1891-02-08 Richmond, Surrey, England, UK
British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London Scottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France. Seriously wounded at the battle of Messines--he was gassed--he was invalided out of service scarcely two months after shipping out for France. Upon his recovery he tried to enter the consular service, but a chance encounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and concentrated on the theatre, and was rewarded with a succession of increasingly prominent parts. He made extra money appearing in a few minor films, and in 1920 set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war-depressed England. After two years of impoverishment he was cast in a Broadway hit, "La Tendresse". Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in The White Sister (1923). His success in the film led to a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, and his career as a Hollywood leading man was underway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as well as adventure films. The coming of sound made his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice even more important to the film industry. He played sophisticated, thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, and swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). A decade later he received an Academy Award for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life (1947). Much of his later career was devoted to "The Halls of Ivy", a radio show that later was transferred to television "The Halls of Ivy" (1954). He continued to work until nearly the end of his life, which came in 1958 after a brief lung illness. He was survived by his second wife, actress Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman.
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Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies | Self (archive footage) | 2001-10-07 |
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The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind | Self (archive footage) | 1988-10-01 |
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That's Entertainment, Part II | (archive footage) | 1976-05-16 |
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Hollywood: The Selznick Years | 'A Tale of Two Cities' (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1961-12-31 |
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The Story of Mankind | The Spirit of Man | 1957-11-08 |
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Around the World in Eighty Days | Railway Official | 1956-10-17 |
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Champagne for Caesar | Beauregard Bottomley | 1950-05-11 |
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The Art Director | Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1949-11-12 |
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The Late George Apley | George Apley | 1947-03-19 |
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A Double Life | Anthony John | 1947-12-25 |
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Kismet | Hafiz | 1944-10-01 |
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Random Harvest | Charles Rainier | 1942-12-17 |
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The Talk of the Town | Michael Lightcap | 1942-08-20 |
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My Life with Caroline | Anthony Mason | 1941-08-01 |
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Lucky Partners | David Grant | 1940-08-02 |
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The Light That Failed | Dick Heldar | 1939-12-24 |
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If I Were King | François Villon | 1938-09-28 |
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Lost Horizon | Robert " Bob " Conway | 1937-03-03 |
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The Prisoner of Zenda | Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda | 1937-09-03 |
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Under Two Flags | Sgt. Victor | 1936-04-30 |
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The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo | Paul Gaillard | 1935-11-14 |
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Clive of India | Robert Clive | 1935-01-25 |
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A Tale of Two Cities | Sydney Carton | 1935-12-25 |
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Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back | Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond | 1934-08-15 |
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The Masquerader | Sir John Chilcote / John Loder | 1933-09-03 |
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Cynara | James Warlock | 1932-12-24 |
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Arrowsmith | Dr. Martin Arrowsmith | 1931-12-07 |
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The Unholy Garden | Barrington Hunt | 1931-10-06 |
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Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1 | 1930-09-12 | |
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The Devil to Pay! | Willie Hale | 1930-12-18 |
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Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season | 1930-12-31 | |
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Raffles | A.J. Raffles | 1930-07-11 |
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Bulldog Drummond | Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond | 1929-05-02 |
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The Rescue | Tom Lingard | 1929-01-12 |
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Condemned! | Michel | 1929-11-03 |
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Two Lovers | Mark van Rycke | 1928-03-23 |
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The Night of Love | Montero | 1927-01-22 |
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The Magic Flame | Tito the Clown / The Count | 1927-09-17 |
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The Winning of Barbara Worth | Willard Holmes | 1926-10-14 |
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Kiki | Victor Renal | 1926-04-04 |
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Beau Geste | Michael 'Beau' Geste | 1926-08-24 |
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The Dark Angel | Captain Alan Trent | 1925-09-27 |
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The Sporting Venus | Donald MacAllan | 1925-04-12 |
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His Supreme Moment | John Douglas | 1925-04-12 |
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A Thief in Paradise | Maurice Blake | 1925-06-18 |
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Her Sister from Paris | Joseph | 1925-08-01 |
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Lady Windermere's Fan | Lord Darlington | 1925-12-26 |
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Stella Dallas | Stephen Dallas | 1925-11-16 |
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Tarnish | Emmet Carr | 1924-08-01 |
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Twenty Dollars a Week | Chester Reeves | 1924-04-12 |
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Romola | Carlo Bucellini | 1924-12-06 |
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Her Night of Romance | Paul Menford | 1924-11-24 |
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The White Sister | Capt. Giovanni Severi | 1923-09-05 |
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Anna the Adventuress | Brendan | 1920-02-01 |
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The Toilers | Bob | 1919-03-01 |
