Arthur Lake
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Arthur Lake
Biography
Truly a single-note man, American actor Arthur Lake spent most of his adult life portraying only one screen role: Dagwood Bumstead. The son of circus acrobats and the brother of character actress Florence Lake (famed for her ongoing portrayal of Mrs. Edgar Kennedy in nearly 100 two-reel comedies), Lake began his professional career as one of the "Fox Kiddies" in a series of silent-film takeoffs of famous fairy tales, featuring casts comprised completely of children. Lake graduated to a succession of collegiate and office boy roles in feature films, gaining a degree of stardom in the late 1920s and early 1930s after appearing in the title role of Harold Teen (1928). The actor's high-pitched voice and Mama's boy features were amusing for a while, but audiences became bored with Lake by 1934, and the actor found himself shunted to supporting parts and bits. An amusing role as a flustered bellboy in Topper (1937) rejuvenated his career, but Lake's comeback wouldn't be complete until Columbia Pictures cast him as woebegone suburbanite Dagwood Bumstead in Blondie (1938), based on Chic Young's internationally popular comic strip. The strip's characterizations were altered to fit the personalities of Lake and his costar Penny Singleton; in the films, Dagwood was the dope and Blondie the brains of the family, precisely the opposite of the comic-strip situation. A few scattered "straight" performances aside, Lake was nothing other than Dagwood in films from 1938 through 1950; he not only starred in 28 "Blondie" pictures, but repeated the role on radio and starred in an unsuccessful 1954 TV series based on the property. Not at all the blithering idiot that he played on screen, Lake was a sagacious businessman in real life, his wise investments increasing the fortune he'd already accumulated by playing Dagwood -- and also bolstering the moneys inherited by his socialite wife, Patricia Van Cleve. Though he often remarked that it would be wonderful to play Dagwood forever, Lake parted company with the role in the mid-1950s; when another Blondie TV series appeared briefly in 1968, it starred Will Hutchins. Appearing publicly only rarely in the 1960s and 1970s (usually in summer theatres and revivals of 1920s musicals like No, No Nanette), Lake retired before his 70th birthday, a far more prosperous and secure man than his alter ego Dagwood Bumstead -- who's still being fired regularly by boss Mr. Dithers in the funny papers - ever would be. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Arthur Lake (actor)
| Arthur Lake | |
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| Born | Arthur Silverlake, Jr. April 17, 1905 Corbin, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | January 9, 1987 (aged 81) Indian Wells, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
Arthur Lake (April 17, 1905—January 9, 1987) was an American actor known best for bringing Dagwood Bumstead, the bumbling husband of Blondie, to life in film, radio and television.
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Early life and career
At the time of his birth in 1905, Arthur Silverlake, Jr.'s father and uncle were touring with a circus in an aerial act known as "The Flying Silverlakes".[1] His mother, Edith Goodwin, was an actress. His parents later appeared in vaudeville in a skit "Family Affair", traveling throughout the South and Southwest United States. Arthur first appeared on stage as a baby in Uncle Tom's Cabin and he and his sister, Florence, became part of the act in 1910.[1] Their mother brought the children to Hollywood to get into films, and Arthur made his screen debut in the silent Jack and the Beanstalk (1917). Florence became a successful actress, achieving a degree of fame as one of the screen wives of comedian Edgar Kennedy.
Universal Pictures signed him to a contract, where he acted in westerns as an adolescent character actor. Shortly after the formation of RKO Pictures in 1928, he signed with that studio, where he made Dance Hall (1929) and Cheer Up and Smile (1930).[1] During this early sound film era, he typically played light romantic roles, usually with a comic "Mama's Boy" tone to them, in films such as Indiscreet (1931) with Gloria Swanson.
Dagwood in Blondie
Arthur Lake is best known for portraying the Blondie comic strip character of Dagwood Bumstead in twenty-eight[1] Blondie films produced by Columbia Pictures from 1938 until 1950. For the first seven of those years,[1] a radio version was also broadcast with Lake in the Dagwood role. He also portrayed the character in a short-lived 1957 Blondie TV series. His work in the popular Blondie radio show earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6646 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
Lake became very friendly with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and his mistress Marion Davies. He was a frequent guest at the beach house of Davies, where he met Patricia Lake (née Van Cleeve) (1923–1993). They were married at San Simeon on the 24th of July 1942. The parentage of Patricia Van Cleeve is unclear, but at the time of her death, she claimed to be the daughter of Davies and Hearst.
In his book about the Black Dahlia murder case, author Donald H. Wolfe asserts that Lake was questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department as a suspect, having been acquainted with the victim through her volunteer work at the Hollywood Canteen.[2] No charges were filed and Lake was one of many suspects in a case that remains unsolved.
Lake died of a heart attack in Indian Wells, California on January 9, 1987 and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in the Douras family mausoleum, along with actress Marion Davies and her husband, Horace G. Brown.
References
- ^ a b c d e Lamparski, Richard (1982). Whatever Became Of ...? Eighth Series. New York: Crown Publishers. pp. 166–67. ISBN 0-517-54855-0.
- ^ Donald H. Wolfe (2005). The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder that transfixed Los Angeles. ReganBooks. p. 155.
External links
- Arthur Lake at the Internet Movie Database
- Blondie: The Movie Series
- "Arthur Lake". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1867. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
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