1904-1995
Actor Edward James Nugent got his start in films at the very end of the silent era. The talented stage performer/dancer was born on the day in New York City. He was a child performer with the Metropolitan Opera; and he made is film debut in 1928 as Eddie Nugent in the George Archainbaud directed comedy The Man in Hobbles. His second film appearance, also in 1928, was also his first appearance in a talkie. MGM's Our Dancing Daughters, which starred Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown, also had a fully silent version for wider release; in it he gets to "debut" his wisecracking young man type, a character trait that would stay with him for much of his film career. Under contract to MGM; Nugent appeared in nine films in 1929, starting with A Single Man a late fully silent release. He was next in the partial silent The Flying Fleet, a film starring Ramon Novarro. His first full talking picture (released as such) came in the comedy The Girl in the Show (if you don't count his appearance in MGM's exhibition The Hollywood Revue of 1929). After this, however, it was back to silent/partial silent films, with his appearance as "Reg" in Joan Crawford's last silent film Our Modern Maidens; appearing right after this with Crawford again in the talkie Untamed, his last MGM contract film. He finished the decade out in the comedic musical The Vagabond Lover (an RKO production) as the musician "Sport. His first film of the new decade was the comedic romance Loose Ankles starring Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; with this, his wise cracking youngster role was cemented as a character type to which he was closely associated, despite him entering his late 20's. It was a role type that he would employ throughout the 1930's, even in non-comedic films such as crime dramas. And, the 1930's comprized the lion's share of his film career--almost all of his nearly 85 credits came during that decade. His last full feature length film appearance (and last named film credit) came in the adventure film Island Captives in 1937, shot on location in Hawai'i. He did make an appearance in a small little animated fluff in 1940 produced by the Jim Handy Organization called A Case of Spring Fever (if you are a MST3k or, more recently, RiffTrax fan, you have been "treated" to this little short). Nugent largely had a stage career after retiring from film acting. I am guessing (just me, mind you...) that he tired of the stereotyping in Hollywood. All descriptions of his Broadway appearances point to his being a very talented actor/singer/dancer with a wide range. Nugent's place of death seems to be a bit in dispute. Several sources cite his death place of New York City; others San Antonio, Texas (and at least one that I ran across citing the Los Angeles area)--whatever the case, the date of his death is not in dispute, he passed away at the age of 90 on the 3rd of January in 1995, just shy of his 91st. I can find no information as to interment. Nugent was also a published author on approaches to stage acting.
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| In the 1929 MGM filmed revue. |
