard greeted her fans and said “Before I say goodbye to you all, come on and join me in a big cheer! V for Victory!”

Death

Carole Lombard sold over two-million dollars worth of war bonds. Anxious to return home to husband Clark Gable, she wanted to take a plane instead of a train. Carole's mother and MGM publicity man Otto Winkler who accompanied her on their tour, were both afraid of flying. They begged her to take the train. Being the fair person she was, Carole said they would flip a coin, heads the train, tails the plane. The fatal coin came up tails.

After refueling in Las Vegas, the plane took off in the night and twenty-three minutes later crashed into a mountain side thirty mile southwest of Las Vegas. Dan Yanish, a watchman at a diamond mine near Las Vegas recalled: "It was a beautiful clear night and you could see for miles. It hardly seemed minutes before the plane faded away over the Charleston range when I saw a flash and then big tongues of flame rising from the mountainside. The plane cracked in two like a piece of kindling wood." All passengers, including 33-year-old Carole Lombard, her beloved mother, Otto Winkler and 15 young Army fliers were killed instantly.

Gable joined the search for her body and on the 18th of January, he brought back Carole and her mother to be buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetary in California. President Roosevelt awarded Carole Lombard with a medal as "The first woman to be killed in action, in defense of her country, in its war against the Axis Powers." At the time, the Army was offering to give Carole a military funeral and the Hollywood Victory Committee wanted to build a monument in her honor, but Gable refused both and all requests of the sort. Instead he followed the directions laid forth in his wife funeral instructions which stated:

I request that no person other than my immediate family and the persons who shall prepare my remains for interment be permitted to view my remains after death has been pronounced. I further request a private funeral and that I be clothed in white and placed in a modestly priced crypt in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

Gable was devasted by her death and shortly after he joined the United States Army Airforce where he served as a gunner to a bomber on combat missons across Europe. He later commented that not only had he lost his wife, but he had lost his best friend.

In an industry for which a skew of actors and actress remain infamous for their untimely deaths, Lombard may be the rare exception. Rather than being remembered as the rebel, bombshell, sex goddess, or tragedy of unfortunate events, Lombard’s legacy comes from her compassionate character. A character who brought laughter in a period of Depression, morale in times of war, and who consistently delivers unity to the generations watching her films across the globe today.

Trivia

She was called “The Queen of Screwball Comedy.”
She was of English and German heritage.
She had a small dachshund named Commissioner who would ignore Gable until her death, when he wouldn’t leave his side.
At the time of her death, Lombard was the highest paid female star. She was earning $500,000 a year.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared her the first women killed in the line of duty during the war and posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Following her death, a liberty ship was named after her during World War II.
Her face was cut badly from an auto accident in 1926. She underwent reconstructive surgery without the use of an anesthestic as it was widely believed during that time that anesthetics would worsen scarring.
Her first movie, A Perfect Crime, is the only film in which Carole is credited as “Jane Peters.”
In 1936 she legally changed her name to “Carole Lombard.”
She never liked to go to her dressing room while shooting a movie. Garson Kanin said she preferred to socialize with the cast and crew instead.

_{Director Garson Kanin and Carole Lombard are obviously elated to be working together on They Knew What They Wanted}

She is the second cousin of director Howard Hawks.
Mary Astor is her cousin-in-law.
Lucille Ball said her decision to do “I Love Lucy” was made after Lombard, who had been a good friend to Lucille, came to her in a dream and advised her to take a chance and enter the unknown and at the time, risky world of television.
Carole was a second generation Bahai and was formally declared in 1938.
On two different occasions Carole turned down the opportunity to play a newspaper woman. Mr. Deeds Goes Downtown was the first, and His Girl Friday was the second.
Carole Lombard raised over $2 million in war-bonds in ONE day.
Her decision to take a the plane which eventually killed both herself and her mother was decided on a coin toss, with Carole winning the toss.
In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Carole Lombard #23 on their list of 50 Greatest American Female Screen Legends.
In 1938, Carole Lombard spent one day as Honorary Mayor of Culver City. Her first official duty was to declare the day a holiday, and tell all the studio employees they could go home! This didn’t go over too well with David Selznick — but it got great press.
She was called “The Profane Angel” because “she looked like an angel and swore like a sailor.” (Mitchell Leisen)
She made a screentest for Charlie Chaplin’s Goldrush movie.
Her favorite color was white.
She hated the color pink.
Her legendary outbursts of profanity were actually fashioned after Mae Murray.
Carole Lombard’s favorite flower was the lily.
Of all her films, Lombard considered “Nothing Sacred” to have been her personal favorite.

_{Carole Lombard, Charles Butterworth, Fred MacMurray and director Mitchell Leisen between scenes of Swing High, Swing Low}

Carole Lombard Quotes

“I’ve lived by a man’s code designed to fit a man’s world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.”
“Don’t kiss and talk about it-men don’t.”
“Don’t burn over criticism-Stand up to it like a man.”
“Be efficient. . . Don’t men marry their secretaries?”

Carole Lombard on Clark Gable:
[after Gable was crowned "The King of Hollywood" Carole joked] “If his pee-pee was one inch shorter, they’d be calling him the Queen of Hollywood.”
“Well, Clark’s not circumcised. Betcha didn’t know that!”
“God knows I love Clark (Gable), but he’s the worst lay in the town.”
“Pa comes first.”

_{Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Dorothy Mackaill - No Man of Her Own}

Carole Lombard on William Powell:
“Bill Powell is the only intellegent actor I’ve ever met.”

Carole Lombard on Matrimony:
“I think marriage is dangerous. The idea of two people trying to possess each other is wrong. I don’t think the flare of love lasts. Your mind rather than your emotions must answer for the success of matrimony. It must be a friendship- a calm companionship which can last through the years.”

Carole Lombard on Orson Welles:
“I can’t win working with Orson Welles. If the picture’s a huge hit he’ll get the credit, and if it’s a flop, I’ll be blamed.”

Carole Lombard on Income Tax:
“Every cent anybody pays in tax is spent to benefit him. There’s no better place to spend it. I enjoy this country and I really think I get my money’s worth.

Carole Lombard on God:
“I don’t seem to get solemn about it, and some people might not understand. That’s why I never talk about it. I think it’s all here– in the mountains and the desert. I don’t think God is a softie, either. In the end, it’s better if people are forced back into– well– into being right, before they’re too far gone. I think your temple is your everyday living.”

Carole Lombard on her beauty:
“You ought to see the map for my face in the Makeup Department. It looks like a landscape of the moon.”

Carole Lombard on the battle of the sexes:
A woman has just as much right in this world as a man and can get along in it just as well if she puts her mind to it.

Take business-that’s supposed to be a man’s province. Yet I can name you the most outstanding success in the business life of the movies and that person is a woman: Mary Pickford. You can’t match her. She’s supreme in every department.

As a matter of fact, women have an advantage in business. Men are so secure in their belief that they are supreme in business that they are often caught napping by alert women. Man thinks he’s dealing with an inferior brain when it comes to woman, and that makes him a sucker. Furthermore, women have a highly developed sense of intuition that’s just as valuable as hardheaded logic.

Carole Lombard on clothes:
“An at-home costume or hostess gown is absolutely essential for the woman who entertains, and for two reasons. First, this type of costume is extremely flattering, and that does wonders for any woman’s poise, and secondly, it eliminates the possibility of appearing overdressed in case a guest shows up in a simple daytime outfit.

“If a woman has a limited wardrobe, it would be wise to sacrifice a second dinner or evening frock for one hostess gown. She’ll soon rate it the most valuable asset in her clothes collection.”

Carole Lombard on being a style queen:
“I can’t imagine a duller fate than being the best dressed woman in reality. When I want to do something I don’t pause to contemplate whether I’m exquisitely gowned. I want to live, not pose!”

Carole Lombard on being a glamour girl:
“Personally, I resent being tagged ‘glamour girl.’ It’s such an absurd, extravagant label. It implies so much that I’m not.”

_{Work on True Confession apparently left Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, writer Claude Binyon, director Wesley Ruggles and Una Merkel very hungry}

Carole Lombard’s Golden Rules:

1. Play Fair.

“You’ll find that men usually play fair,” Carole said. “It’s all very well to say that you want to back out of a bargain because you’ve changed your mind. That’s supposed to be a woman’s privilege. But men don’t play the game that way. A man who says he’ll do a thing and then reneges, is soon put where he belongs, out in the cold.

“If I say I’ll do something, I make it stick.”

2. Don’t Brag.

“Men can brag,” Carole points out, “but that’s where a woman can’t do what men do, and still be feminine. No man will endure listening to a girl boast about how smart she is.”

3. Obey the Boss.

“A career girl who competes with men has to learn that rule — or else. If she won’t accept discipline, or bow to the rules of the institution and take orders, she can’t succeed. I know that the picture director knows best. I remember when I was making ‘My Man Godfrey’ with William Powell. Gregory La Cava was directing. One day he was ill, but he insisted that work go on while he rested.

“‘You know what to do,’ he told us. ‘Just pretend I’m there and go ahead.’

“Well, it didn’t work. Bill and I were used to taking orders because it’s part of the discipline of the studio. It was a simple scene, we knew what to do, but the director wasn’t there and we felt lost. Somebody has to be the boss in every big enterprise, and if the boss is absent the business soon comes to a halt.”

4. Take Criticism.

“Men have learned to take criticism, that is, the successful men. The ones who flare up and go home mad are the kind who never get the last installment paid on the radio.

“Here again the movies have taught me. I have learned to take criticism and stand up to it like a man. Yet a woman will simply burn if you hint that the hat she’s got on doesn’t look quite perfect, or that she might, just might, have led from the queen, jack, ten instead of tossing in an eight spot.

“I went to a showing of the first rough cut of ‘Swing High, Swing Low,’ in a small college town.

“In the tragic scene, where I screwed up my face to cry (I can’t help it if I look that way when I cry), the audience laughed. When I really turned it on and emoted, they howled. It was heartbreaking. I felt like crawling under the seats and losing myself among the gum and other useless things.

“But I had to take it. If you’re playing according to masculine rules, which is required of any girl with a career, you’ve got to accept criticism and profit by it. Otherwise how could you become a singer, decorator, painter or private secretary? I learned something from that experience, too. I’m best if I top off tears with a laugh. A star who is too big for criticism sooner or later loses out. That goes for working women, too.”

5. Love is Private.

“When it comes to your personal life, such as love and romance, girls should take a tip from the men and keep their affairs to themselves. Any man worth his salt regards his private life as his own. To kiss a girl and run and tell would mark him as a cad. Why doesn’t that apply to girls also?”

6. Work - And Like It!

“All women should have something worthwhile to do,” says Carole, “and cultivate efficiency at it, whether it’s housekeeping or raising chickens.

“Working women are interesting women. And they’re easier to live with. Idle women who can think of nothing to do with their time are dangerous to themselves and to others. The only ‘catty’ women I’ve known were idlers, with nothing to do but gossip and make trouble.”

7. Pay Your Share.

“Nobody likes a man who is always fumbling when it’s time to pay the check,” Carole points out. “I think the woman who assumes that the man can afford to pay for everything is making a mistake. More and more the custom of the Dutch treat is coming in vogue, particularly among working men and women. You don’t have to surrender your femininity if you pay your share of the bills.”

8. The Cardinal Virtue

“–Is a sense of humor,” says Carole. “Do you laugh in the right places? Then, you’ll get along, in fair weather or foul. Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things. Something that’s out of proportion, like an inflated ego, should strike you funny, particularly if it’s your own inflated ego. Otherwise you are pathetic and quite hopeless.”

9. Be Consistent.

“By that,” remarks Carole, “I mean you should take a hint from the men. They are terribly consistent, as a rule. You can tell what they’ll do in any given circumstance.

“If a girl puts her best foot forward at the office, she shouldn’t change steps when she gets home. A career girl must be neatly turned out, even-tempered and willing to take orders at work, and there’s no reason why she must check these virtues with her hat and coat when she leaves her place of business.

“I manage to add enough inconsistency to my behavior at the studio so that I’m the same there as at home; inclined to blow off steam at odd moments or be very demure and sweet-tempered — just to keep ‘em guessing. In fact I’ve got myself guessing. I don’t quite know which way I am. That’s being consistently inconsistent, anyway.

“Men are about the same at home as they are at work. Don’t say it’s because they lack the imagination to be otherwise — just take the hint. Men are creatures of habit and comfort, and they are puzzled and disturbed by change. That’s why so many of them marry their stenographers; it’s in hope of finding the same efficiency at home as at the office. They are supreme optimists.

“If you go into the business world to meet male competition, then you’ve got to play the game more or less according to their rules.

“By doing that, I’ve found that any intelligent girl can get along very well. About the only important difference I’ve noticed is in the problem of travel; men can travel alone easier than women. However, old habits of transportation are changing and the comfort of women is more and more the concern of air, railroad and bus travel.”

10. Be Feminine.

“All of this,” Carole declares, “does not keep you from preserving your femininity. You can still be insane about a particular brand of perfume, and weep when you get a run in your favorite pair of stockings.

“You can still have fits when the store sends out the very shade of red drapes you did not order, and which swear horribly at the red in the davenport. But when you go down to complain, be a man about it.

“All of which sums up to this. Play fair and be reasonable. When a woman can do that, she’ll make some man the best manager he ever found, or wind up running a whole department store. And being a woman, thank heaven you still have that choice!”

Robert Montgomery, Carole Lombard and Mischa Auer (visiting the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith)

Quotes about Carole Lombard

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Carole Lombard:
“She brought great joy to all who knew her and to millions who knew her only as a great artist. She gave unselfishly of time and talent to serve her government in peace and war. She loved her country. She is and always will be a star, one we shall never forget, nor cease to be grateful to.”

Clark Gable on Carole Lombard:
“With her, it was like music, it was completely natural.”

William Powell on Carole Lombard (right before their marriage):[/size][/font][/color]
“Would I hate to give up my freedom? [he asked, repeating a reporter's question] the greatest disillusions of the world. We think we want it above all things, but when we get it, what in the world can we do with it! What’s the fun of going places and seeing things if there isn’t someone important to share the thrill of traveling! What’s the fun of accomplishing things if there isn’t someone, who means a lot, to applaud and tell you what a remarkable fellow you are! I’ve had a great many years of the ‘coveted freedom.’ I’ve found that I can be the loneliest in the most crowded places when all I have to celebrate with is … freedom. I think I’m getting the most wonderful girl in the world. Freedom? I’d trade every bit of it for a few hours with Carole! We open secret doors in one another’s personalities. We’ve found that we are new people to each other. Carole is supposed to be the sophisticated type. I’m supposed to be suave and polished–I’m supposed to drip with polish and slide with suavity. Well, it isn’t true. We are both the shyest, most sensitive people you’ll ever know. Carole’s supposed sophistication is just a mask she has used to get over the hard bumps of life. Nobody knows where I got my reputation for suaveness. After our honeymoon we’re going to settle down in the old-fashioned idea of a calm and very unexciting life-as exciting live are judged in Hollywood. We have a few close friends who mean much to us. We’re going to play tennis and quietly attend theaters-other than opening nights-and take drives to the beaches and get our own meals on the cook’s day out and go places and do things-always together. I’ve found a pal, a sweetheart, a friend, a wife-let those who will keep their freedom!”

Desi Arnaz on Carole Lombard:
“Carole had a quality which is rare. You can count the women who have had it on the fingers of one hand. Carole, while doing the wild antics of a clown…could make you laugh, and yet at the same time make you want to go to bed with her.”

Film Director Mitchell Leisen on Carole Lombard:
“We called her The Profane Angel because she looked like an angel but she swore like a sailor. She was the only woman I ever knew who could tell a dirty story without losing her femininity.”

Barbara Stanwyck on Carole Lombard:
“She was so alive, modern, frank, and natural that she stands out like a beacon on a lightship in this odd place called Hollywood.

William Wellman on Carole Lombard:
“She was the greatest star in the world. . .the greatest actress. . .she could do anything.”

David Shipman on Carole Lombard:
“There is a strong case to be made for the divinity of Carole Lombard. One is certain that at Olympian banquets, she’s right up there next to Zeus.”

Filmography

To Be or Not to Be (1942) .... Maria Tura
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) .... Ann
They Knew What They Wanted (1940) .... Amy Peters
Vigil in the Night (1940) .... Anne Lee
In Name Only (1939) .... Julie Eden
Made for Each Other (1939) .... Jane Mason
Fools for Scandal (1938) .... Kay Winters, aka Kay Summers
True Confession (1937) .... Helen Bartlett
Nothing Sacred (1937) .... Hazel Flagg
Swing High, Swing Low (1937) .... Marguerite 'Maggie' King
My Man Godfrey (1936) .... Irene Bullock
The Princess Comes Across (1936) .... Wanda Nash aka Princess Olga
Love Before Breakfast (1936) .... Kay Colby
Hands Across the Table (1935) .... Regi Allen
Rumba (1935) .... Diana Harrison
The Gay Bride (1934) .... Mary Magiz
Lady by Choice (1934) .... Alabam Lee
Now and Forever (1934) .... Toni Carstairs Day
Twentieth Century (1934) .... Lily Garland
... aka 20th Century (USA: poster title)
We're Not Dressing (1934) .... Doris Worthington
Bolero (1934) .... Helen Hathaway
White Woman (1933) .... Judith Denning
Brief Moment (1933) .... Abby Fane
The Eagle and the Hawk (1933) .... The Beautiful Lady
Supernatural (1933) .... Roma Courtney
From Hell to Heaven (1933) .... Colly Tanner
No Man of Her Own (1932) .... Connie Randall
No More Orchids (1932) .... Annie Holt
Virtue (1932) .... Mae
Sinners in the Sun (1932) .... Doris Blake
No One Man (1932) .... Penelope 'Nep' Newbold
I Take This Woman (1931) .... Kay Dowling
Up Pops the Devil (1931) .... Anne Merrick
Ladies' Man (1931) .... Rachel Fendley
Man of the World (1931) .... Mary Kendall
It Pays to Advertise (1931) .... Mary Grayson
Fast and Loose (1930) .... Alice O'Neil
Safety in Numbers (1930) .... Pauline
The Arizona Kid (1930) .... Virginia Hoyt
The Racketeer (1929) (as Carol Lombard) .... Rhoda Philbrooke
... aka Love's Conquest (UK)
Big News (1929) (as Carol Lombard) .... Margaret Banks
High Voltage (1929) (as Carol Lombard) .... Billie Davis (The Girl)
... aka Wanted (UK)
Don't Get Jealous (1929)
Matchmaking Mamma (1929) (as Carol Lombard) .... Phyllis
Ned McCobb's Daughter (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Jennie
The Campus Carmen (1928) (as Carol Lombard)
Hubby's Weekend Trip (1928)
Show Folks (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Cleo
Me, Gangster (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Blonde Rosie
Motorboat Mamas (1928)
Power (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Another Dame
The Campus Vamp (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Carole
Smith's Restaurant (1928) (uncredited)
His Unlucky Night (1928) (as Carol Lombard)
The Girl from Nowhere (1928) (as Carol Lombard)
The Divine Sinner (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Millie Claudert
The Bicycle Flirt (1928) (as Carol Lombard)
The Swim Princess (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... The Swim Star
The Best Man (1928) (uncredited)
Smith's Army Life (1928) (uncredited)
The Beach Club (1928) (uncredited)
Run, Girl, Run (1928) (as Carol Lombard) .... Norma Nurmi
The Girl from Everywhere (1927) (as Carol Lombard)
... aka Hold That Pose (USA: alternative title)
My Best Girl (1927) (uncredited) .... Flirty Blonde Salesgirl
Gold Digger of Weepah (1927) (uncredited) .... Extra
Smith's Pony (1927) (as Carol Lombard)
The Fighting Eagle (1927) (unconfirmed)
The Johnstown Flood (1926) (uncredited) .... One of Gloria's Four Friends/Bridesmaid
The Road to Glory (1926) (as Carol Lombard) .... Bit Part
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) (uncredited) .... Slave Girl
... aka Ben-Hur (USA: short title)
The Plastic Age (1925) (uncredited) .... Co-ed
Durand of the Bad Lands (1925) (as Carol Lombard) .... Ellen Boyd
Hearts and Spurs (1925) (as Carol Lombard) .... Sybil Estabrook
Gold and the Girl (1925) (as Carol Lombard)
Marriage in Transit (1925) (as Carol Lombard) .... Celia Hathaway
Dick Turpin (1925) (uncredited) .... Crowd Extra
Gold Heels (1924) (uncredited) .... Bit
A Perfect Crime (1921) (as Jane Peters) .... Griggs' sister

Self

Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 9 (1939) .... Herself, Horse Show Attendee
Hollywood Goes to Town (1938) .... Herself
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938) (uncredited) .... Herself (Fools for Scandal outtakes)
Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3 (1936) .... Herself - Observer
The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935) .... Herself
Hollywood on Parade No. A-12 (1933) .... Herself
Hollywood on Parade No. 11 (1933) .... Herself

Archive Footage

Gable and Crawford (2008) (V) .... Herself
William Powell: A True Gentleman (2005) (V)
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard (2003) (TV) .... Herself
"Biography"
- Carole Lombard: Hollywood's Profane Angel (2001) TV episode .... Herself - Subject
72nd Annual Academy Awards Pre-Show (2000) (TV) (uncredited) .... Herself
Entertaining the Troops (1994) .... Herself
That's Entertainment! III (1994) (uncredited) .... Performer in Clip from 'The Gay Bride'
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988) (TV) .... Herself - Attending Premiere with Clark Gable
Maxie (1985) (uncredited) .... Young Maxie (in silent film)
Zelig (1983) (uncredited) .... Herself
Showbiz Goes to War (1982) (TV)
Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours: Around the World with the Troops - 1941-1972 (1980) (TV) .... Herself
Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975) .... Herself
Hooray for Hollywood (1975) .... Herself
Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969) (TV) (uncredited) .... Herself, film clip from 'Nothing Sacred'
Dear Mr. Gable (1968)
Inside Daisy Clover (1965) (uncredited) .... Herself
The Love Goddesses (1965) .... Herself
Hollywood My Home Town (1965) .... Herself
The Big Parade of Comedy (1964) .... Actress in 'The Gay Bride'
"Hollywood and the Stars"
- Hollywood Goes to War (1964) TV episode .... Herself
Hollywood Without Make-Up (1963) .... Herself
The Golden Age of Comedy (1957)
"The Steve Allen Show"
- Episode #3.14 (1957) TV episode .... Herself
Screen Snapshots: Ramblin' Round Hollywood (1955) .... Herself
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Stars to Remember (1954) .... Herself
Show-Business at War (1943) .... Herself
Picture People No. 10: Hollywood at Home (1942) .... Herself

Joan Bennett (1910-1990)

2011-01-27T18:23:00.003+02:00

Date of Birth
27 February 1910, Palisades, New Jersey, USA

Date of Death
7 December 1990, Scarsdale, New York, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name
Joan Geraldine Bennett

Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910–December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies through half a century of the sound era. She is possibly best-remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's movies such as The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945).
Bennett had three distinct phases to her long and successful career, first as a winsome blonde ingenue, then as a sensuous brunette femme fatale and, finally, as a warmhearted wife/mother figure. Her screen career was damaged by scandal in the early 1950s, after her third husband shot and injured her agent, who he thought was having an affair with Bennett, which she adamantly denied.
In the 1960s, she achieved success for her portrayal of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on TV's Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination. For her final movie role, as Madame Blanc in Suspiria (1977), she received a Saturn Award nomination.

She was born in Palisades Park, New Jersey, the third of three daughters of actor Richard Bennett and actress/literary agent Adrienne Morrison. Her older sisters were actress Constance Bennett and actress/dancer Barbara Bennett, who was the mother of Morton Downey, Jr. Part of a famous theatrical family, Bennett's maternal grandfather was prominent Shakespearean actor Lewis Morrison, who embarked on a stage career in the late 1860s. On the side of her maternal grandmother, actress Rose Wood, the profession dated back to traveling minstrels in 18th century England.
Bennett first appeared in a silent movie as a child with her parents and sisters in her father's drama The Valley of Decision (1916), which he adapted for the screen. She attended Miss Hopkins School for Girls in Manhattan, then St. Margaret's, a boarding school in Waterbury, Connecticut, and L'Hermitage, a finishing school in Versailles, France.
On September 15, 1926, she and John M. Fox were married in London. They were divorced on July 30, 1928 in Los Angeles. They had one child, Adrienne Ralston Fox (born February 20, 1928, later named Diana Bennett Markey, then Diana Bennett Wanger).
Bennett's stage debut was at age 18, acting with her father in Jarnegan (1928), which ran on Broadway for 136 performances and she received good reviews for. By age 19, she had become a movie star courtesy of

such roles as Phyllis Benton in the mystery/thriller talkie Bulldog Drummond starring Ronald Colman, which was her first important role, and Lady Clarissa Pevensey opposite George Arliss in the biopic Disraeli (both 1929).
She moved quickly from movie to movie throughout the 1930s. Bennett appeared as a blonde (her natural hair color) for several years. She starred in the role of Dolores Fenton in the United Artists musical Puttin' on the Ritz (1930) opposite Harry Richman and as Faith Mapple, his beloved, opposite John Barrymore in an early sound version of Moby Dick (1930) at Warner Brothers Studios.
Under contract to Fox Film Corporation, she appeared in several movies. Receiving top billing, she played the role of Jane Miller opposite Spencer Tracy in She Wanted a Millionaire (1932). She was billed second, after Tracy, for her role as Helen Riley, a personable waitress who trades wisecracks, in Me and My Gal (1932).
On March 16, 1932, she and screenwriter/producer Gene Markey were married in Los Angeles. They were divorced on June 3, 1937, in Los Angeles. They had one child, Melinda Markey (born February 27, 1934).
Bennett left Fox to play Amy, a pert sister competing with Katharine Hepburn's Jo in Little Women (1933), which was directed by George Cukor at RKO. This movie brought Bennett to the attention of independent producer Walter Wanger, who signed her to a contract and began managing her career. She played the role of Sally MacGregor, a psychiatrist's young wife slipping into insanity, in Private Worlds (1935) with Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea. Wanger and director Tay Garnett persuaded Bennett to change her hair from blonde to brunette for her role as Kay Kerrigan in the scenic Trade Winds (1938) opposite Fredric March.
With her change in appearance, Bennett began an entirely new screen career as her persona evolved into that of a glamorous, seductive femme fatale. She played the role of Princess Maria Theresa in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) opposite Louis Hayward, and the role of the Grand Duchess Zona of Lichtenburg in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) opposite Hayward.

During the search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Bennett was given a screen test and impressed producer David O. Selznick. She was briefly considered a front-runner for the role, but Selznick eventually turned his attention to Paulette Goddard, who was then rejected in favor of Vivien Leigh.
On January 12, 1940, Bennett and Walter Wanger were married in Phoenix. They were divorced in September 1965 in Mexico. They had two children together, Stephanie Wanger (born June 26, 1943) and Shelley Wanger (born July 4, 1948).

Combined with her sultry eyes and husky voice, Bennett's new brunette look gave her an earthier, more arresting personality. She won praise in 1940 for her performances as Brenda Bentley in the crime/drama The House Across the Bay opposite George Raft and as Carol Hoffman in the anti-Nazi drama The Man I Married co-starring Francis Lederer.
She then came into her own in a series of highly acclaimed film noir thrillers directed by Fritz Lang, with whom she and Wanger formed their own production company. Bennett appeared in four movies under Lang's direction. Three of her roles, as Cockney prostitute Jerry Stokes in Man Hunt (1941) opposite Walter Pidgeon, as mysterious model Alice Reed in The Woman in the Window (1944) opposite Edward G. Robinson, and as vulgar blackmailer Katharine "Kitty" March in Scarlet Street (1945) opposite Robinson, established her as a top Hollywood star.
Bennett also won acclaim as the shrewish, cuckolding wife, Margaret Macomber in Zoltan Korda's The Macomber Affair (1947) opposite Gregory Peck, as the deceitful wife, Peggy, in Jean Renoir's The Woman on the Beach (1947) opposite Robert Ryan and Charles Bickford, and as the tormented blackmail victim Lucia Harper in Max Ophuls's The Reckless Moment (1949) opposite James Mason. Then, easily shifting images again, she changed her screen persona to that of an elegant, witty and nurturing wife and mother in two classic comedies directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Playing the role of Ellie Banks, wife of Spencer Tracy and mother of Elizabeth Taylor, Bennett appeared in both Father of the Bride (1950) and Father's Little Dividend (1951).
She made a number of radio appearances from the 1930s to the 1950s, performing on such programs as The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show, Duffy's Tavern, and the anthology series Lux Radio Theater.
With the increasing popularity of television, Bennett made five guest appearances in 1951, which includes an episode of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca's Your Show of Shows.
For twelve years, Bennett was represented by agent Jennings Lang. She and the onetime vice-president of the Sam Jaffe Agency, who now headed MCA's West Coast television operations, met on the afternoon of December 13, 1951, to talk over an upcoming TV show.
Bennett parked her Cadillac convertible in the lot at the back of the MCA offices, at Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive, across the street from the Beverly Hills Police Department, and she and Lang drove off in his car. Meanwhile, her husband Walter Wanger drove by at about 2:30 p.m. and noticed his wife's car parked there. Half an hour later, he again saw her car there and stopped to wait. Bennett and Lang drove into the parking lot a few hours later and he walked her to her convertible. As she started the engine, turned on the headlights and prepared to drive away, Lang leaned on the car, with both hands raised to his shoulders, and talked to her.
In a fit of jealousy, Wanger walked up and twice shot and wounded the unsuspecting agent. One bullet hit Jennings in the right thigh, near the hip, and the other penetrated his groin. Bennett said she did not see Wanger at first. She said she suddenly saw two livid flashes, then Lang slumped to the ground. As soon as she recognized who had fired the shots, she told Wanger, "Get away and leave us alone." He tossed the pistol into his wife's car.
She and the parking lot's service station manager took Lang to the agent's doctor. He was then taken to a hospital, where he fortunately recovered. The police, who had heard the shots, came to the scene and found the gun in Bennett's car when they took Wanger into custody. Wanger was booked and fingerprinted, and underwent lengthy questioning.

"I shot him because I thought he was breaking up my home," Wanger told the chief of police of Beverly Hills. He was booked on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder. Bennett denied a romance, however. "But if Walter thinks the relationships between Mr. Lang and myself are romantic or anything but strictly business, he is wrong," she declared. She blamed the trouble on financial setbacks involving film productions Wanger was involved with, and said he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The following day Wanger, out on bond, returned to their Holmby Hills home, collected his belongings and moved. Bennett, however, said there would not be a divorce.

On December 14, Bennett issued a statement in which she said she hoped her husband "will not be blamed too much" for wounding her agent. She read the prepared statement in the bedroom of her home to a group of newspapermen while TV cameras recorded the scene.
"I hope Walter will not be blamed too much," she said. "He has been very unhappy and upset for many months, because of money worries, and because of his present bankruptcy proceedings which threaten to wipe out every penny he has ever made during his long and successful career as a producer. We have lived together in my Holmby Hills home some 11 years, together with our two children who love Walter dearly. Jennings Lang has been my agent and close friend for a long time. Walter and I have been close friends of Jennings and his wife Pam and saw them often. I feel confident that Walter would never have given voice to the suspicions expressed by him in the newspapers were it not for the fact that he has been so mentally upset with the complexities of the financial burden he has been carrying for a long time. I never dreamed a marriage that has been as successful as ours for 12 years with a family so lovely as ours would ever be involved in so unhappy a situation. Knowing Hollywood as I do, knowing how good, wholesome, and sincere, by far and away a majority of motion picture people are, I want to express my deep regret that this incident will add to the erroneous opinion entertained by so many."
On the same page of the Los Angeles Times appeared the first statement issued by Jennings Lang, which was given out by his wife, Pam.
"I am bewildered by the unfortunate and unprovoked event that has occurred. I have represented Miss Bennett for many years as her agent, and can only state that Walter Wanger misconstrued what was solely a business relationship. Since there are families and children concerned, I hope this whole regrettable incident can be forgotten as quickly as possible."
Wanger's attorney, Jerry Giesler, mounted a "temporary insanity" defense. He then decided to waive his rights to a jury and threw himself on the mercy of the court. Wanger served a four-month sentence in the County Honor Farm at Castaic, 39 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles, quickly returning to his career to make a string of intelligent hit movies.

Meanwhile, Bennett went to Chicago to appear on the stage in the role as the young witch Gillian Holroyd in Bell, Book and Candle, then went on national tour with the production.
Bennett made only five movies in the decade that followed, as the shooting incident was a stain on her career and she became virtually blacklisted. Blaming the scandal that occurred for destroying her career in the motion picture industry, she once said, "I might as well have pulled the trigger myself." Although Humphrey Bogart, a longtime friend of Bennett's, pleaded with the studio on her behalf to keep her role as Amelie Ducotel in We're No Angels (1955), that movie proved to be one of her last.

As the movie offers dwindled after the scandal, Bennett continued touring in stage successes, such as Susan and God, Once More With Feeling, The Pleasure of His Company and Never Too Late. Her next TV appearance was in the role as Bettina Blane for an episode of General Electric Theater in 1954. Other roles include Honora in Climax! (1955) and Vickie Maxwell in Playhouse 90 (1957).
She starred on Broadway in the comedy Love Me Little (1958), which ran for only eight performances.
Despite the shooting scandal and the damage it caused Bennett's career, she and Wanger remained married until 1965. She continued to work steadily on the stage and in television, including her guest role as Denise Mitchell in an episode of TV's Burke's Law (1965).
Bennett was a cast regular on the gothic daytime television soap opera Dark Shadows, which attracted a major cult TV following, for its entire five year run, 1966 to 1971, receiving an Emmy Award nomination in 1968 for her performance as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, mistress of the haunted Collinwood Mansion. In 1970, she appeared as Elizabeth in House of Dark Shadows, the feature film adaptation of the series. She declined to appear in the sequel Night of Dark Shadows however, and her character Elizabeth was mentioned as being recently deceased.
Her autobiography, The Bennett Playbill, written with Lois Kibbee, was published in 1970.
Other TV guest appearances include Bennett's roles as Joan Darlene Delaney in an episode of The Governor & J.J. (1970) and as Edith in an episode of Love, American Style (1971). She starred in five made-for-TV movies between 1972 and 1982.
Bennett also appeared in a few more movie roles, most notably as Madame Blanc in Italian director Dario Argento's cult movie horror thriller Suspiria (1977), for which she received a 1978 Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
On February 14, 1978, she and retired publisher/movie critic David Wilde were married in White Plains, New York. Their marriage lasted until her death.
Celebrated for not taking herself too seriously, Bennett said in a 1986 interview, "I don't think much of most of the films I made, but being a movie star was something I liked very much."
Joan Bennett died at age 80 from a heart attack at her home in Scarsdale, New York. She is interred in Pleasant View Cemetery, Lyme, Connecticut, with her parents.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in Motion Pictures, at 6310 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood.

Trivia

Was pregnant with daughter Melinda Markey while filming Little Women (1933).

Daughter of actors Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison

Sister of actresses Barbara Bennett and Constance Bennett.

Filming on She Wanted a Millionaire (1932) was interrupted for 6 months when Joan broke her leg in a fall from a horse.

Joan sang in films with her own voice; she was never dubbed.

She was nearsighted and wore glasses when not on public view.

Joan's hobbies: Interior decorating, gardening/horticulture, dog breeding, collecting miniature (model) horses.

Daughters: Adrienne Ralston Fox (became Diana Markey) born 20 February 1928; Melinda Markey born 27 February 1934; Stephanie Wanger, born 26 June 1943; Shelley Wanger, born 4 July 1948.

Her 78 feature-length films include three bit parts in silents and 6 TV-movies.

At the time of her death, Joan had 13 grandchildren. Her first two great-grandchildren were on the way - one of her grandsons and his wife were expecting twins.

She was one of only three cast members who appeared on "Dark Shadows" (1966) from the beginning to the end. She appeared on the first episode, June 27, 1966, as well as its last, April 2, 1971.

She made five films for German director Fritz Lang, more than any other American actor or actress who worked with him (many actors reportedly disliked working with Lang).

Was offered the role of Beth McCarthy in Cocoon (1985). Director Ron Howard wanted to reunite co-star Don Ameche with one of his former leading ladies and he thought of Joan. Unfortunately, she was in frail health at the time and turn down the role, a decision she later regretted when Cocoon (1985) became one of the biggest box office hits of 1985 and spawned a sequel. The part was played by Gwen Verdon. Miss Bennett did not, in fact, turn down the role. Rather, she was talked out of taking it by her fourth husband, David Wilde. Wilde insisted that the film too closely resembled the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). He also felt that it was beneath Miss Bennett's dignity to be working under "Opie Taylor" or "Richie Cunningham".

Her first grandchild, Amanda Anderson, was born in March, 1949 to daughter Diana.

Played Amy March in Little Women (1933) with Katharine Hepburn. She played Elizabeth Taylor's mother in Father of the Bride (1950). Taylor played Amy March in the remake: Little Women (1949).

Appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), although only in archive footage. The film that the characters in the movie go to see is Father of the Bride (1950), and a clip is show featuring Joan.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 82-84. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Lidia Simoneschi, including Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel Father's Little Dividend (1951). She was occasionally dubbed by Lia Orlandini, Renata Marini and Tina Lattanzi.

Finalist for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in the classic Gone with the Wind (1939). Vivien Leigh got the role at the last minute. However, the film's producer, David O. Selznick offered to cast her oldest daughter, Diana in the role of Bonnie Blue Butler, Rhett and Scarlett's daughter as a sort of consolation prize. Miss Bennett refused the offer. In reality, Diana, who was 11 years old at the time of the film's premiere, was way too old for the role - the part called for a toddler.

Grandfather Morris W. Morris (known as Lewis Morrison on stage) was of English and Spanish ancestry. Joan Bennett spoke of this, in detail, in her 1970 autobiography "The Bennett Playbill". Morris was also a Captain in the Union army during the Civil War.

"I don't think much of most of the films I made, but being a movie star was something I liked very much."

"I feel positively like a Beatle, " Joan Bennett in response to the attention she was getting with the success of Dark Shadows.

'My film career faded. A man can go on playing certain roles till he's sixty. But not a woman' 'The golden age is gone, and with it most of the people of great taste. It doesn't seem to be any fun any more' (1984)

"Meryl Streep can act Polish or English or Australian but she sure as hell can't act blonde."

FILMOGRAPHY

Suspiria (1977) .... Madame Blanc
... aka Dario Argento's Suspiria (USA: promotional title)
House of Dark Shadows (1970) .... Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
Desire in the Dust (1960) .... Mrs. Marquand
Navy Wife (1956) .... Peg Blain
... aka Mother, Sir! (UK)
There's Always Tomorrow (1956) .... Marion Groves
We're No Angels (1955) .... Amelie Ducotel
Highway Dragnet (1954) .... Mrs. Cummings
The Guy Who Came Back (1951) .... Kathy Joplin
Father's Little Dividend (1951) .... Ellie Banks
... aka Laugh Track: Father's Little Dividend (USA: video title (redubbed comic version))
For Heaven's Sake (1950) .... Lydia Bolton
Father of the Bride (1950) .... Ellie Banks
The Reckless Moment (1949) .... Lucia Harper
Hollow Triumph (1948) .... Evelyn Hahn
... aka The Man Who Murdered Himself (USA: reissue title)
... aka The Scar (UK)
Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) .... Celia Lamphere
The Woman on the Beach (1947) .... Peggy
The Macomber Affair (1947) .... Margaret Macomber
... aka The Great White Hunter (USA: reissue title)
Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946) .... Ella Sue Dozier
... aka Man of the Hour (UK)
Scarlet Street (1945) .... Katharine 'Kitty' March
Nob Hill (1945) .... Harriet Carruthers
The Woman in the Window (1944) .... Alice Reed
Margin for Error (1943) .... Sophia Baumer
Girl Trouble (1942) .... June Delaney
Twin Beds (1942) .... Julie Abbott
The Wife Takes a Flyer (1942) .... Anita Woverman
... aka A Yank in Dutch (UK)
Confirm or Deny (1941) .... Jennifer Carson
Wild Geese Calling (1941) .... Sally Murdock
Man Hunt (1941) .... Jerry Stokes
She Knew All the Answers (1941) .... Gloria Winters
The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) .... Grand Duchess Zona of Lichtenburg
The Man I Married (1940) .... Carol Hoffman
... aka I Married a Nazi
The House Across the Bay (1940) .... Brenda Bentley
Green Hell (1940) .... Stephanie Richardson
The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939) .... Hilda
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) .... Princess Maria Theresa
Trade Winds (1938) .... Kay Kerrigan
Artists and Models Abroad (1938) .... Patricia Harper
... aka Stranded in Paris (UK)
The Texans (1938) .... Ivy Preston
I Met My Love Again (1938) .... Julie
Vogues of 1938 (1937) .... Wendy Van Klettering
... aka All This and Glamour Too
... aka Vogues (USA: TV title)
... aka Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 (USA: complete title)
Wedding Present (1936) .... Monica 'Rusty' Fleming
Two in a Crowd (1936) .... Julia Wayne
Thirteen Hours by Air (1936) .... Felice Rollins
Big Brown Eyes (1936) .... Eve Fallon
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935) .... Helen Berkeley
She Couldn't Take It (1935) .... Carol Van Dyke
... aka Woman Tamer (UK)
Two for Tonight (1935) .... Bobbie Lockwood
Mississippi (1935) .... Lucy Rumford
Private Worlds (1935) .... Sally MacGregor
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934) .... Adele Verin
The Pursuit of Happiness (1934) .... Prudence Kirkland
Little Women (1933) .... Amy
Arizona to Broadway (1933) .... Lynn Martin
Me and My Gal (1932) .... Helen Riley
Wild Girl (1932) .... Salomy Jane
... aka Salomy Jane (UK)
Week Ends Only (1932) .... Venetia Carr
The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) .... Vivienne Ware
Careless Lady (1932) .... Sally Brown
She Wanted a Millionaire (1932) .... Jane Miller
Hush Money (1931) .... Joan Gordon
Doctors' Wives (1931) .... Nina Wyndram Penning
Many a Slip (1931) .... Pat Coster
Scotland Yard (1930) .... Xandra, Lady Lasher
... aka Detective Clive Bart (UK)
Maybe It's Love (1930) .... Nan Sheffield
... aka Eleven Men and a Girl (USA: TV title)
Moby Dick (1930) .... Faith Mapple, his beloved
Crazy That Way (1930) .... Ann Jordan
Puttin' on the Ritz (1930) .... Dolores Fenton
The Mississippi Gambler (1929) .... Lucy Blackburn
Disraeli (1929) .... Lady Clarissa Pevensey
... aka Disraeli: The Noble Ladies of Scandal
Three Live Ghosts (1929) .... Rose Gordon
Bulldog Drummond (1929) .... Phyllis Benton
The Divine Lady (1929) (uncredited) .... Extra
Power (1928) .... A dame
The Eternal City (1923) (uncredited) .... Page
The Valley of Decision (1916) .... An 'unborn soul'

Jennifer Jones (1919-2009)

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Date of Birth

2 March 1919, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Date of Death

17 December 2009, Malibu, California, USA

Birth Name

Phylis Lee Isley

1919-1937: Childhood

Phylis Lee Isley was born March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her parents, Phil and Flora Mae (Suber) owned and operated a small acting troop called the Isley Stock Company. They would tour small towns outside of Tulsa and perform plays for ten cents a patron. It was in this environment that young Phylis decided she wanted to be an actress. By the time she was six, she was in her first grade play, playing a candy cane. In her free time and during summer vacations, she worked with her parents selling tickets and refreshments.
The Isleys made good money during this time and in 1929, when the stock market crashed, Phil Isley used the money that he had made to buy several independent movie theaters and equip them with sound. It was a smart investment and Isley's chain of theaters paid off nicely. Phylis spent many hours in the movie theaters and was determined as ever to become an actress.

After she graduated from high school, she enrolled in Monte Cassino, a junior college for girls which was run by Benedictine sisters. Phylis was unlike most of the other girls in that she was more interested in a career than dating boys. She appeared in many of the school plays and usually played the leading role.
Phil Isley was impressed with his daughter's enthusiasm and suggested that she go to Hollywood where his connections might land her a movie contract. Phylis was more interested in Broadway (her curiosity had been peaked at the age of nine when her parents took her on a trip to New York). She made plans to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, a college that was well known for its' drama department.

She was disappointed, however, with Northwestern. Her courses were not challenging and she felt as though she was wasting her time there. She wrote a letter to one of her idols, stage great Katherine Cornell, and asked her if she should continue with her schooling or get stage experience. Cornell suggested that she needed a "cultural background". Phylis took her advice but instead of returning to Northwestern, she decided that she wanted to attend the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts in New York.
Her parents accompanied her to New York and got her a room at the Barbizon Hotel For Women. To be admitted, Phylis had to audition and she chose one scene from Romeo And Juliet and another from Wingless Victory. Her audition went very well and she was admitted as a student in the fall of 1937. Phylis was much happier at the Academy than she had been at Northwestern and her first semester went well. Following the Christmas break and a trip back home to Tulsa, Phylis returned for the Winter semester in January of 1938. She was about to meet someone who would take her mind off of acting...

1938-1942: Early Career (The Robert Walker Years)

When Phylis Isley resumed her classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts on January 2, 1938, she met a fellow student from Utah named Robert Walker. They immediately became very close friends. They both shared a passion for acting. As the semester progressed, Robert and Phylis were inseparable. They spent most of their spare time together discussing acting and the theater as well as taking long walks around New York. They shared a common dream - to make a living in the craft that they loved best. It was not long before they were in love.

Toward the end of the semester, the students were required to audition again for the following year. Robert and Phylis decided to do their scene together and they chose one from The Barretts of Wimpole Street, one of Phylis' favorites. Both passed the test and were invited back for another year. Phylis was to return to Tulsa for the summer and Robert stayed in New York to look for work.
He was not very successful, and in a spur of the moment decision, decided to work on a banana boat. It was a subtle indication of Walker's restless nature and unpredictability. Phylis overlooked his odd career move but was surprised when they reunited in the Fall and Robert told her that he had decided to quit the Academy. He felt that it was a waste of his time and he thought he could find work on his own. Phylis agreed with him, and much to the dismay of her parents, she quit the school also.
They soon found that their prospects in the theater were bleak and they were unable to find work. Phil Isley, worried over his daughter's situation, lured her back to Tulsa with a $25 a week radio job. Phylis told him that she would accept only if Walker was offered the same deal. Isley agreed and the young couple moved to Tulsa. The new job would be a 13 week stint radio program called "The Phylis Isley Radio Theater". The Isleys soon became very fond of Robert Walker.
Robert and Phylis were married on January 2, 1939, one year after they met. Phil Isley urged the young couple to go to Hollywood. In their brand new Packard convertible (a wedding gift from the Isleys), they headed West, stopping briefly in Utah to visit Walker's family. However, once in Hollywood, even with her father's letters of recommendation, work was hard to find. As a last resort, Phylis found work at the low budget Republic Studios. She was immediately assigned her first film role in a John Wayne "Three Mesquiteer" western called New Frontier. It was only a week's work and following that, she was put to work in a Dick Tracy serial called Dick Tracy's G-Men. Walker had only found work in a handful of bit roles. Disheartened, they decided to go back to New York. Phylis asked to be released from her contract at Republic. Republic at first refused but changed their minds after Phylis's father gave them a call and explained that the two merely wanted to leave Hollywood and not go to another studio.Robert had better luck with job opportunities in New York. He found steady radio work but Phylis could only find a job modeling hats. She also found out that she was pregnant. Their first child, Robert Walker, Jr. was born on April 15, 1940. She was soon pregnant again and a second son (Michael Ross) was born on March 13, 1941. Walker continued to find success with radio work but Phylis was becoming increasingly bored at home with the boys.

One night on a rare outing, the couple saw a new play called Claudia. Phylis learned that a search was being con- ducted for an actress to play the role for the Chicago production. She was convinced the part was made for her, so she secured an audition through Robert Walker's agent. The play's author, Rose Franken, was impressed with Phylis but she also liked another actress named Phyllis Thaxter. In the end, she chose Thaxter. However, a new prospect soon entered the picture.

Rose Franken knew that producer David O. Selznick was searching for an actress for the film version of Claudia. She suggested that he see both Phylis Walker and Phyllis Thaxter. An audition was arranged with Selznick's secretary Kay Brown. She read for the part in Brown's office (with Selznick listening in his office) but became upset because she gave a bad reading and fled the office in tears. Selznick apparently was impressed because he told Kay Brown to phone her and invite her back.
Phylis returned to Selznick's office where he did not ask her to read again but wanted to know all about her. Phylis was cordial and told him all about her background but did not mention that she had appeared in earlier films for Republic. She went home and four days later she heard from the Selznick office again. They were offering her a personal seven year contract!
Phylis and Robert did not realize it but she had met a man who was about to change the course of both their lives...

1943-1970: Actress (The David Selznick Years)

David O. Selznick had been captivated by the "big-eyed girl" (as her referred to her in one of his famous memos). She would become his obsession and he would spend the rest of his life nurturing her career. Selznick had been married to Irene Mayer Selznick (Louis B. Mayer's daughter) since 1930. He was one of Hollywood's most brilliant independent producers and his resume included such memorable films as King Kong, Dinner At Eight, A Star Is Born, Anna Karenina, Rebecca and of course, Gone With The Wind. He had a keen eye for worthwhile projects and new talent but when he became obsessed with a project or a person, he tended to go overboard and his judgment was often erred.

Phylis left New York to go to Hollywood where she would test for Claudia. Robert stayed behind with the boys and continued his radio work. Selznick first wanted to test his new find with audiences so he put her in a small play in Santa Barbara called Hello Out There. The play was a success and Phylis received good notices. Selznick was pleased with everything but the name "Phylis Walker". He instructed his office staff to start thinking about a new name. He liked the name "Jennifer" and wanted a last name that would be simple. For three months, they pondered a new name and someone (no one knows exactly who) came up with "Jones". Selznick and Phylis both liked it so in late January 1942, "Jennifer Jones" was introduced as David Selznick's latest discovery.

Her first project was yet to be announced. Jennifer returned to New York after her Claudia test and her stint in Hello Out There. In the meantime, Robert had bought them a new house on Long Island. They were both making good money - he in radio and she with her new contract, even though she had no work to do. She was terribly crushed when Selznick informed her that the Claudia role would go to Dorothy McGuire but he told her not to worry, that her debut would be in a very important role. She finally told Selznick about her previous two Republic pictures and, though the matter greatly concerned him, he learned that the contract had indeed been canceled and was hoping that no one would remember Jennifer in those films.
Selznick learned that Twentieth Century Fox was looking for a newcomer for the title role in The Song Of Bernadette. This was the kind of role that he was looking for for Jennifer's debut. In October of 1942, Jennifer received the call that she was to test for Bernadette. In early December, Jennifer was informed that the role was hers and she and her family were on their way to Hollywood.

At first, the turn of events in Robert and Jennifer's careers could not have been better. Jennifer started work on Bernadette and Walker (with the help of Selznick) was signed on at the prestigious MGM where his future also looked very promising. However, Selznick's attention toward Jennifer was becoming more and more intense. For her twenty fourth birthday on March 2, 1943, he gave her a beautiful leather bound copy of The Song of Bernadette that had been autographed by the author Franz Werfel.
There are conflicting accounts as to when Robert and Jennifer's marriage began to unravel. Vincent Price claims that it began to happen during the filming of Bernadette.

Whatever the case, their relationship grew very tense by the time The Song of Bernadette had wrapped in July of 1943. Jennifer and Robert were then both assigned to Since You Went Away where filming their love scenes was most difficult. By October, they had separated. The Song Of Bernadette opened in December of 1943 and Jennifer was an overnight star. Robert Walker too had gained star status with the film Bataan.
Walker and Jones began divorce proceedings in March of 1944 and Robert Walker did not cope with it well.
He began to drink and his volatile temper got him into trouble with the police on several occasions. Despite his promise of a successful film career (he was well liked by the movie going public) he lost all interest in his work. He remarried in 1948 to Barbara Ford (director John Ford's daughter) but it only lasted six weeks. Later, Walker spent time at Menninger's Clinic for his alcohol problem and he suffered several nervous breakdowns. He made a memorable comeback in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train but he died suddenly in 1951 when doctors gave him sedatives following an emotional outburst.

David Selznick's chief concern now was the career of Jennifer Jones. He wisely chose roles that would portray her in diverse characterizations and as a result she was not typecast. Her roles ranged from sweet and innocents like Bernadette, Jennie, and Miss Dove to sultry vixens like Pearl Chavez and Ruby Gentry. She would portray contemporary women as well as classic literary characters like Madame Bovary and Sister Carrie.

Selznick's judgment sometimes faltered. In 1944, Jones was offered the part of the lead role in Laura and Selznick turned it down!
David and Jennifer's relationship intensified over the years but it was not until July 13, 1949 that they were finally married on a yacht off the coast of Italy.
They moved into a beautiful home on Tower Road in Beverly Hills that had once belonged to John Gilbert. On August 12, 1954, Jennifer gave birth to their first child, Mary Jennifer. Her first pregnancy with Selznick had ended in a miscarriage in 1951.

Jennifer's career hit a slump in the late 40s and early 50s when her films did not do well at the box office (although these are some of her best films) but she rebounded in the mid 50s with Love Is A Many Splendored Thing and Good Morning, Miss Dove and she was very popular with the public.

However, Selznick's overblown production of A Farewell To Arms was a disaster and did little to benefit Jennifer's career. She was off the screen for three years following A Farewell To Arms and returned in 1961 in Tender Is The Night which was also poorly received.
Selznick's health began to deteriorate (he had a bad heart) and he died on June 22, 1965. Jennifer was devastated but quickly accepted a film role in a low budget production called The Idol in order to keep herself occupied. She was a very lonely woman who had lost the driving force behind her life and career. When she learned that her close friend Charles Bickford had died, she took an overdose of pills and was found unconscious on Malibu Beach. She later claimed that the incident had been an accident but it was evident that the 60's were very troubled times for Jennifer.

1971-2009: Patron Of The Arts (The Norton Simon Years)

Jennifer became very interested in the mental health field and especially The Manhattan Project, a program designed to help young people who were addicted to drugs. Jennifer opened her home for meetings and asked friends to donate money for the organization. Many of her friends claimed that she became a much stronger person during this time. During this time, she met multimillionaire art collector and businessman Norton Simon.
Norton Simon had made his fortune during the Depression years when he bought a bankrupt fruit and vegetable packing company and successfully turned the business around. He began buying stock in other undervalued companies with growth potential. One of these companies was Hunt Foods, which Simon gained a controlling interest in during the early 1940's. Simon was brilliant in the areas of marketing and advertising, and during the war years, he turned Hunt Foods Inc. into a billion dollar industry.
It was not until the 1950s that Simon developed an interest in art but once he did, his passion turned into an obsession and during the next twenty five years, he amassed one of the worlds greatest and most eclectic art collections.
Both Norton and Jennifer were interested in mental health (Simon's son had committed suicide) and both shared an interest in helping others. Simon did not know much about Jennifer's show business world but he was familiar with the Robert Brackman portrait of her from Portrait Of Jennie because at one time he had tried unsuccessfully to buy it.

Their whirlwind romance included a trip to Europe, where Simon proposed. They were married on May 29, 1971 on a yacht in the English Channel. One of Simon's wedding presents to Jennifer was the Francisco de Zurbaran painting Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose. Jennifer was always fond of lemons and usually requested arrangements of lemons instead of flowers in her dressing rooms.

Jennifer was 52 and was about to embark on a new life. Simon taught her about art and she soon developed a critical eye and even bid on works for him at auctions that he could not attend. On one notable occasion, Jennifer, on Simon's behalf, successfully bid 3.7 million for a rare work by Dieric Bouts titled The Resurrection.
Simon encouraged Jennifer to do another film and she was enthusiastic about returning to the screen. She got a strong supporting part in The Towering Inferno, a quality production that would hopefully erase all memories of Angel, Angel, Down We Go and The Idol. The film was a huge box office success and Jennifer received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Unfortunately she was overlooked for an Academy Award nomination. She looked forward to doing more films but a personal tragedy would take her mind off acting.
Mary Jennifer, Jones' daughter by Selznick, had developed deep emotional problems and had never fully gotten over her father's death. She was living in a dark fantasy world and according to one source, experimented with drugs and had had a nervous breakdown. While Jennifer was on a visit to Tulsa to visit her dying father, Mary Jennifer jumped to her death from a twenty two story building in Los Angeles. A few weeks later, Phil Isley died in Oklahoma.
Jennifer was devastated but her interest in mental health issues became even stronger and she donated one million dollars to establish the Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation For Mental Health And Education in 1980. She also donated many hours to the Wexler Hereditary Disease Foundation, founded by her personal analyst, Dr. Milton Wexler.

In 1977, she spoke in Washington to the Senate Appropriations Committee to solicit more funds for the Foundation. In the early 1990s, Jennifer herself became a paraprofessional therapist and volunteered as a counselor at the Southern California Counseling Center in Beverly Hills.
There would be no return to the silver screen. She did talk with producers about portraying convicted murderess Jean Harris but the plans were abandoned when a television film was made with Ellen Burstyn. She bought the rights to Larry McMurtry's novel Terms of Endearment but lost interest when producer James Brooks hinted that she was too old to play the role. It became a smash hit with Shirley Maclaine in the role.

She made appearances at the 1987 Academy Awards as well as American Film Institute Tributes to Lillian Gish and Gregory Peck.
Norton Simon was diagnosed with Guillain Barre syndrome in 1984 and the couple moved into the Beverly Hills Hotel so that he could receive around the clock medical treatment. The Beverly Hills Hotel closed for a renovation in late 1992 and the Simons moved into a house in Beverly Hills. Simon's health steadily got worse and he died on June 1, 1993.
Norton Simon had named Jennifer Chairman of the Norton Simon Museum in 1977 and she continued in this position after his death. She was instrumental in the renovation of the museum and its grounds in the late 90s.
She has also made rare public appearances on the Academy Awards in 1998 and 2003 in tributes to past winners. In 1997, she traveled to Germany to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Film Awards.
Today Jennifer Jones serves as President on the Norton Simon Foundation Board. She also continues to contribute to mental health and charity organizations. She lives in Malibu near her son Robert Walker, Jr. She still guards her privacy closely and rarely talks with interviewers, especially about her private life or film career.

Jennifer Jones' Awards and Nominations

THE SONG OF BERNADETTE
   Academy Award - Best Actress
   Golden Globe - Best Actress
   National Board of Review - Best Actress
   Look Magazine - Outstanding Achievement Award

SINCE YOU WENT AWAY
   Academy Award Nomination - Best Supporting Actress

LOVE LETTERS
   Academy Award Nomination - Best Actress

DUEL IN THE SUN
   Academy Award Nomination - Best Actress
   Look Magazine - Outstanding Achievement Award

MADAME BOVARY

Paris Film Festival - Best Foreign Film Actress

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING

Academy Award Nomination - Best Actress

Photoplay Magazine Gold Medal Award - Most Popular Actress

Audie Award - Most Popular Actress

GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE

California Federation of Women's Clubs Motion Picture Award

THE TOWERING INFERNO

Golden Globe Nomination - Best Supporting Actress

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
1997 - German Film Awards

SERVICE AWARDS
1951 - American Red Cross Citation for compassion shown to wounded American soldiers.
1951 - Gold Medal from United Nations for boosting morale of wounded American soldiers.
1951 - Patriotic Award for visiting American soldiers in Japan and Korea.
1985 - Pennsylvania School of Nursing Honoree for promoting a fairer, more compassionate society.

Filmography

The Towering Inferno (1974) .... Lisolette Muller
Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969) .... Astrid Steele
... aka Cult of the Damned (USA: reissue title)
The Idol (1966) .... Carol
Tender Is the Night (1962) .... Nicole Diver
A Farewell to Arms (1957) .... Catherine Barkley
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) .... Elizabeth Barrett
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) .... Betsy Rath
Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) .... Miss Dove
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) .... Dr. Han Suyin
Beat the Devil (1953) .... Mrs. Gwendolen Chelm
... aka Il tesoro dell'Africa (Italy)
Stazione Termini (1953) .... Mary Forbes
... aka Indiscretion (UK)
... aka Indiscretion of an American Wife (USA)
... aka Station Terminus (International: English title)
... aka Terminal Station
... aka Terminal Station Indiscretion (International: English title)
... aka Terminus Station (International: English title)
Ruby Gentry (1952) .... Ruby Gentry
Carrie (1952) .... Carrie Meeber
The Wild Heart (1952) .... Hazel Woodus
... aka Gypsy Blood
Gone to Earth (1950) .... Hazel Woodus
Madame Bovary (1949) .... Emma Bovary
We Were Strangers (1949) .... China Valdés
Portrait of Jennie (1948) .... Jennie Appleton
... aka Jennie (UK)
... aka Tidal Wave
Duel in the Sun (1946) .... Pearl Chavez
... aka King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (UK: complete title) (USA: complete title)
Cluny Brown (1946) .... Cluny Brown
American Creed (1946)
Love Letters (1945) .... Singleton
Since You Went Away (1944) .... Jane Deborah Hilton
The Song of Bernadette (1943) .... Bernadette
... aka Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette (USA: complete title)
Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939) (as Phyllis Isley) .... Gwen Andrews
New Frontier (1939) (as Phylis Isley) .... Celia Braddock
... aka Frontier Horizon (USA: reissue title)

Appendix

Jennifer Jones: Portrait of a Lady (2001)

Jean Negulesco (1900 - 1993)

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Date of Birth
26 February 1900, Craiova, Dolj, Romania

Date of Death
18 July 1993, Marbella, Andalusia, Spain (heart failure)

Jean Negulesco belonged to the great age of Hollywood directors - Zinnemann, Kazan, Wilder, Mankiewicz, Huston - who transformed the American cinema by choosing their own material. As often as not they selected from properties already owned by their bosses, as did Negulesco when making the handful of pictures which drew him to the attention of the critics. He was more than a competent film-maker, but unlike those named above unable either to stamp his own personality on his work or squeeze that extra something from the material.

_{John Huston, Roberto Rossellini, Jean Negulesco}

He began his career in Paris as a painter and scenic designer, taught by his fellow Romanian Brancusi and friendly with Modigliani. In 1927 he left for the United States to exhibit his work in New York, where he was asked to prepare some drawings for the rape scene in The Story of Temple Drake (1933), based on William Faulkner's Sanctuary. (Paramount at that time had studios on both coasts.) He had to depict the scene in discreet visual terms so that it could be passed by the censor. The producer of the film, Benjamin Glazer, liked the result so much that he made Negulesco his assistant, enabling him to gain experience in almost all aspects of movie-making. His work as second-unit director at Paramount and then at Universal brought him to the attention of Gordon Illingworth, producer of short subjects at Warner Bros, who put him in charge of those with pretensions to art, ie featuring ballet and/or orchestra. Negulesco also chalked up some credits at Warners as a writer.
In 1941, when the withdrawal of the European market had caused profits to drop, Jack L. Warner decided to find some new directors who could bring a fresh approach to low-budgeted subjects. Negulesco started work on The Maltese Falcon, only to find it taken away and given to another director making his debut, John Huston. Negulesco was assigned to a remake of Dangerous, Singapore Woman (1941), but was removed during filming and demoted, that is, returned to the shorts department - for the second time in his career.
Three years later he was given a third chance at a feature, and almost wrecked that by submitting a poor test of the leading actors. Negulesco felt 'naturally upset', after waiting 15 years to make a feature, that he should run the risk of being removed yet again. The film concerned was The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). Anatole Litvak had advised him to look at Eric Ambler's exciting but complex mystery story, which no writer at the studio had managed to lick. Negulesco took it to Henry Blanke, the producer of The Maltese Falcon, and told him that he would keep the budget low - the action took place over much of Europe - by filming among shadows and darkness, instead of elaborate sets. He also suggested it as a co-starring vehicle for Peter Lorre ('the most talented man I have ever seen') and Sydney Greenstreet, whose amused approach to the sinister roles they played was so effective in both cases. The result retained the gritty tone of the original, at its best in the banter between Lorre and Greenstreet, two intelligent but wary men. It is also the only cosmopolitan Warner thriller of this era not to imitate Casablanca (in which these two actors had also appeared, as well as The Maltese Falcon).
Negulesco's other Warner pictures included Humoresque (1946), in which a spoilt society woman, Joan Crawford, takes up with a poor but proud musician, John Garfield ('Do you like martinis, Mr Boray? They're an acquired taste, like Ravel'); and another Lorre-Greenstreet teaming, the aptly named Three Secrets (1946), with an acrid script by Huston. He then landed the studio's plum assignment, The Adventures of Don Juan, an expensive swashbuckler meant to re- establish Errol Flynn after several years in drab contemporary films. But Flynn did not like his approach to the Don, whom Negulesco thought of as victim rather than victimiser. Jack L. Warner said to Negulesco: 'Johnny, I cannot make Don Juan without Flynn, but I can make it without you.' So Negulesco found himself looking at some scripts commissioned by the producer Jerry Wald.

_{Jean Negulesco, 1951}

One was Johnny Belinda (1948), based on a half-forgotten play by Elmer Harris, about a deaf-mute who is raped by the village stud, and the kindly doctor who is thought by the villagers to be the father of her baby. Negulesco recognised the situations as melodrama, but believed that he could make it work - as well as satisfying the censor - if he presented an honest portrait of the small Nova Scotia community in which the tale takes place (it was actually filmed near San Francisco). 'Making it,' Negulesco said, 'was the happiest experience of my life. We all loved what we did in it. This was the only time in my career when everybody connected with the film felt themselves an integral part of the project.' This was apparent in the result: Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres were superb in the leading roles, she touching and he tender; and Agnes Moorehead and Charles Bickford brought off the difficult task of playing salt-of-the-earth types.
However, Warner loathed the film - just as he had hated Huston's The Treasure of Sierra Madre, also made on location, far from his supervision. And he saw Johnny Belinda, too, go on to achieve critical acclaim and immense popularity - and Wyman win an Oscar. Warner was to admit that he was wrong - especially as he had sacked Negulesco from the studio after seeing the first preview. Once the film was shown, Negulesco could have written his ticket at any studio; but on the strength of Deep Valley (1946) 20th Century-Fox had already taken him on to direct Road House (1948), an atmospheric small-town thriller with Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark.
But after Johnny Belinda there would be no more melodramas, unless Negulesco wished there to be. He lighted upon Margery Sharp's cunning, panoramic novel of life in one particular part of West London, Britannia Mews (1949), reduced in Ring Lardner Jnr's screenplay to just two episodes, with Maureen O'Hara and Dana Andrews in a dual role as both her drunken husband and her puppeteer lover. Negulesco thought the result, which was badly received, 'quite bad', and it is certainly bizarre - as indeed was The Mask of Dimitrios, though it wasn't clear this time whether this was deliberate.

_{Jean Negulesco's home, Beverly Hill, 1952}

Negulesco then joined another civilised talent, the writer-director Nunally Johnson, to film Agnes Newton Keith's account of her imprisonment by the Japanese in Borneo, Three Came Home (1950). It had been a bestseller, but Negulesco and Johnson's motives were to duplicate the authenticity of the book, rendering as honestly as they could - by the standards of the time - the brutality of the captors and the sexual frustrations of the prisoners, both those who knew that their husbands were in neighbouring camps and those tempted by Australian POWs on the prowl. Claudette Colbert led an excellent cast, including Florence Desmond, Patric Knowles and Sessue Hayakawa.
Johnson and Negulesco came a cropper with The Mudlark (1950), with Alec Guinness as Disraeli and Irene Dunne stuffed with cotton wool inside her cheeks to play Queen Victoria; and there is nothing to be said in favour of Negulesco's return to Johnny Belinda territory, for MGM, Scandal at Scourie (1953), a schmaltzy vehicle for the fading team of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. His other films for Fox were sound commercial jobs, and we should note Phone Call From a Stranger (1952), if only for Bette Davis's cameo as a bedridden widow recalling her marriage, and Titanic (1953), which added Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb and some fictions to that tragic occasion. That the whole is as watchable as it is may be due to a screenplay partly by Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch, working together for the third time since writing Ninotchka with Billy Wilder.
Negulesco and Johnson were put in charge of Fox's second film in CinemaScope, How To Marry a Millionaire (1953), a comedy with Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable. Monroe's myopic blond gold-digger gave her her final thrust into stardom, and she was often deliciously funny, despite the fact that, as Negulesco himself put it, it was difficult to understand how 'to do intimate scenes on that great wide oblong'. The three stars had to do the opening sequence nine times as everyone tried to adjust to the new format. The answer seemed both to Fox and Negulesco to be to string the cast out across the screen, as in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) and Woman's World (1954). The cast of the latter included June Allyson, Bacall, Wilde, Webb, and Fred MacMurray; among those throwing their coins in the Trevi were Jean Peters, Dorothy McGuire, Webb and Louis Jourdan - in what amounted to a romantic re- working of How To Marry a Millionaire, in itself a rehash of the story Fox had filmed at least three times before. Helped by Frank Sinatra's rendition of the syrupy title-song, this was one of Fox's biggest successes in its history. Negulesco remade it with even less enthusiasm as The Pleasure Seekers (1964), its story transposed to Madrid.
Other late films included The Rains of Ranchipur (1955), a remake of The Rains Came which startlingly teamed Richard Burton and Lana Turner, and Boy on a Dolphin (1957), a tale of ocean archaeology in which Sophia Loren's dripping-wet frocks out-acted a miscast Alan Ladd. As screen teams go, there should have been magic when the orphan Leslie Caron met up with Daddy Long Legs Fred Astaire in 1955. And there was, when they were allowed to dance simply together; but, in trying to wrest the crown for making the best musicals from MGM, Fox had brought in Roland Petit to choreograph two dream ballets which were both vulgar and derivative. Negulesco directed his last film, The Invisible Six, in 1970. In 1973 he played an actor in Un Officier de Police Sans Importance, while his son Julian has appeared in a number of French films.
In sum, Negulesco's career is very much like that of most of his peers: promising, then achieving and eventually flattened by the pressures of the front office to provide a succession of hits. Like Reisch, Brackett and those film-makers listed in the first paragraph, Negulesco was a man of culture and intellect; and though some of them may have old-age failures to their names they did not succumb to the Hollywood malaise.

_{Working on a caricature drawing of Jack Carson during
lunch break while working on the 'Doughboys'}

_{Drawing a caricature of Paul Henreid between takes on the set of 'The Conspirators'}

Spouse

Dusty Anderson (21 July 1946 - 18 July 1993) (his death) 2 children

Trivia

Former painter, stage designer, 2nd-unit director, assistant director

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 827-832. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

After working as a technical advisor, production assistant and assistant producer for nearly a decade, Negulesco was finally offered a chance at directing. Jack L. Warner wanted his newest series of moderately budgeted films to be directed by his newest crop of directors. Although Negulesco received directorial credit for his first film, Singapore Woman (1941), he was fired in mid-production. He was also removed from his next assignment, The Maltese Falcon (1941) after working on that film for 2 months and replaced by John Huston as reward for his successful adaptation of High Sierra (1941). Dejected, Negulesco's friend, director Anatole Litvak suggested a book by Eric Ambler, "The Coffin of Dimitrios" and pitched the story to producer Henry Blanke. Retitled as The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), it remains one of the best films ever made by a novice director.

Was approached to direct Adventures of Don Juan (1948).

Personal Quotes

[on Marilyn Monroe] She's the girl you'd like to double-cross your wife with.

Filmography

Hello-Goodbye (1970)
The Invincible Six (1970)
... aka The Heroes
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) (some scenes) (uncredited)
... aka George Stevens Presents The Greatest Story Ever Told (USA: complete title)
The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
Jessica (1962)
... aka La sage-femme, le curé et le bon Dieu (France)
The Best of Everything (1959)
Count Your Blessings (1959)
A Certain Smile (1958)
The Gift of Love (1958)
Boy on a Dolphin (1957)
The Dark Wave (1956)
... aka CinemaScope Specials (Third Series) (#9): The Dark Wave (USA: series title)
The Rains of Ranchipur (1955)
Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Woman's World (1954/I)
... aka A Woman's World (USA: alternative title)
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
River of No Return (1954) (uncredited)
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Scandal at Scourie (1953)
Titanic (1953)
Full House (1952/I) (segment "Last Leaf, The")
... aka O. Henry's Full House (USA: complete title)
Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
Lydia Bailey (1952)
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)
The Mudlark (1950)
Under My Skin (1950)
Three Came Home (1950)
Britannia Mews (1949)
... aka Affairs of Adelaide (USA)
... aka The Forbidden Street (USA)
Road House (1948)
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Deep Valley (1947)
Humoresque (1946)
Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
Three Strangers (1946)
The Conspirators (1944)
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
South American Sway (1944)
... aka Melody Masters: South American Sway (USA: series title)
Grandmother's Follies (1944)
Roaring Guns (1944)
Listen to the Bands (1944)
Over the Wall (1943)
Food and Magic (1943)
Cavalcade of Dance (1943)
Women at War (1943)
Army Show (1943)
... aka Broadway Brevities: Army Show (USA: series title)
Childhood Days (1943)
All-Star Melody Masters (1943)
The All American Bands (1943)
Three Cheers for the Girls (1943) (framing story)
... aka Broadway Brevities: Three Cheers for the Girls (USA: series title)
Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra (1943)
... aka Melody Masters: Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra (USA: series title)
The United States Army Band (1943)
The United States Navy Band (1943)
The United States Service Bands (1943)
The Voice That Thrilled the World (1943)
The United States Marine Band (1942)
... aka Melody Masters (1942-1943): The United States Marine Band (USA: series title)
Six Hits and a Miss (1942)
... aka Melody Masters (1942-1943 season) #2: Six Hits and a Miss (USA: series title)
Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra (1942)
... aka Melody Masters: Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra (USA: series title)
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1942)
Spanish Fiesta (1942)
Calling All Girls (1942) (uncredited)
... aka Broadway Brevities: Calling All Girls (USA: series title)
Borrah Minnevitch and His Harmonica School (1942)
Carl Hoff and Band (1942)
The Spirit of Annapolis (1942)
The United States Army Air Force Band (1942)
At the Stroke of Twelve (1941)
... aka Broadway Brevities: At the Stroke of Twelve (USA: series title)
Carioca Serenaders (1941)
University of Southern California Band and Glee Club (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: University of Southern California Band and Glee Club (USA: series title)
Those Good Old Days (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: Those Good Old Days (USA: series title)
Hal Kemp and His Orchestra (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: Hal Kemp and His Orchestra (USA: series title)
Singapore Woman (1941)
Marie Green and Her Merry Men (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: Marie Green and Her Merry Men (USA: series title)
Freddie Martin and His Orchestra (1941)
... aka Freddy Martin and His Orchestra (USA: copyright title)
... aka Melody Masters: Freddie Martin and His Orchestra (USA: series title)
Cliff Edwards and His Buckaroos (1941)
Jan Garber and His Orchestra (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: Jan Garber and His Orchestra (USA: series title)
The Dog in the Orchard (1941)
... aka The Broadway Brevities: Dog in the Orchard (USA: series title)
Skinnay Ennis and His Orchestra (1941)
... aka Melody Masters: Skinnay Ennis and His Orchestra (USA: series title)
The Gay Parisian (1941)
Alice in Movieland (1940)
... aka Broadway Brevities: Alice in Movieland (USA: series title)
The Flag of Humanity (1940)
City for Conquest (1940) (fill-in director) (uncredited)
Joe Reichman and His Orchestra (1940)
Henry Busse and His Orchestra (1940)

James Mason (1909 - 1984)

2011-01-25T09:09:00.016+02:00

Date of Birth
15 May 1909, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, UK

Date of Death
27 July 1984, Lausanne, Switzerland (heart attack)

Birth Name
James Neville Mason

Early life

Born the son of a wool merchant in the British mill town of Huddersfield, Mason excelled in school and earned a degree in architecture from Cambridge in 1931. Having acted in several school plays, however, he thought he had a better shot at earning a living as an actor rather than an architect during the Great Depression. Mason won his first professional role in The Rascal and made his debut in London's West End theater world in 1933 with Gallows Glorious. A year after he joined London's Old Vic theater, he made his screen debut in Late Extra in 1935.

Career

He entered films with 1935's newspaper thriller, Late Extra (1935), and, once his film career gathered momentum, he rarely appeared on the stage again, with a 1954 season at Stratford, Ontario, as exception. He owed his film start to the legendary American, UK-based agent, Al Parker, who 'discovered' him in 1935 and represented him till he, Parker, died, after which his widow, Margaret Johnston, took over the agency and Mason.

^{At the Old Vic}

Mason became a regular British screen presence in late '30s "quota quickies", making about a dozen mostly forgotten films, though given a chance to glower handsomely in The Mill on the Floss (1937)

The actor made a career and personal breakthrough, however, with I Met a Murderer (1939). Along with co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the film, he also wound up marrying his leading lady, Pamela Kellino, in 1940.

Mason became Britain's biggest screen star a few years later with his performance as the sadistic title character in the Gainsborough Studios melodrama The Man in Grey (1943). He became Everywoman's favourite brute: he persecuted Phyllis Calvert in Fanny by Gaslight (1944); drove Dulcie Gray to drink and suicide in They Were Sisters (1945); smashed his walking stick over Ann Todd's piano-playing fingers in The Seventh Veil (1945); and, as a highwayman, fell in with The Wicked Lady (1945).

These skilful studies in sexy sadism made him a huge box-office draw, though, when he played the character role of the retired draper in A Place of One's Own (1945), his subtlest work to date, the fans were less interested. Revealing that he could be more than just brutal leading men in weepy potboilers, he added an artistic as well as popular triumph to his credits with Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947). Starring Mason as a doomed IRA leader hunted by the police, Odd Man Out garnered international raves, and he often cited it as his favorite among his many films.

At this point, after co-starring in the British drama The Upturned Glass (1947), the Masons and their 12 cats finally headed to Hollywood (via a stint on Broadway in Bathsheba) in 1947. Mason attracted a lot of chauvinistic British criticism for doing so, and for a while the received wisdom was with the Picturegoer scribe who wrote (1950): "Certainly, James does not seem to be advancing his professional career in Hollywood". An auteurist decade later, his work for Max Ophuls in Caught (1948) and The Reckless Moment (1949) and Vincente Minnelli in Madame Bovary (1949) would be accorded new respect.

Mason's American career was firmly established by his late-'40s successes, and his elegant range helped him remain a Hollywood fixture throughout the '50s. He did some fine work in Hollywood, including Rommel in The Desert Fox (1951) and a troubled Brutus in Julius Caesar (1953), but it was as if he had turned his back on the easy stardom he had won in Britain in favour of becoming one of the world's best character actors.

Taking a brief break from Hollywood, Mason returned to Europe to write and produce the British drama The Lady Possessed (1952), co-starring his wife, and star as a Harry Lime-esque black marketer in Carol Reed's The Man Between (1953). Mason stepped behind the camera as director for the first and only time with the subsequent short film The Child (1954), featuring his wife and daughter Portland Mason.
Returning to Hollywood acting, Mason garnered numerous accolades for George Cukor's lavish 1954 remake of A Star Is Born. Though the drama of his co-star Judy Garland's "comeback" and the studio's decision to re-cut the film after its debut threatened to overshadow its content, Mason's sublimely controlled fury and anguish as doomed falling star Norman Maine still brought him high praise and earned him his only Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Whether because he never particularly liked the film or because he wasn't a great fan of the Hollywood system, Mason dismissed the Oscar hoopla, noting, "They don't mean anything unless you win one; then your salary goes up." Still, 1954 proved to be a banner year for the actor, as his artistic triumph in A Star Is Born was accompanied by the popular screen version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), featuring Mason as megalomaniac submarine skipper Captain Nemo.
Bolstered by these successes, he used his clout to produce and star in Nicholas Ray's tough, groundbreaking family drama Bigger Than Life (1956). Featuring Mason as a mild-mannered father who becomes disastrously hooked on cortisone, Bigger Than Life was one of the first Hollywood movies to examine prescription drug abuse; its bold subject matter, however, was box-office poison. Soured on producing, Mason focused solely on acting for the latter half of the decade, playing such roles as a plantation owner in Island in the Sun (1957), a psychopath's unwilling accomplice in Cry Terror! (1958), an adventurer in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), and, most notably, Cary Grant's velvety nemesis Van Dam in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece North by Northwest (1959).

Edging away from Hollywood, Mason took a supporting role in the British drama The Trials of Oscar Wilde in 1960. Having retained his British citizenship during his years in America, he left Hollywood permanently two years later, relocating to Switzerland with his family. After the move, Mason took on the challenge of playing agonized pedophile Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. Whether duping clueless mother Shelley Winters into marriage, lusting after her teenage daughter Sue Lyon, or helplessly pursuing rival pervert Peter Sellers, Mason's Humbert was as much broken victim as scheming predator, injecting uneasy emotion into the difficult role.

Following an acrimonious divorce from Pamela and an expensive settlement in 1964, Mason started working non-stop, segueing into mostly supporting roles in British, American, and European productions. Despite appearing in such dubious fare as Genghis Khan (1965) and The Yin and Yang of Dr. Go (1970), Mason continued to resist typecasting. He made witty sport of John Mills's up-from-the-ranks colonel in Tiara Tahiti (1962), was compellingly vindictive in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), humanised a bullying patriarch in Spring and Port Wine (1970), gave significance to the clever, hothouse trash of Mandingo (1975), was a heart-breaking Cyril Sahib in the Merchant-Ivory masterpiece Autobiography of a Princess (1975), made sense of Dr Watson in Murder by Decree (1979), and grieved one to watch as the decent, troubled landowner in his last British film, The Shooting Party (1985).

Amid all this work, Mason met his second wife Clarissa Kaye on the set of Michael Powell's Australian romp Age of Consent (1969) and married her in 1971. Mason managed to find the time to write and publish his autobiography Before I Forget in 1981. The following year, he earned some of the best reviews of his career — and his final Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor — for his subtle, nuanced performance as Paul Newman's harsh courtroom adversary in Lumet's sterling legal drama The Verdict. His attitude toward the Academy mellowed with age, and Mason attended the Oscar ceremony for the first time. He did not, however, live to witness the praise for what turned out to be his final major feature role, the appropriately dignified host of The Shooting Party (1984). Mason suffered a fatal heart attack at his Swiss home in July 1984 at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife and two children from his first marriage.

Private life

Mason was a devoted lover of animals, particularly cats. He and Pamela Kellino Mason co-authored the book The Cats in Our Lives, which was published in 1949. James Mason wrote most of the book and also illustrated it. In The Cats in Our Lives, he recounted humorous and sometimes touching tales of the cats (as well as a few dogs) he had known and loved.

Mason was married twice:
* Firstly from 1941 to 1964 to British-American actress Pamela Mason (née Ostrer) (1916-1996); one daughter, Portland Mason Schuyler (1948–2004), and one son, Morgan (who is married to Belinda Carlisle, the former lead singer of The Go-Go's). Portland Mason was named after Portland Hoffa, the wife of the American radio comedian Fred Allen; the Allens and the Masons were friends.
* Australian actress Clarissa Kaye (1971-his death). Tobe Hooper's DVD commentary for Salem's Lot reveals that Mason regularly worked contractual clauses into his later work guaranteeing Kaye bit parts in his film appearances.

Awards and nominations

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
1983 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Verdict (1982) - nominated
1967 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Georgy Girl (1966) - nominated
1955 - Best Actor in a Leading Role for A Star Is Born (1954) - nominated

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
1979 - Best Supporting Actor for Heaven Can Wait (1978) - nominated

Hollywood Foreign Press Association
1982 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for The Verdict (1982) - nominated
1954 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for A Star is Born (1954) - won
1962 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for Lolita (1962) - nominated

National Board of Review
1953 - Best Actor for Face to Face (1952), The Desert Rats (1953), Julius Caesar (1953) and The Man Between (1953) - won

BAFTA Awards
1968 - Best British Actor for The Deadly Affair (1966) - nominated
1963 - Best British Actor for Lolita (1962) - nominated

Evening Standard British Film Awards
1978 - Special Award - won

Golden Globes, USA
1983 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture for The Verdict (1982) - nominated
1963 - Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama for Lolita (1962) - nominated
1955 - Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy for A Star Is Born (1954) - won

London Critics Circle Film Awards
1986 - Actor of the Year for The Shooting Party (1985) - won

^{With Glenda Jackson:}

_{Meeting the Queen Mother}

Trivia

He should not be confused with the American actor Jim Mason (1889 - 1959), aka James Mason, who appeared in silent films, particularly Westerns in the Twenties and Thirties.

He had been considered for the part of Harry Lime in TV series "The Third Man" (1959) (1959-65) but Michael Rennie ended up in the role.

An avowed pacifist, he refused to perform military service during the Second World War, a stance that caused his family to break with him for many years.

Father of Morgan Mason and actress/scriptwriter Portland Mason .

Was responsible for getting an unknown actor from New Zealand his first major film role. That actor was Sam Neill .

Was scheduled to play James Bond 007 in a 1958 TV adaptation of From Russia with Love, which was ultimately never produced. Later, despite being in his 50s, Mason was a contender to play Bond in Dr. No (1962) before Sean Connery was cast.

Turned down the role of Hugo Drax in the 1979 Bond film Moonraker (1979) .

In 1952 while remodeling his home, he discovered several reels of Buster Keaton 's "lost" films (Mason had purchased Keaton's Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognized their historical significance and was responsible for their preservation.

Starred with his wife Clarissa Kaye-Mason in the original Salem's Lot (1979) (TV). They appeared together in the film, Age of Consent (1969).

He was offered the role of Lawyer Crosby in the The Cat and the Canary (1978). However, the gender of the role was changed to female and was played by Wendy Hiller.

Told "Playboy Magazine" in the late 1970s that he hated rock n' roll but loved country music.

Can be seen visiting the set of Stanley Kubrick 's The Shining (1980) in Vivian Kubrick's TV documentary Making 'The Shining' (1980) (TV). Stanley Kubrick did not usually allow visitors to his set, but made an exception for Mason, who had memorably played Humbert Humbert for him in Lolita (1962)

Was the original choice to play Professor Kingsfield in The Paper Chase (1973) , but had to turn down the role due to poor health. John Houseman , who had acted in only one other movie in a bit part, was cast and won an Oscar.

Was rejected by fellow student Alistair Cooke for an acting role whilst at Cambridge. Cooke asked Mason what course he was studying. "Architecture", replied Mason. "Then I think you should finish your degree and forget about acting." advised Cooke, in one of his rare lapses of judgment.

Eddie Izzard often uses an impression of James Mason in his stand-up comedy routines as the voice of a confused, dithering God.

Was offered the part of Viktor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965) by double-Oscar winning director David Lean after Marlon Brando failed to respond to director Lean's written inquiry into whether he wanted to play the role. Mason initially accepted the part. Lean decided on Mason, who was a generation older than Brando, as he did not want an actor who would overpower the character of Yuri Zhivago (specifically, to show Zhivago up as a lover of Lara, who would be played by the young Julie Christie, which the charismatic Brando might have done, shifting the sympathy of the audience). Mason eventually dropped out and Rod Steiger, who had just won the Silver Bear as Best Actor for his role as the eponymous The Pawnbroker (1964), accepted the role.

11 years after being mentioned in Rope (1948) as making an excellent villain, he was finally cast by Alfred Hitchcock as such in North by Northwest (1959).

Personal quotes

[from Bill Fairchild] In a noisy world he spoke quietly, and yet his voice will be remembered by millions who never knew him.

How do I wish to be remembered, if at all? I think perhaps just as a fairly desirable sort of character actor.

I'm a character actor: the public never knows what it's getting by way of a Mason performance from one film to the next. I therefore represent a thoroughly insecure investment.

[on not showing up at the 27th Academy Awards, even though he had been nominated as Best Actor for A Star Is Born (1954) and had agreed to go] The Oscar show is always a little better when things go wrong, so I had no need to feel guilty about letting them down.

[1970 comment on Jean Renoir] He's my style. Renoir's good for actors. Renoir obviously loves actors and understands actors, and La grande illusion (1937), which I saw recently, is so modern that it could have been made this year - the acting and the staging of it are absolutely modern and true.

[on Sir Carol Reed] He was always a director who got as much out of actors as could possibly be gotten. And he could stage individual scenes as well as they could possibly be staged. If he had a weakness, which I admit he has, it was that he didn't have a sufficiently keen story sense.

I purposely would not go and see the old version of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). They told me my part was played by Claude Rains, for whom I have an infinite admiration, and I knew I would never be as good as him.

[on Joseph L. Mankiewicz] A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) were marvelous films. I thought that the last good film he made was 5 Fingers (1952), because personally I have not seen a Mankiewicz film that appeared to be well-directed since then. For instance, Cleopatra (1963) was a hideous film but nevertheless you could see that it had some good, well-written scenes and the director had not served the writer well.

Having been fascinated by the Alan Ladd phenomenon, I now had the opportunity to study it at close quarters. It turned out that he had the exquisite coordination and rhythm of an athlete, which made it a pleasure to watch him when he was being at all physical.

[on Alfred Hitchcock] You can see from the way he uses actors that he sees them as animated props. He casts his films very, very carefully and he knows perfectly well in advance that all the actors that he chooses are perfectly capable of playing the parts he gives them, without any special directorial effort on his part. He gets some sort of a charge out of directing the leading ladies, I think, but that's something else.

[on Judy Garland] In some of her films she showed talent which was very comic and touching. Touching because she played with a bright smile and a great spirit, while the situation was rather dramatic, even tragic perhaps. She had in fact a quality which can only be compared to Charles Chaplin's heartbreaking quality: always optimistic, always gay, always inventive, against poverty, against desperate situations - and that's when Judy is at her best.

[on Bette Davis] The greatest actress of all time.

[on Max Ophüls] A shot that does not call for tracks is agony for dear old Max. When separated from his dolly, He's wrapped in deepest melancholy. Once, when they took away his crane, I thought he'd never smile again.

I loved Max Ophüls because he had a very unsuccessful career as far as America was concerned, but he had an irrepressible spirit. He was a brave, resilient man and a great man of theatre and he loved his work, he had an undying enthusiasm. He was a lovely man.

[on Raquel Welch] I have never met someone so badly behaved.

Walter Wanger was a man who always wanted to be European. He didn't know how to be European but he wanted to be European, so The Reckless Moment (1949) was rather the kind of film - I suppose, like Brief Encounter (1945) - that he was trying to make, but it wasn't very good.

[on Rudolph Valentino] That Valentino was certainly a very splendid fellow. And his unique glamor was not entirely due to the fact that he was unhampered by banal dialogue. Modern dialogue is not always banal, and the screen hero who could match Valentino's posturing technique with an equally polished vocal technique has a perfectly fair chance of becoming his romantic peer. It was his magnetism and dignity that assured him a peak of magnificent isolation.

[on Louella Parsons] Not a bad old slob.

Filmography

Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1985) (TV) .... Dr. Fischer
   ... aka The Bomb Party (Australia)
The Assisi Underground (1985) .... Bishop Nicolini
"A.D." (1985) TV mini-series .... Tiberius
   ... aka "A.D. - Anno Domini"
The Shooting Party (1985) .... Sir Randolph Nettleby
"George Washington" (1984) TV mini-series .... Gen. Edward Braddock
Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1983) (TV) .... Demon
Yellowbeard (1983) .... Captain Hughes
Alexandre (1983) .... The Father
The Verdict (1982) .... Ed Concannon
A Dangerous Summer (1982) .... George Engels
   ... aka Burning Man
   ... aka Flash Fire (USA: video title)
Ivanhoe (1982) (TV) .... Isaac of York
Evil Under the Sun (1982) .... Odell Gardener
   ... aka Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun (UK: complete title)
Socrates (1982) .... Socrates
"The Search for Alexander the Great" (1981) TV mini-series .... Host/Narrator
Salem's Lot (1979) (TV) .... Richard K. Straker
   ... aka Blood Thirst
   ... aka Salem's Lot: The Miniseries
   ... aka Salem's Lot: The Movie (USA: cable TV title (cut version))
Bloodline (1979) .... Sir Alec Nichols
   ... aka Blutspur (West Germany)
   ... aka Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline
The Passage (1979) .... Professor Bergson
Murder by Decree (1979) .... Dr. John H. Watson
   ... aka Sherlock Holmes and Saucy Jack (USA)
   ... aka Sherlock Holmes: Murder by Decree
North Sea Hijack (1979) .... Admiral Sir Francis Brindsen
   ... aka Assault Force (USA: TV title)
   ... aka ffolkes (USA)
The Boys from Brazil (1978) .... Eduard Seibert
   ... aka Boys from the Brussel (Philippines: English title)
Heaven Can Wait (1978) .... Mr. Jordan
The Water Babies (1978) .... Mr. Grimes/Voice of Killer Shark
   ... aka Slip Slide Adventures
"Jesus of Nazareth" (1977) TV mini-series .... Joseph of Arimathea
   ... aka "Gesù di Nazareth" (Italy)
Cross of Iron (1977) .... Oberst Brandt
   ... aka Steiner - Das Eiserne Kreuz (West Germany)
Voyage of the Damned (1976) .... Dr. Juan Remos
"Alle origini della mafia" .... Vianisi (1 episode, 1976)
   ... aka "Origins of the Mafia" (International: English title)
   - Omertà (1976) TV episode .... Vianisi
Paura in città (1976) .... Prosecutor
   ... aka Fear in the City (UK)
   ... aka Hot Stuff (USA)
   ... aka Street War
Inside Out (1975) .... Ernst Furben
   ... aka Ein genialer Bluff (West Germany: TV title)
   ... aka Hitler's Gold
   ... aka The Golden Heist
Autobiography of a Princess (1975) .... Cyril Sahib
La città sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori (1975) .... Ing. Filippini
   ... aka Kidnap Syndicate (USA)
   ... aka La città sconvolta
Mandingo (1975) .... Warren Maxwell
La polizia interviene: ordine di uccidere (1975) .... Senator Leandri
   ... aka La mano sinistra della legge
   ... aka The Left Hand of the Law
Gente di rispetto (1975) .... Avv. Antonio Bellocampo
   ... aka The Flower in His Mouth (USA)
   ... aka The Masters
   ... aka The Schoolmistress and the Devil
Great Expectations (1974) (TV) .... Magwitch
11 Harrowhouse (1974) .... Charles D. Watts
   ... aka Anything for Love (USA: TV title)
   ... aka Eleven Harrowhouse
   ... aka Fast Fortune
The Marseille Contract (1974) .... Jacques Brizard
   ... aka Marseille contrat (France)
   ... aka The Destructors (USA)
Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) (TV) .... Dr. John Polidori
The MacKintosh Man (1973) .... Sir George Wheeler
The Last of Sheila (1973) .... Philip
Child's Play (1972) .... Jerome Malley
Kill! (1971) .... Alan Hamilton
   ... aka Kill! (West Germany)
   ... aka Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (USA)
   ... aka Kill: matar (Spain)
   ... aka Police Magnum (France)
Bad Man's River (1971) .... Francisco Montero
   ... aka E continuavano a fregarsi il milione di dollari (Italy)
   ... aka El hombre de Río Malo (Spain)
   ... aka Hunt the Man Down (USA)
   ... aka Les quatre mercenaires d'El Paso (France)
"The Search for the Nile" .... Narrator (6 episodes, 1971-1972)
   - Conquest and Death (1971) TV episode (voice) .... Narrator
   - Find Livingstone (1971) TV episode (voice) .... Narrator
   - The Great Debate (1971) TV episode (voice) .... Narrator
   - The Secret Fountains (1971) TV episode (voice) .... Narrator
   - Discovery and Betrayal (1971) TV episode (voice) .... Narrator
   (1 more)
"Appointment with Destiny" .... Narrator (1 episode, 1971)
   - The Plot to Murder Hitler (1971) TV episode .... Narrator
De la part des copains (1970) .... Captain Ross
   ... aka Cold Sweat (UK) (USA)
   ... aka De vrienden laten groeten (Belgium: Flemish title)
   ... aka From the Boys (International: English title: informal literal title)
   ... aka L'uomo dalle due ombre (Italy)
Spring and Port Wine (1970) .... Rafe Crompton
The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970) .... Y. Y. Go
   ... aka The Third Eye
Age of Consent (1969) .... Bradley Morahan
A Tall, Stalwart Lancer (1969) (TV) .... Torquil Callander
The Legend of Silent Night (1968) (TV) .... Franz Gruber
The Sea Gull (1968) .... Trigorin, a writer
   ... aka Chekov's The Sea Gull (UK: complete title)
Mayerling (1968) .... Emperor Franz-Josef
   ... aka Terence Young's Mayerling (UK: complete title)
Duffy (1968) .... Charles Calvert
Stranger in the House (1967) .... John Sawyer
   ... aka Cop-Out (USA)
"ITV Play of the Week" .... Bernard Sholto (1 episode, 1966)
   ... aka "Play of the Week" (UK: short title)
   - The Tormentors (1966) TV episode .... Bernard Sholto
The Deadly Affair (1966) .... Charles Dobbs
Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn (1966) (TV)
Georgy Girl (1966) .... James Leamington
The Blue Max (1966) .... General Count von Klugermann
"ABC Stage 67" .... Otto Hoffmann (1 episode, 1966)
   - Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn? (1966) TV episode .... Otto Hoffmann
"Dr. Kildare" .... Dr. Maxwell Becker (4 episodes, 1965)
   - The Horizontal Hero (1965) TV episode .... Dr. Maxwell Becker
   - Web of Hate (1965) TV episode .... Dr. Maxwell Becker
   - A Life for a Life (1965) TV episode .... Dr. Maxwell Becker
   - Behold the Great Man (1965) TV episode .... Dr. Maxwell Becker
Los pianos mecánicos (1965) .... Pascal Regnier
   ... aka Amori di una calda estate (Italy)
   ... aka Die Versuchung heißt Jenny (West Germany)
   ... aka Les pianos mécaniques (France)
   ... aka The Player Pianos
   ... aka The Uninhibited (USA)
Genghis Khan (1965) .... Kam Ling
   ... aka Dschingis Khan (West Germany)
   ... aka Dzingis-Kan
Lord Jim (1965) .... Gentleman Brown
The Pumpkin Eater (1964) .... Bob Conway
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) .... Timonides
Beta Som (1963) .... Captain Blayne
   ... aka Défi à Gibraltar (France)
   ... aka Finché dura la tempesta (Italy)
   ... aka Torpedo Bay (USA)
"Stoney Burke" .... Enoch Gates, the 'Derelict' (1 episode, 1962)
   - The Scavenger (1962) TV episode .... Enoch Gates, the 'Derelict'
"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" .... Warren Barrow (1 episode, 1962)
   - Captive Audience (1962) TV episode .... Warren Barrow
Hero's Island (1962) .... Jacob Weber/Major Bonnet, Pirate
   ... aka The Land We Love
Tiara Tahiti (1962) .... Capt. Brett Aimsley
Lolita (1962) .... Prof. Humbert Humbert
Escape from Zahrain (1962) (uncredited) .... Johnson
Rebecca (1962) (TV) .... Maxim de Winter
The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) .... Paul Delville
The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) .... Sir Edward Carson
   ... aka The Green Carnation
   ... aka The Man with the Green Carnation
   ... aka The Trial of Oscar Wilde
"The DuPont Show with June Allyson" .... Henry Chambers (1 episode, 1960)
   ... aka "The June Allyson Show"
   - Once Upon a Knight (1960) TV episode .... Henry Chambers
"Playhouse 90" .... Hans Frick / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1960)
   - The Hiding Place (1960) TV episode .... Hans Frick
   - John Brown's Raid (1960) TV episode .... John Brown
   - The Second Man (1959) TV episode .... Hesketh
   - Not the Glory (1958) TV episode .... Wilhelm Konreid
   - The Thundering Wave (1957) TV episode .... Sidney Lowe
A Touch of Larceny (1959) .... Cmdr. Max Easton
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) .... Sir Oliver S. Lindenbrook
   ... aka Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth
   ... aka Trip to the Center of the Earth
North by Northwest (1959) .... Phillip Vandamm
   ... aka Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (USA: complete title)
"Goodyear Theatre" .... Marius (1 episode, 1959)
   ... aka "Award Theatre" (USA: syndication title)
   ... aka "Golden Years of Television" (USA: cable TV title)
   - A Sword for Marius (1959) TV episode .... Marius
The Decks Ran Red (1958) .... Capt. Edwin Rummill
Cry Terror! (1958) .... Jim Molner
"Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" .... Captain Vialez (1 episode, 1958)
   ... aka "Herald Playhouse" (USA: syndication title)
   ... aka "Schlitz Playhouse" (USA: new title)
   ... aka "The Playhouse" (USA: syndication title)
   - No Boat for Four Months (1958) TV episode .... Captain Vialez
"General Electric Theater" .... Wayne Sebastian (1 episode, 1957)
   ... aka "G.E. Theater" (USA: informal short title)
   ... aka "G.E. True Theater" (USA: new title)
   - The Questioning Note (1957) TV episode .... Wayne Sebastian
Island in the Sun (1957) .... Maxwell Fleury
"Panic!" (1 episode, 1957)
   ... aka "No Warning" (USA: second season title)
   - Marooned (1957) TV episode
Bigger Than Life (1956) .... Ed Avery
"General Electric Summer Originals" (1 episode, 1956)
   - Duel at Dawn (1956) TV episode
Forever, Darling (1956) .... The Guardian Angel
"The James Mason Show" (1956) TV series .... Host/Performer
"Lux Video Theatre" .... Host (1 episode, 1955)
   ... aka "Summer Video Theatre" (USA: summer title)
   - A Bell for Adano (1955) TV episode .... Host
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) .... Captain Nemo
   ... aka Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (USA: complete title)
   ... aka Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (USA: poster title)
A Star Is Born (1954) .... Norman Maine
Prince Valiant (1954) .... Sir Brack
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953/I) (voice) .... Narrator
The Man Between (1953) .... Ivo Kern
Julius Caesar (1953) .... Brutus
   ... aka William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
The Desert Rats (1953) .... Field Marshal Erwin von Rommel
Botany Bay (1953) .... Capt. Paul Gilbert
The Story of Three Loves (1953) .... Charles Coutray (segment "The Jealous Lover")
   ... aka Equilibrium
   ... aka Three Stories of Love
"Omnibus" .... Napoleon (1 episode, 1953)
   - The Love Story of Napoleon (1953) TV episode .... Napoleon
Charade (1953) .... The Murderer/Maj. Linden/Jonah Watson
Face to Face (1952) .... The Captain ('The Secret Sharer')
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) .... Rupert of Hentzau
5 Fingers (1952) .... Ulysses Diello
   ... aka Five Fingers
Lady Possessed (1952) .... Jimmy Del Palma
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) .... Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel
   ... aka Rommel, Desert Fox (UK)
   ... aka The Desert Fox (USA: short title)
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) .... Hendrik van der Zee
One Way Street (1950) .... Dr. Frank Matson
East Side, West Side (1949) .... Brandon Bourne
The Reckless Moment (1949) .... Martin Donnelly
Madame Bovary (1949) .... Gustave Flaubert
Caught (1949) .... Larry Quinada
The Upturned Glass (1947) .... Michael Joyce
Odd Man Out (1947) .... Johnny McQueen
   ... aka Gang War
The Wicked Lady (1945) .... Captain Jerry Jackson
The Seventh Veil (1945) .... Nicholas
They Were Sisters (1945) .... Geoffrey Lee
A Place of One's Own (1945) .... Mr. Henry Smedhurst
Hotel Reserve (1944) .... Peter Vadassy
   ... aka Epitaph for a Spy
Candlelight in Algeria (1944) .... Alan Thurston
Fanny by Gaslight (1944) .... Lord Manderstoke
   ... aka Man of Evil (USA)
They Met in the Dark (1943) .... Richard Francis Heritage
The Man in Grey (1943) .... Lord Rohan
The Bells Go Down (1943) .... Ted Robbins
Thunder Rock (1942) .... Streeter
Secret Mission (1942) .... Raoul de Carnot
Alibi (1942) .... Andre Laurent
The Night Has Eyes (1942) .... Stephen Deremid
   ... aka Terror House (USA)
Hatter's Castle (1942) .... Dr. Renwick
   ... aka A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (USA)
The Patient Vanishes (1941) .... Mick Cardby
   ... aka This Man Is Dangerous
The Circle (1939) (TV) .... Edward Luton
L'avare (1939) (TV) .... Valere - in love with Elise
I Met a Murderer (1939) .... Mark Warrow
Square Pegs (1939) (TV) .... Lead role (27th February 1939 version)
Bees on the Boat-Deck (1939) (TV) .... Robert Patch
The Moon in the Yellow River (1938) (TV) .... Darrell Blake
Cyrano de Bergerac (1938) (TV) .... Christian de Neuvillette
Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937) .... Jean Tallien
Catch As Catch Can (1937) .... Robert Leyland
   ... aka Atlantic Episode
Fire Over England (1937) .... Hillary Vane
The Mill on the Floss (1937) .... Tom Tulliver
Troubled Waters (1936) .... John Merriman
Blind Man's Bluff (1936) .... Stephen Neville
Prison Breaker (1936) .... 'Bunny' Barnes
Twice Branded (1936) .... Henry Hamilton
The High Command (1936) .... Capt. Heverell
Secret of Stamboul (1936) .... Larry
   ... aka The Spy in White
Late Extra (1935) .... Jim Martin

Producer

Age of Consent (1969) (producer)
Hero's Island (1962) (producer)
... aka The Land We Love
Bigger Than Life (1956) (producer)
Charade (1953) (producer)
Lady Possessed (1952) (producer)

Gig Young (1913 - 1978)

2011-01-21T13:48:00.011+02:00

Date of Birth
4 November 1913, St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA

Date of Death
19 October 1978, New York City, New York, USA (suicide)

Birth Name
Byron Elsworth Barr

Gig Young is best known in classic movie circles as the “other guy” in so many 1950s movies. Young often played the dapper, likable second banana to the major stars of the time. He took the name “Gig Young” from a character he played in the 1942 film The Gay Sisters, a Barbara Stanwyck film. His early roles showed that he had an effortless charm, a sort of everyday “suave guy next door”, if there even is such a thing. Young always played the other guy who graciously gave up the leading lady. Later, after he earned his well-deserved Oscar, his career turned towards darker, sinister roles. Young himself had a dim view of success, as he said in 1951: "So many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards."

Beginnings

__________________________________________________

Gig Young was born Byron Ellsworth Barr in St. Cloud, Minnesota on November 4, 1913 (although he was later known to subtract five years from his age,) the youngest of three children born to James Earl Barr and his wife Emma. The elder Barr was founder of the successful J.E. Barr Pickling and Preserving Company in St. Cloud. Although his elder brother was eager to follow his father into the family business, the youngest of the Barr family was not. After the Great Depression began, the Barr company floundered and J.E. Barr moved his family to Washington, D.C. where he had a job as a food broker. It was here that Gig became interested in acting while he was still in high school. He participated in school plays, but the family didn't think much of his theatrical ambitions. After graduation he hitchhiked to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of an acting career. He found employment as a soda jerk, a ballroom dance instructor and car salesman and spent his nights acting with an amateur group. After winning a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse he obtained a contract with Warner Brothers in 1941. He played bit parts under his given name, Byron Barr, used the name Roland Reed in a couple of stage productions and received his first name change when the studio rechristened him Bryant Fleming. Then he was cast in The Gay Sisters with Barbara Stanwyck. The name of his character was 'Gig Young' and in a highly publicized move, the studio re-rechristened him Gig Young.
After serving in the Coast Guard during WWII, Gig returned only to find that after his pre-war successes in The Gay Sisters and Old Acquaintance, Warner Brothers seemed to have lost interest in him. In 1947 the studio dropped his option. He then began freelancing at various studios; obtained a contract with Columbia Pictures; and then later went back to freelancing. He almost always found himself cast in the second lead, losing the girl to the leading man. But if the role was a good one, Gig proved to be an actor of great talent.
In 1949 he and his first wife, Sheila Stapler were divorced after nine years of marriage. In 1951, Gig married for the second time, to Sophia Rosenstein, a drama coach. This marriage ended in 1952 when Rosenstein died of cancer.

Success and decline

__________________________________________________________

In 1955, Young became the host of Warner Bros. Presents, an umbrella title for three television series (Casablanca, King's Row, and Cheyenne) that aired during the 1955-56 season on ABC Television. Later, he starred on the 1964-65 NBC series The Rogues, sharing appearances on a rotating basis with David Niven and Charles Boyer in the Four Star Television production. He has been nominated in 1951 for Come Fill the Cup and in 1958 for Teacher's Pet.
Young’s durability as a character actor ensured that he would continue working into the 1960s and 70s. Young won the Academy Award for his role as Rocky, the dance marathon emcee and promoter in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? According to his fourth wife, Elaine Williams, "What he was aching for, as he walked up to collect his Oscar, was a role in his own movie—one that they could finally call 'a Gig Young movie.' For Gig, the Oscar was literally the kiss of death, the end of the line". Young himself had said to Louella Parsons, after failing to win in 1951, "so many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards." Young would also appear as the bored sadist in Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, where Young’s character took the name Fred C. Dobbs, in a joking reference to John Huston’s Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Alcoholism plagued his later years, causing him to lose acting roles. He was fired on the first day of shooting the comedy film Blazing Saddles after collapsing on the set due to withdrawals from alcohol. Young's last role was in the 1978 film Game of Death (1979), a film released nearly six years after the film's star, Bruce Lee, died in 1973.

Personal life

_______________________________________

After a broken engagement to Elaine Stritch, Gig met Elizabeth Montgomery on a blind date in 1955. Gig was the host of the television series Warner Brothers Presents and Liz made an apperance on the show in an episode entitled "Siege" in 1956. Gig and Liz were married on December 28 of that year. The couple's desire to have children was thwarted by a vasectomy Gig had at the age of 25 due to health problems. He underwent surgery to reverse the vasectomy, but the marriage produced no children. Although their marriage endured for six years, it was a stormy union, largely due to the fact that Gig was a chronic alcoholic. Although Liz tried to handle the problem by keeping up drink-for-drink, this, coupled with the fact that Gig couldn't seem to get over the loss of his second wife, led to the end of their marriage. In January of 1963, Elizabeth went to Mexico for a quickie divorce from Gig. She was then free to marry director-producer William Asher, whom she had met while making the feature film Johnny Cool.
Nine months after his divorce from Elizabeth Montgomery, Gig Young married real estate agent Elaine Whitman who was pregnant with Gig's child. Their daughter, Jennifer, was born in 1964 and Gig proclaimed it a "miracle," feeling the operations he had undergone had been successful after all. Whitman divorced Gig on November 23, 1966. Ongoing court battles over child support lead to Gig publicly denying the child as his own, feeling he had been tricked into marriage. Because he had claimed the child in the original divorce papers, he had no legal recourse in the matter.

Death
_____________________________________________________________________________

On September 27, 1978 Gig married his fifth wife, a 31-year-old German girl named Kim Schmidt who had been the script girl on his last film, The Game of Death. Three weeks later on October 19, 1978, in the Manhattan apartment the newlyweds shared, Gig shot Schimdt in the head, killing her instantly. He then shot himself. The police theorized that it was a suicide pact, but were baffled by the additional three revolvers and 350 rounds of amunition found in the apartment. After the investigation the police stated Gig had definately acted on the spur of the moment and his actions were not planned.

Milestones
____________________________________________________________________________

1941: Signed by Warner Bros.
1942: First featured film role in "The Gay Sisters"; played character named "Gig Young" and subsequently adopted the name for himself
1951: Received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in drama about alcoholism, "Come Fill the Cup", starring James Cagney
1958: Received a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the comedy, "Teacher's Pet", starring Clark Gable and Doris Day
1975: Last films included "The Hindenburg" and "The Killer Elite"; appeared in the Bruce Lee film "Game of Death" which was shot mostly in 1973 but held up until 1979 because star Bruce Lee died during its making

Awards
____________________________________________________________________

Academy Awards, USA
1970 - Won Oscar: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
1959 - Nominated Oscar: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: Teacher's Pet (1958)
1952 - Nominated Oscar: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for: Come Fill the Cup (1951)

BAFTA Awards
1971 - Nominated BAFTA Film Award: Best Supporting Actor for: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

Emmy Awards
1971 - Nominated Emmy: Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for: The Neon Ceiling (1971) (TV)

Golden Globes, USA
1970 - Won Golden Globe: Best Supporting Actor for: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
1959 - Nominated Golden Globe: Best Supporting Actor for: Teacher's Pet (1958)

Laurel Awards
1963 - Won Golden Laurel: Top Male Supporting Performance for: That Touch of Mink (1962)
1959 - Won Golden Laurel: Top Male Supporting Performance for: The Tunnel of Love (1958)
1958 - Nominated Golden Laurel: Top Male Comedy Performance for: Teacher's Pet (1958)

Trivia
____________________________________________________________________

Daughter Jennifer Young born 1964.

Adopted the name Gig Young verbatim from that of the character he portrayed in The Gay Sisters (1942).

Cast in Blazing Saddles (1974) as the Waco Kid. Replaced by Mel Brooks with Gene Wilder shortly after filming began because the alcoholic Young was suffering from delirium tremens on the set.

Dreaming of a comeback on Broadway, Young had recently appeared in a Canadian tour of the play "Nobody Loves an Albatross" by Ronald Alexander before his October 19, 1978 suicide.

Young is considered the ultimate victim of the Oscar curse, so-called because many Academy Award winners have seen their careers decline or reach a dead-end after winning the ultimate accolade from their peers. According to his fourth wife Elaine Young, "What he was aching for, as he walked up to collect his Oscar, was a role in his own movie, one that they could finally call a Gig Young movie." Young was shattered when that opportunity did not materialize. "For Gig, the Oscar was literally the kiss of death, the end of the line", according to Elaine.

His will, which covered a $200,000 estate, left his Academy Award to his agent, Martin Baum, and Baum's wife. The wording of the will called it "the Oscar that I won because of Martin's help". New York City police found the statuette beside the bodies of Young and his wife.

"Gig knew real pain" - his agent, Martin Baum, speaking at his memorial service.

Portrayed by Steve Hughes in James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) (TV).

Was originally cast as the voice of Charles Townsend for the TV Series "Charlie's Angels" (1976), but was too drunk to record his lines and was replaced at the last minute by John Forsythe.

Once romantically involved with fellow alcoholic Elaine Stritch. Their destructive relationship is poignantly discussed in Elaine's Tony-winning one-woman show Elaine Stritch: At Liberty (2002) (TV). He met actress Elizabeth Montgomery shortly after their aborted engagement.

His father was a chef for a St. Cloud reformatory in Minnesota, and also had his own home canning business.

Attended McKinley High School in Washington D.C.

Earned a scholarship at the Pasadena Playhouse and worked as a garage mechanic and parking lot attendant on the side.

His film career was interrupted by WWII duty with the Coast Guard, serving in the Pacific for three years.

After not renewing his Warners Bros. contract in 1948, he subsequently signed with Columbia but was unhappy with their unfulfilled promises, and kept rejecting roles until he wore out his welcome there.

While it was common knowledge that Gig had an alcohol problem, some of his best roles were as heavy drinkers, such as in Come Fill the Cup (1951), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) and as Ray Whitehead on the TV series "Gibbsville" (1976).

First wife, Sheila Stapler, was an actress. His second wife, Sophia Rosenstein, was a drama coach he met while she was working at Warner Brothers who died a little over a year later from cancer. Divorced also from actress Elizabeth Montgomery before her "Bewitched" (1964) fame, he had his only child, Jennifer (born 1964), from his fourth marriage to Elaine Young, a realtor and sometime performer.

When Gig's former agent, Martin Baum, became the president of ABC Pictures, he insisted that Gig play Rocky, the seamy dance marathon emcee, in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). The backers of the movie, as well as Jane Fonda, the film's star, were initially shocked and furious because Gig was known for his comedy forte and that he had severe personal problems. Red Buttons, another co-star, was also given the same boost and the two actors relied upon each other for solace. Young and Buttons were brilliant and Young won the Oscar. Baum also helped get Gig sizable roles in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974).

Personal quotes

________________________________________________________

[summing up his professional career]: 30 years and 55 pictures - not more than five that were any good, or any good for me.

My specialties are corpses, unconscious people and people snoring in spectacular epics.

[To Louella Parsons, after receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Come Fill the Cup (1951)]: So many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards.

[On his role as the dance-marathon barker in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)]: (The role was) a lifeline for a drowning man, a last chance to show (my) talent as a serious actor.

"30 years and 55 pictures - not more than five that were any good, or any good for me. I've picked the best from the lousy parts they offered me."

"Comedy is harder to do than drama, since comedy roles involve the offbeat, not merely the basic emotions. I like to play both comedy and drama."

"Acting is the exaggeration of life, and if you can blow it up and still make it look real, the better your performance. Any actor who loves what he is doing can't take his mind off it."

Filmography
__________________________________________________________________________

Game of Death (1978) .... Jim Marshall
... aka Bruce Lee's Game of Death
... aka Si wang you ju
Spectre (1977) (TV) .... Dr. Ham Hamilton
"Gibbsville" .... Ray Whitehead (13 episodes, 1976-1977)
   - A Case History (1977) TV episode .... Ray Whitehead
   - All I've Tried to Be (1977) TV episode .... Ray Whitehead
   - Chautauqua, Chautauqua, Chautauqua (1977) TV episode .... Ray Whitehead
   - In the Silence (1977) TV episode .... Ray Whitehead
   - Manhood (1977) TV episode .... Ray Whitehead
   (8 more)
Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) (TV) .... Mortimer McGrew
"McCloud" .... Jack Haferman (1 episode, 1976)
   - The Day New York Turned Blue (1976) TV episode .... Jack Haferman
The Hindenburg (1975) .... Edward Douglas
The Killer Elite (1975) .... Lawrence Weyburn
The Turning Point of Jim Malloy (1975) (TV) .... Ray Whitehead
... aka Gibbsville: The Turning Point of Jim Malloy
... aka John O'Hara's Gibbsville
Michele (1975)
The Great Ice Rip-Off (1974) (TV) .... Harkey Rollins
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) .... Quill
... aka Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García (Mexico)
Un fiocco nero per Deborah (1974) .... Ofenbauer
... aka A Black Ribbon for Deborah (USA)
... aka Deborah (USA)
... aka The Torment (UK)
A Son-in-Law for Charlie McReady (1973) .... Charlie McReady
The Neon Ceiling (1971) (TV) .... Jones
Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) .... Hal Henderson
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) .... Rocky
Companions in Nightmare (1968) (TV) .... Eric Nicholson
The Shuttered Room (1967) .... Mike Kelton
... aka Blood Island (USA)
"The Red Skelton Show" .... Millionaire (1 episode, 1966)
... aka "The Red Skelton Hour" (USA: new title)
   - Episode #16.1 (1966) TV episode .... Millionaire
"The Rogues" .... Tony Fleming (7 episodes, 1964-1965)
   - Run for the Money (1965) TV episode .... Tony Fleming
   - Bless You, G. Carter Huntington (1965) TV episode .... Tony Fleming
   - Gambit by the Golden Gate (1965) TV episode .... Tony Fleming
   - Money Is for Burning (1965) TV episode
   - The Boston Money Party (1964) TV episode .... Tony Fleming
   (2 more)
Strange Bedfellows (1965) .... Richard Bramwell
Invisible Diplomats (1965) (uncredited) .... Brad
"Kraft Suspense Theatre" .... Hugo Myrich (1 episode, 1963)
... aka "Crisis" (USA: syndication title)
... aka "Suspense Theatre" (USA: syndication title)
   - The End of the World, Baby (1963) TV episode .... Hugo Myrich
A Ticklish Affair (1963) .... Key Weedon
For Love or Money (1963) .... 'Sonny' John Dayton Smith
... aka The Three-Way Match
... aka Three on a Match
Le couteau dans la plaie (1962) .... David Barnes
... aka Five Miles to Midnight (USA)
... aka Il coltello nella piaga (Italy)
... aka La terza dimensione (Italy)
... aka La troisième dimension
"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" .... Duke Marsden (1 episode, 1962)
   - A Piece of the Action (1962) TV episode .... Duke Marsden
Kid Galahad (1962) .... Willy Grogan
That Touch of Mink (1962) .... Roger
The Spiral Staircase (1961) (TV) .... Stephen Warren
"Shirley Temple's Storybook" .... Miles Hendon (1 episode, 1960)
... aka "The Shirley Temple Theatre" (USA: third season title)
   - The Prince and the Pauper (1960) TV episode .... Miles Hendon
Ninotchka (1960) (TV) .... Leon Dolga
The Story on Page One (1959) .... Larry Ellis
The Philadelphia Story (1959) (TV) .... C.K. Dexter Haven
"The Twilight Zone" .... Martin Sloan (1 episode, 1959)
... aka "The Twilight Zone: The Original Series" (Australia)
... aka "Twilight Zone" (USA: new title)
   - Walking Distance (1959) TV episode .... Martin Sloan
Ask Any Girl (1959) .... Evan Doughton
The Tunnel of Love (1958) .... Dick Pepper
"Goodyear Theatre" .... Herman Worth (1 episode, 1958)
... aka "Award Theatre" (USA: syndication title)
... aka "Golden Years of Television" (USA: cable TV title)
   - The Spy (1958) TV episode .... Herman Worth
Teacher's Pet (1958) .... Dr. Hugo Pine
"Studio One" .... Alan Fredericks / ... (1 episode, 1958)
... aka "Studio One Summer Theatre" (USA: summer title)
... aka "Studio One in Hollywood" (USA: new title)
... aka "Summer Theatre" (USA: summer title)
... aka "Westinghouse Studio One" (USA)
... aka "Westinghouse Summer Theatre" (USA: summer title)
   - A Dead Ringer (1958) TV episode .... Philip Adams/Alan Fredericks
"Climax!" .... Edgar Holt (1 episode, 1957)
... aka "Climax Mystery Theater" (USA)
   - Jacob and the Angels (1957) TV episode .... Edgar Holt
Desk Set (1957) .... Mike Cutler
... aka His Other Woman (UK)
"The United States Steel Hour" .... Dave Corman (1 episode, 1956)
... aka "The U.S. Steel Hour" (USA: alternative title)
   - Sauce for the Goose (1956) TV episode .... Dave Corman
The Desperate Hours (1955) .... Chuck Wright
"Warner Brothers Presents" (1955) TV series .... Host (unknown episodes)
Young at Heart (1954) .... Alex Burke
"Lux Video Theatre" (1 episode, 1954)
... aka "Summer Video Theatre" (USA: summer title)
   - Captive City (1954) TV episode
"Producers' Showcase" .... Simon Gayforth (segment 'Shadow Play') (1 episode, 1954)
   - Tonight at 8:30 (1954) TV episode .... Simon Gayforth (segment 'Shadow Play')
"Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" .... Jimmy Sampson (1 episode, 1953)
... aka "Herald Playhouse" (USA: syndication title)
... aka "Schlitz Playhouse" (USA: new title)
... aka "The Playhouse" (USA: syndication title)
   - Part of the Game (1953) TV episode .... Jimmy Sampson
"Robert Montgomery Presents" (1 episode, 1953)
... aka "Lucky Strike Theater"
... aka "Montgomery's Summer Stock"
... aka "The Robert Montgomery Summer Theater"
   - The Sunday Punch (1953) TV episode
Torch Song (1953) .... Cliff Willard
Arena (1953) .... Hob Danvers
City That Never Sleeps (1953) .... Johnny Kelly
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) .... Vance Court
Holiday for Sinners (1952) .... Jason Kent
You for Me (1952) .... Dr. Jeff Chadwick
Too Young to Kiss (1951) .... John Tirsen
Come Fill the Cup (1951) .... Boyd Copeland
Slaughter Trail (1951) .... Ike Vaughn aka Murray
"The Bigelow Theatre" (2 episodes, 1951)
... aka "Bigelow-Sanford Theater" (USA: second season title)
... aka "Hollywood Half Hour" (USA: syndication title)
... aka "Marquee Theater" (USA: syndication title)
   - Lady with Ideas (1951) TV episode
   - Rewrite for Love (1951) TV episode
Only the Valiant (1951) .... Lt. William Holloway
Target Unknown (1951) .... Capt. Reiner
"Pulitzer Prize Playhouse" (1 episode, 1951)
   - Ned McCobb's Daughter (1951) TV episode
Hunt the Man Down (1950) .... Paul Bennett
... aka Seven Witnesses (USA)
"The Silver Theatre" .... Tim Davis (1 episode, 1950)
   - Lady with Ideas (1950) TV episode .... Tim Davis
Tell It to the Judge (1949) .... Alexander Darvac
Lust for Gold (1949) .... Pete Thomas
... aka For Those Who Dare (UK: new title)
Wake of the Red Witch (1948) .... Samuel 'Sam' Rosen
The Three Musketeers (1948) .... Porthos
... aka Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (USA: complete title)
The Woman in White (1948) .... Walter Hartright
Escape Me Never (1947) .... Caryl Dubrok
Old Acquaintance (1943) .... Rudd Kendall
Air Force (1943) .... Co-Pilot
The Gay Sisters (1942) (as Byron Barr) .... Gig Young
The Mad Martindales (1942) (as Byron Barr) .... Peter Varney
The Male Animal (1942) (uncredited) .... Student
Captains of the Clouds (1942) (as Byron Barr) .... Student pilot
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) (uncredited) .... Bit Part
You're in the Army Now (1941) (uncredited) .... Soldier
They Died with Their Boots On (1941) (uncredited) .... Lt. Roberts
The Tanks Are Coming (1941) (as Byron Barr) .... Jim Allen
One Foot in Heaven (1941) (uncredited) .... First Groom Asking for Dog Licence
Navy Blues (1941) (uncredited) .... Sailor in storeroom
Dive Bomber (1941) (uncredited) .... Abbott - Guinea pig 2, Experiment 32
Sergeant York (1941) (uncredited) .... Marching soldier
Here Comes the Cavalry (1941) (as Byron Barr) .... Trooper Rollins
Misbehaving Husbands (1940) (as Byron Barr) .... Floor Walker