1891-1958
English born stage and screen actor Ronald Charles Colman was born on this day in Richmond, Surrey into a family of merchants. The family was fairly well off due to his father's merchant business dealing in silks; this made it possible for him to receive an education at a boarding school. He was reportedly a shy boy in school, but became interested in drama there nonetheless. Once bitten with the "acting bug," it stayed with him and even provided a career path when his chosen path was blocked by family financial woes. When his father died suddenly, leaving the family without the income that it had grown accustomed to, Ronald's plan to attend Cambridge were no longer feasible. He turned instead to acting, at first merely as an unpaid amateur--working in other fields to support himself, but in 1914, he turned professional. In the meantime, he had been a soldier in the London Scottish in the first World War. Seriously wounded in the fall of 1914, he was discharged from service in 1915; he would deal with ankle and foot problems for the remainder of his life. By 1916 however, he was sufficiently recovered to return to the stage in London; and in 1917 he made his motion picture debut in a tiny little film (now, sadly, lost) written, directed and produced by George Dewhurst called The Live Wire. After this he didn't appear in many film productions until 1919, when he starred in The Toilers--a the film based on the work of French writer Victor Hugo (only a portion of the film remains, it has been restored, and a large part of his performance survives, but the film's original plot is missing.). He appeared in a few other film productions in the UK in 1919 and 1920, but continued the bulk of his work on the stage. It is worth noting, that one of those films was the Cecil M. Hepworth production Anna the Adventuress in 1920; he was then receiving close to top billing in the United Kingdom films in which he appeared, before making his way to Hollywood. In 1920, a play in which he was appearing toured the United States and he made the decision to stay in America, rather than return to the British film industry. The first U.S. production that he found a role in was far from a starring role: Handcuffs or Kisses. A late Fort Lee Selznick production directed by George Archainbaud, it starred Elaine Hammerstein and Julia Swayne Gordon and featured Colman is a small supporting role; but it was his first American film and his foot was solidly in the door of Hollywood. By the time he made his next American film appearance, he was in the male lead, and it was two years later. In the meantime, he had worked on the stage in New York in top supporting and lead roles and that got him noticed. Director Henry King (fresh off of giving up acting himself) managed to talk Colman into the lead male role of the Lillian Gish production The White Sister (released in September of 1923), despite that it meant a return to Europe, as it was mostly shot on locations in Italy (his only other appearance in a film that year was as an extra in George Fitzmaurice's The Eternal City). His film acting thereafter picked up considerably, starting the new year in the supporting section of the cast, finishing the year as a solid leading a man, and a rising movie star with sex appeal. His turn in Henry King's Romola, released at the end of the year, along side William Powell and the Gish sisters, solidified his place in film. Over the next two years, he would appear in some of the most expensive productions made during the time. He had real star appeal and was placed in lead after lead in romantic drama after romantic drama, next to a list of leading ladies that included: Blanche Sweet, Doris Kenyan, Norma and Constance Talmadge, Vilma Bánky, Belle Bennett, May McAvoy and Lili Damita. Bánky in particular would be a frequent co-star in the later 1920's, especially in adventure type films, including the western genre. Colman was, it turned out, an excellent horseman and was also eager to perform his own stunts, leading to more action roles as time went on. He appeared in The Dark Angel (September 1925) with Bánky, acting with her for the first time. He then appeared as Stephen Dallas opposite Belle Bennett, in Henry King's rendition of Stella Dallas in 1925. Next appearing as Lord Darlington in Ernst Lubitsch's excellent production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, also in 1925. Finally (after a role in Norma Talmadges Kiki), he was cast in the lead role in Herbert Brenon's war hit Beau Geste, released in August 1926, at the same time as Brenon's other big production of that year The Great Gatsby; actor Neil Hamilton, later of "Batman" fame, appeared in both of them (Brenon, in fact, had three films in theaters at the same time in 1926!). His first film with sound came on one version of the dual released historical action drama Two Lovers in 1928, the partial sound version containing a musical score and sound effects by Western Electric. His first full talkie came in The Rescue, a romantic adventure, in 1929 opposite Damita. Everyone who had seen Colman on the stage, or even knew him, was aware that, never mind his dark good "Latin-like" looks, his best feature was his voice: smooth, well enunciated and...you, know...English! He was now able to utilize this, his best acting tool, for the first time in films. Colman took the lead in two more features in 1929, both of which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the Academy Awards in 1930 (despite this, the Oscar went to George Arliss for Disraeli). The two films couldn't have been more different: Condemned! was a prison drama and, of course, Bulldog Drummond is a mystery thriller. He next appeared as A.J. Raffles in the light crime thriller Raffles, playing (fittingly) a British nobleman who is also a crack jewel thief--released in July of 1930, the Colman voice had arrived. It is not surprising that he was largely typecast as the suave Brit in films of the 1930's, albeit it in a number of different sort of roles from doctors to penniless cur, to MP's. He returned as Bulldog Drummond in 1934 in Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, this time opposite Loretta Young; and later appeared in the first sound version of The Prisoner of Zenda, produced by David Selznick, in 1937. Colman made only a handful of films during the war years of the 1940's, but it was in no way surprising that he got into radio work that same decade. He was again nominated for a the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the 1947 George Cukor directed A Double Life and won. He also did some work on television in the 1950's. making his small screen debut in the October 1952 episode of "Four Star Playhouse," The Lost Silk Hat. He would go on to appear in multiple episodes between 1952 and 1954. He even had his own series, "The Halls of Ivy" (1954-1955) in which he played an amiable doctor married to a former actress, who was played by Colman actual wife Benita Hume. The series was a reprise of a radio series that the couple had starred in earlier in the 1950's. Colman had a very bad lung infection for which he had surgery in 1957, when he was diagnosed with emphysema. The disease quickly got worse, he was (under contract to RKO) set to star in The Village of the Damned (which was eventually released in 1960) at the time of death on the 19th of May in 1958. He was 67 years old. His last film wound up being his role in Irwin Allen's strange 1957 historical/science fiction drama The Story of Mankind. Colman died in Santa Barbara and he is buried there at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
 |
| [Source: Chuck L. (Find A Grave)] |
No comments:
Post a Comment