1887-08-04 Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was an English character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and later in television programmes. The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert Tree's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905. In 1911, he starred in the original production of Where the Rainbow Ends as Saint George which opened to very good reviews on 21 December 1911. Reginald Owen had a few years earlier met the author Mrs. Clifford Mills as a young actor, and it was he who on hearing her idea of a Rainbow Story persuaded her to turn it into a play, and thus "Where the Rainbow Ends" was born. He went to the United States in 1920 and worked originally on Broadway in New York, but later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career. He was always a familiar face in many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions. Owen is perhaps best known today for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a role he inherited from Lionel Barrymore, who had played the part of Scrooge on the radio every Christmas for years until Barrymore broke his hip in an accident. Owen was one of only five actors to play both Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr Watson (Jeremy Brett played Watson on stage in the United States prior to adopting the mantle of Holmes on British television, Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television films). Howard Marion-Crawford played Holmes in a radio adaptation of "The Speckled Band" and later played Watson to Ronald Howard’s Holmes in the 1954-55 television series. Owen first played Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932), and then Holmes himself in A Study in Scarlet (1933). Having played Ebenezer Scrooge, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Owen has the odd distinction of playing three classic characters of Victorian fiction only to live to see those characters be taken over and personified by other actors, namely Alastair Sim as Scrooge, Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Later in his career, Owen appeared opposite James Garner in the television series Maverick in the episodes "The Belcastle Brand" (1957) and "Gun-Shy" (1958) and also guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond and Bewitched. He was featured in the Walt Disney films Mary Poppins (1964) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He had a small role in the 1962 Irwin Allen production of the Jules Verne novel Five Weeks in a Balloon. In August 1964, his Bel-Air mansion was rented out to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.
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The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes | Sherlock Holmes (archive footage) | 1985-01-01 |
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That's Entertainment! | (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1974-06-21 |
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Bedknobs and Broomsticks | Gen. Teagler | 1971-10-07 |
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Rosie! | Patrick | 1967-11-22 |
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Voice of the Hurricane | 1964-06-02 | |
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Mary Poppins | Admiral Boom | 1964-12-17 |
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Tammy and the Doctor | Jason Tripp | 1963-05-29 |
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The Thrill of It All | Tom Fraleigh | 1963-07-17 |
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Five Weeks in a Balloon | Consul | 1962-08-22 |
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Moochie of Pop Warner Football | Mr. Bennett | 1960-11-20 |
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Moochie of the Little League | J. Cecil Bennett | 1959-10-02 |
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Red Garters | Judge Wallace Winthrop | 1954-02-09 |
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The Great Diamond Robbery | Bainbridge Gibbons | 1954-01-29 |
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Grounds for Marriage | Dely Delacorte | 1951-01-12 |
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The Miniver Story | Mr. Foley | 1950-10-26 |
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Kim | Father Victor | 1950-12-07 |
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The Secret Garden | Ben Weatherstaff | 1949-04-30 |
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Challenge to Lassie | Sergeant Davie | 1949-10-31 |
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Hills of Home | Hopps | 1948-11-25 |
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The Three Musketeers | Treville | 1948-10-20 |
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Julia Misbehaves | Benjy Hawkins | 1948-08-08 |
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The Pirate | The Advocate | 1948-06-11 |
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If Winter Comes | Mr. Fortune | 1947-12-31 |
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Thunder in the Valley | James Moore | 1947-11-01 |
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Green Dolphin Street | Captain O'Hara | 1947-01-15 |
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The Diary of a Chambermaid | Captain Lanlaire | 1946-02-15 |
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The Imperfect Lady | Mr. Hopkins | 1946-11-29 |
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Cluny Brown | Henry Carmel | 1946-06-02 |
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Piccadilly Incident | Judge | 1946-08-24 |
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Monsieur Beaucaire | King Louis XV | 1946-09-04 |
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The Valley of Decision | McCready | 1945-05-03 |
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National Velvet | Farmer Ede | 1945-01-26 |
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She Went to the Races | Dr. Pembroke | 1945-11-04 |
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Kitty | Duke of Malmunster | 1945-10-16 |
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The Sailor Takes a Wife | Mr. Amboy | 1945-12-28 |
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Captain Kidd | Cary Shadwell | 1945-11-22 |
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The Canterville Ghost | Lord Canterville | 1944-07-20 |
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Three Hearts for Julia | John Girard | 1943-05-21 |
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Assignment in Brittany | Col. Trane | 1943-03-11 |
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Madame Curie | Dr. Becquerel | 1943-12-16 |
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Forever and a Day | Simpson | 1943-01-21 |
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Salute to the Marines | Mr. Henry Casper | 1943-09-02 |
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Above Suspicion | Dr. Mespelbrunn | 1943-05-31 |
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Pierre of the Plains | Noah Glenkins | 1942-07-29 |
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Mrs. Miniver | Foley | 1942-07-03 |
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Woman of the Year | Clayton | 1942-02-05 |
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Random Harvest | "Biffer" | 1942-12-17 |
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I Married an Angel | 'Whiskers' | 1942-07-09 |
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We Were Dancing | Maj. Tyler-Blane | 1942-04-30 |
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Reunion in France | Schultz, Gestapo agent | 1942-12-25 |
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Cairo | Philo Cobson | 1942-08-17 |
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White Cargo | Skipper of the Congo Queen | 1942-12-12 |
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Somewhere I'll Find You | Willie Manning | 1942-08-27 |
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Lady Be Good | Max Milton | 1941-09-18 |
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Blonde Inspiration | Reginald Mason | 1941-02-07 |
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Tarzan's Secret Treasure | Professor Elliott | 1941-12-01 |
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Charley's Aunt | Mr. Redcliffe | 1941-08-01 |
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Free and Easy | Sir George Kelvin | 1941-02-28 |
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A Woman's Face | Bernard Dalvik | 1941-05-09 |
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They Met in Bombay | General Allen | 1941-06-27 |
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Hullabaloo | 'Buzz' Foster | 1940-10-25 |
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Florian | Emperor Franz Josef | 1940-06-05 |
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The Earl of Chicago | Gervase Gonwell | 1940-01-05 |
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The Ghost Comes Home | Hemingway | 1940-03-08 |
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Fast and Loose | Vincent Charlton | 1939-02-17 |
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Remember? | Mr. Bronson | 1939-12-19 |
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Hotel Imperial | General Videnko | 1939-05-11 |
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Bridal Suite | Sir Horace Bragdon | 1939-05-26 |
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The Real Glory | Capt. Hartley | 1939-09-29 |
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Bad Little Angel | Edwards, Marvin's Valet | 1939-10-27 |
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Paradise for Three | Johann Kesselhut | 1938-06-04 |
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Vacation from Love | John Hodge Lawson | 1938-09-29 |
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A Christmas Carol | Ebenezer Scrooge | 1938-12-16 |
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A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore | Scrooge (atchive footage) | 1938-12-09 |
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Everybody Sing | Hillary Bellaire | 1938-02-04 |
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Three Loves Has Nancy | William, the Butler | 1938-09-02 |
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The Girl Downstairs | Charlie Grump | 1938-12-23 |
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Kidnapped | Capt. Hoseason | 1938-05-27 |
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Personal Property | Claude Dabney | 1937-03-19 |
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Conquest | Tallyrand | 1937-10-22 |
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Dangerous Number | William | 1937-01-22 |
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Madame X | Maurice Dourel | 1937-10-01 |
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The Bride Wore Red | Admiral Monti | 1937-10-08 |
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Rosalie | Chancellor | 1937-12-24 |
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Trouble for Two | President of Club | 1936-05-29 |
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The Great Ziegfeld | Sampston | 1936-04-08 |
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Rose Marie | Myerson | 1936-01-31 |
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Love on the Run | Baron Otto Spandermann | 1936-11-20 |
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The Girl on the Front Page | Archie Biddle | 1936-09-26 |
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Petticoat Fever | Sir James Felton | 1936-03-20 |
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Yours for the Asking | Dictionary McKinney | 1936-07-23 |
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Adventure in Manhattan | Blackton Gregory | 1936-10-08 |
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A Tale of Two Cities | Stryver | 1935-12-25 |
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The Good Fairy | The Waiter | 1935-02-18 |
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Call of the Wild | Mr. Smith | 1935-08-09 |
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Anna Karenina | Stiva | 1935-08-30 |
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Escapade | Paul | 1935-07-05 |
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Enchanted April | Henry Arbuthnot | 1935-02-01 |
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The Bishop Misbehaves | Guy Waller | 1935-09-13 |
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The Countess of Monte Cristo | The Baron | 1934-03-18 |
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Where Sinners Meet | Leonard | 1934-05-18 |
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The Human Side | James Dalton | 1934-09-01 |
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Here Is My Heart | Vova | 1934-12-28 |
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Fashions of 1934 | Oscar Baroque | 1934-02-14 |
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Music in the Air | Ernst Weber | 1934-12-13 |
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Queen Christina | Charles | 1934-02-09 |
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Stingaree | The Governor-General | 1934-05-24 |
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The House of Rothschild | Herries | 1934-04-07 |
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Nana | Bordenave | 1934-02-01 |
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Mandalay | Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson | 1934-02-10 |
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Madame du Barry | King Louis XV | 1934-10-13 |
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Of Human Bondage | Thorpe Athelny | 1934-07-20 |
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The Big Brain | Lord Darlington | 1933-08-04 |
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Double Harness | Freeman | 1933-07-21 |
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The Narrow Corner | Mr. Frith | 1933-07-08 |
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Voltaire | King Louis XV | 1933-08-05 |
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A Study in Scarlet | Sherlock Holmes | 1933-05-14 |
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Robbers' Roost | Cecil Herrick | 1932-12-30 |
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A Woman Commands | The Prime Minister | 1932-02-12 |
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The Man Called Back | Dr. Herbert Atkins | 1932-07-16 |
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Lovers Courageous | Lord Jimmy | 1932-01-23 |
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Sherlock Holmes | Dr. Watson | 1932-11-05 |
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Downstairs | Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen | 1932-08-06 |
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The Man in Possession | Claude Dabney | 1931-07-04 |
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Platinum Blonde | Dexter Grayson | 1931-10-31 |
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The Letter | Robert Crosbie | 1929-03-17 |
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The Grass Orphan | Heathcote St. John | 1922-12-01 |
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Phroso | Lord Wheatley | 1922-01-13 |
