Reginald Owen
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Reginald Owen
Biography
British actor Reginald Owen was a graduate of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his stage bow in 1905, remaining a highly-regarded leading man in London for nearly two decades before traversing the Atlantic to make his Broadway premiere in The Swan. His film career commenced with The Letter (1929), and for the next forty years Owen was one of Hollywood's favorite Englishmen, playing everything from elegant aristocrats to seedy villains. Modern viewers are treated to Owen at his hammy best each Christmas when local TV stations run MGM's 1938 version of The Christmas Carol. As Ebeneezer Scrooge, Owen was a last-minute replacement for an ailing Lionel Barrymore, but no one in the audience felt the loss as they watched Owen go through his lovably cantankerous paces. Reginald Owen's film career flourished into the 1960s and 1970s. He was particularly amusing and appropriately bombastic as Admiral Boom, the cannon-happy eccentric neighbor in Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). ~ Hal Erickson, RoviRelated Videos:
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Reginald Owen
Filmography:
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Reginald Owen
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Reginald Owen
For the English musician, see Reg Owen. For the bishop, see Reginald Owen (bishop).
| Reginald Owen | |
|---|---|
 from the trailer for The Miniver Story (1950) |
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| Born | John Reginald Owen 5 August 1887 Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK |
| Died | 5 November 1972 (aged 85) Boise, Idaho, U.S. |
| Resting place | Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1911–72 |
| Spouse | Lydia Bilbrook (1908-23; divorced) Mrs. Harold Austin (stage actress) (19??-56) 2 children Barbara Haveman (1956-72; his death) |
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and later in television programmes.
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Career
Owen studied at Sir Herbert Tree's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905. 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 MGM 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, after Barrymore had broken his hip in an accident.[1]
Owen was one of only four 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,[2] Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations[3] while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television films)[4].
Owen first played Watson in the 1932 film Sherlock Holmes, and then Holmes himself in 1933's A Study in Scarlet. 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 an episode of the series "One Step Beyond". He was also 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".
He died from a heart attack at age 85 in Boise, Idaho.
Partial filmography
References
- ^ Landazuri, Margaret. Archives Spotlight: Young Dr. Kildare. Turner Classic Movies.com; accessed 7 December 2007
- ^ Alan Barnes (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 39. ISBN 1-903111-04-8.
- ^ Allen Eyles (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration. Harper & Row. pp. 86. ISBN 0-06-015620-1.
- ^ Alan Barnes (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 60. ISBN 1-903111-04-8.
External links
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