Ronald Colman in The Magic Flame (1927)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 2079/2, 1927-1928. Photo: United Artists. Ronald Colman in The Magic Flame (Henry King, 1927).
English gentleman-actor Ronald Colman (1891 - 1958) was a top box office draw in Hollywood films throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. ‘The Man with the Velvet Voice’ was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 1948 he finally won the Oscar for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life.
Ronald Charles Colman was born in 1891 in Richmond, England. He was the son of silk importer Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. Ronald was educated at a boarding school in Littlehampton, where he discovered he enjoyed acting. When Ronald was 16 his father died, putting an end to the boy's plans to attend Cambridge and become an engineer. He went to work as a shipping clerk at the British Steamship Company. He also became a well-known amateur actor and was a member of the West Middlesex Dramatic Society in 1908-1909. He joined the London Scottish Regiment in 1909 and was among the first of the Territorial Army to fight in World War I. On 31 October 1914 at the Battle of Messines Colman was seriously wounded by shrapnel in his leg, which gave him a limp that he would attempt to hide throughout the rest of his acting career. He was invalided from the service in 1916. 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 worked with stage greats Gladys Cooper and Gerald DuMaurier and made extra money appearing in films like the two-reel comedy The Live Wire (1917, Cecil Hepworth), The Snow of the Desert (1919, Walter West) and The Black Spider (1920, William Humphrey). In 1919, after a brief courtship, he married an actress named Thelma Raye. The marriage was in trouble almost from the beginning. The two separated in 1923 but were not divorced until 1934.
In 1920 RonaldColman set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war- depressed England. He toured with Robert Warwick in The Dauntless Three, and subsequently toured with Fay Bainter in East is West. After two years of impoverishment, he was cast in the Broadway hit play La Tendresse (1922). Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in his film The White Sister (1923, Henry King). The romantic tear-jerker was wildly popular and Colman was quickly proclaimed a new film star. This success led to a contract with prominent independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn, and in the following ten years, he became a very popular silent film star in both romantic and adventure films. Among his most successful films for Godwyn were The Dark Angel (1925, George Fitzmaurice), Stella Dallas (1926, Henry King), and The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926, Henry King). His dark hair and eyes and his athletic and riding ability led reviewers to describe him as a ‘Valentino type’. He was often cast in similar, exotic roles. The film that cemented this position as a top star was Beau Geste (1926, Herbert Brenon), the rousing tale of three brothers who join the Foreign Legion to escape the law. Beau Geste was full of mystery, desert action, intrigue and above all, brotherly loyalty. Colman's gentlemanly courage and quiet strength were showcased to perfection in the role of the oldest brother, Beau. The film was one of the top money-makers of the silent era and is still referred to as possibly the greatest Foreign Legion film ever produced. Towards the end of the silent era, Colman was teamed with Hungarian actress Vilma Bánky under Samuel Goldwyn and the two were a popular movie team rivalling Greta Garbo & John Gilbert.
Although Ronald Colman was a huge success in silent films, with the coming of sound, his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice made him even more important to the film industry. His first major talkie success was in 1930 when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for two roles - Condemned (1929, Wesley Ruggles) and Bulldog Drummond (1929, F. Richard Jones). Thereafter he played several sophisticated thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, but also swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell). During the 1930s, he appeared in several notable films including Raffles, The Masquerader, Clive of India, A Tale of Two Cities (1935, Jack Conway), Under Two Flags (1936, Frank Lloyd), the poetic Lost Horizon (1937, Frank Capra), and If I Were King (1938, Frank Lloyd). During the war he made two of his very best films - Talk of the Town (1942, George Stevens), with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur; and the romantic tearjerker Random Harvest (1942, Mervyn LeRoy), as an amnesiac victim, co-starring with the luminous Greer Garson. For his role of Anthony John in A Double Life (1947, George Cukor), an actor playing Othello who comes to identify with the character he won both the Golden Globe for Best Actor in 1947 and the Best Actor Oscar in 1948. Beginning in 1945, Colman made many guest appearances on The Jack Benny Program on radio, alongside his second wife, British stage and screen actress Benita Hume. Their comedy work as Benny's next-door neighbors led to their own radio comedy The Halls of Ivy from 1950 to 1952, and then on television from 1954 to 1955. Ronald Colman died in 1958, aged 67, from a lung infection in Santa Barbara, California. He was survived by his Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman (1944).
Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Julie Stowe (The Ronald Colman Pages), Wikipedia and IMDb.
Ronald Colman in The Magic Flame (1927)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 2079/2, 1927-1928. Photo: United Artists. Ronald Colman in The Magic Flame (Henry King, 1927).
English gentleman-actor Ronald Colman (1891 - 1958) was a top box office draw in Hollywood films throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. ‘The Man with the Velvet Voice’ was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 1948 he finally won the Oscar for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life.
Ronald Charles Colman was born in 1891 in Richmond, England. He was the son of silk importer Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. Ronald was educated at a boarding school in Littlehampton, where he discovered he enjoyed acting. When Ronald was 16 his father died, putting an end to the boy's plans to attend Cambridge and become an engineer. He went to work as a shipping clerk at the British Steamship Company. He also became a well-known amateur actor and was a member of the West Middlesex Dramatic Society in 1908-1909. He joined the London Scottish Regiment in 1909 and was among the first of the Territorial Army to fight in World War I. On 31 October 1914 at the Battle of Messines Colman was seriously wounded by shrapnel in his leg, which gave him a limp that he would attempt to hide throughout the rest of his acting career. He was invalided from the service in 1916. 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 worked with stage greats Gladys Cooper and Gerald DuMaurier and made extra money appearing in films like the two-reel comedy The Live Wire (1917, Cecil Hepworth), The Snow of the Desert (1919, Walter West) and The Black Spider (1920, William Humphrey). In 1919, after a brief courtship, he married an actress named Thelma Raye. The marriage was in trouble almost from the beginning. The two separated in 1923 but were not divorced until 1934.
In 1920 RonaldColman set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war- depressed England. He toured with Robert Warwick in The Dauntless Three, and subsequently toured with Fay Bainter in East is West. After two years of impoverishment, he was cast in the Broadway hit play La Tendresse (1922). Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in his film The White Sister (1923, Henry King). The romantic tear-jerker was wildly popular and Colman was quickly proclaimed a new film star. This success led to a contract with prominent independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn, and in the following ten years, he became a very popular silent film star in both romantic and adventure films. Among his most successful films for Godwyn were The Dark Angel (1925, George Fitzmaurice), Stella Dallas (1926, Henry King), and The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926, Henry King). His dark hair and eyes and his athletic and riding ability led reviewers to describe him as a ‘Valentino type’. He was often cast in similar, exotic roles. The film that cemented this position as a top star was Beau Geste (1926, Herbert Brenon), the rousing tale of three brothers who join the Foreign Legion to escape the law. Beau Geste was full of mystery, desert action, intrigue and above all, brotherly loyalty. Colman's gentlemanly courage and quiet strength were showcased to perfection in the role of the oldest brother, Beau. The film was one of the top money-makers of the silent era and is still referred to as possibly the greatest Foreign Legion film ever produced. Towards the end of the silent era, Colman was teamed with Hungarian actress Vilma Bánky under Samuel Goldwyn and the two were a popular movie team rivalling Greta Garbo & John Gilbert.
Although Ronald Colman was a huge success in silent films, with the coming of sound, his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice made him even more important to the film industry. His first major talkie success was in 1930 when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for two roles - Condemned (1929, Wesley Ruggles) and Bulldog Drummond (1929, F. Richard Jones). Thereafter he played several sophisticated thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, but also swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell). During the 1930s, he appeared in several notable films including Raffles, The Masquerader, Clive of India, A Tale of Two Cities (1935, Jack Conway), Under Two Flags (1936, Frank Lloyd), the poetic Lost Horizon (1937, Frank Capra), and If I Were King (1938, Frank Lloyd). During the war he made two of his very best films - Talk of the Town (1942, George Stevens), with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur; and the romantic tearjerker Random Harvest (1942, Mervyn LeRoy), as an amnesiac victim, co-starring with the luminous Greer Garson. For his role of Anthony John in A Double Life (1947, George Cukor), an actor playing Othello who comes to identify with the character he won both the Golden Globe for Best Actor in 1947 and the Best Actor Oscar in 1948. Beginning in 1945, Colman made many guest appearances on The Jack Benny Program on radio, alongside his second wife, British stage and screen actress Benita Hume. Their comedy work as Benny's next-door neighbors led to their own radio comedy The Halls of Ivy from 1950 to 1952, and then on television from 1954 to 1955. Ronald Colman died in 1958, aged 67, from a lung infection in Santa Barbara, California. He was survived by his Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman (1944).
Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Julie Stowe (The Ronald Colman Pages), Wikipedia and IMDb.