Reginald Owen

Birthday:

08/04/1887

Place of birth:

Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK:

Biography:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was an English character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and later in television programmes. The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert Tree's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905. In 1911, he starred in the original production of Where the Rainbow Ends as Saint George which opened to very good reviews on 21 December 1911. Reginald Owen had a few years earlier met the author Mrs. Clifford Mills as a young actor, and it was he who on hearing her idea of a Rainbow Story persuaded her to turn it into a play, and thus "Where the Rainbow Ends" was born. 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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 until Barrymore broke his hip in an accident. Owen was one of only five 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, Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television films). Howard Marion-Crawford played Holmes in a radio adaptation of "The Speckled Band" and later played Watson to Ronald Howard’s Holmes in the 1954-55 television series. Owen first played Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932), and then Holmes himself in A Study in Scarlet (1933). 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 also guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond and Bewitched. He was 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. In August 1964, his Bel-Air mansion was rented out to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.



Credits

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! (1974)
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Gen. Teagler
Rosie! (1967)
Patrick
Mary Poppins (1964)
Admiral Boom
Voice of the Hurricane (1964)
The Thrill of It All (1963)
Old Tom Fraleigh
Tammy and the Doctor (1963)
Jason Tripp
Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)
Consul
Moochie of Pop Warner Football (1960)
Moochie of the Little League (1959)
J. Cecil Bennett
Red Garters (1954)
Judge Wallace Winthrop
The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)
Bainbridge Gibbons
Grounds for Marriage (1951)
Dely Delacorte
Kim (1950)
Father Victor
The Miniver Story (1950)
Mr. Foley
Challenge to Lassie (1949)
Sergeant Davie
The Secret Garden (1949)
Ben Weatherstaff
Hills of Home (1948)
Hopps
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Treville
Julia Misbehaves (1948)
Benjy Hawkins
The Pirate (1948)
The Advocate
If Winter Comes (1947)
Mr. Fortune
Thunder in the Valley (1947)
James Moore
Green Dolphin Street (1947)
Captain O'Hara
The Imperfect Lady (1946)
Mr. Hopkins
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
King Louis XV
Piccadilly Incident (1946)
Judge
Cluny Brown (1946)
Henry Carmel
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Captain Lanlaire
The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945)
Mr. Amboy
Captain Kidd (1945)
Cary Shadwell
She Went to the Races (1945)
Dr. Pembroke
Kitty (1945)
Duke of Malmunster
The Valley of Decision (1945)
McCready
National Velvet (1945)
Farmer Ede
The Canterville Ghost (1944)
Lord Canterville
Madame Curie (1943)
Dr. Becquerel
Salute to the Marines (1943)
Mr. Henry Casper
Above Suspicion (1943)
Dr. Mespelbrunn
Three Hearts for Julia (1943)
John Girard
Assignment in Brittany (1943)
Col. Trane
Forever and a Day (1943)
Simpson
Reunion in France (1942)
Schultz
Random Harvest (1942)
"Biffer"
White Cargo (1942)
Skipper of the Congo Queen
Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)
Willie Manning
Cairo (1942)
Philo Cobson
Pierre of the Plains (1942)
Noah Glenkins
I Married an Angel (1942)
'Whiskers'
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Foley
We Were Dancing (1942)
Maj. Tyler-Blane
Woman of the Year (1942)
Clayton
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)
Professor Elliott
Lady Be Good (1941)
Max Milton
Charley's Aunt (1941)
Mr. Redcliffe
They Met in Bombay (1941)
General Allen
A Woman's Face (1941)
Bernard Dalvik
Free and Easy (1941)
Sir George Kelvin
Blonde Inspiration (1941)
Reginald Mason
Hullabaloo (1940)
'Buzz' Foster
Florian (1940)
Emperor Franz Josef
The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
Hemingway
The Earl of Chicago (1940)
Gervase Gonwell
Remember? (1939)
Mr. Bronson
Bad Little Angel (1939)
Edwards, Marvin's Valet
The Real Glory (1939)
Capt. Hartley
Bridal Suite (1939)
Sir Horace Bragdon
Hotel Imperial (1939)
General Videnko
Fast and Loose (1939)
Vincent Charlton
The Girl Downstairs (1938)
Charlie Grump
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Ebenezer Scrooge
A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore (1938)
Scrooge (atchive footage)
Vacation from Love (1938)
John Hodge Lawson
Three Loves Has Nancy (1938)
William, the Butler
Paradise for Three (1938)
Johann Kesselhut
Kidnapped (1938)
Capt. Hoseason
Everybody Sing (1938)
Hillary Bellaire
Rosalie (1937)
Chancellor
Conquest (1937)
Tallyrand
The Bride Wore Red (1937)
Admiral Monti
Madame X (1937)
Maurice Dourel
Personal Property (1937)
Claude Dabney
Dangerous Number (1937)
William
Love on the Run (1936)
Baron Otto Spandermann
Adventure in Manhattan (1936)
Blackton Gregory
The Girl on the Front Page (1936)
Archie Biddle
Yours for the Asking (1936)
Dictionary McKinney
Trouble for Two (1936)
President of Club
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Sampston
Petticoat Fever (1936)
Sir James Felton
Rose Marie (1936)
Myerson
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Stryver
The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
Guy Waller
Anna Karenina (1935)
Stiva
Call of the Wild (1935)
Mr. Smith
Escapade (1935)
Paul
The Good Fairy (1935)
Detlaff
Enchanted April (1935)
Henry Arbuthnot
Here Is My Heart (1934)
Vova
Music in the Air (1934)
Ernst Weber
Madame du Barry (1934)
King Louis XV
The Human Side (1934)
James Dalton
Of Human Bondage (1934)
Thorpe Athelny
Stingaree (1934)
The Governor-General
Where Sinners Meet (1934)
Leonard
The House of Rothschild (1934)
Herries
The Countess of Monte Cristo (1934)
The Baron
Fashions of 1934 (1934)
Oscar Baroque
Mandalay (1934)
Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson
Nana (1934)
Bordenave
Queen Christina (1933)
Charles
Voltaire (1933)
King Louis XV
The Big Brain (1933)
Lord Darlington
Double Harness (1933)
Freeman
The Narrow Corner (1933)
Mr. Frith
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
Sherlock Holmes
Robbers' Roost (1932)
Cecil Herrick
Sherlock Holmes (1932)
Dr. Watson
Downstairs (1932)
Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
The Man Called Back (1932)
Dr. Herbert Atkins
A Woman Commands (1932)
The Prime Minister
Lovers Courageous (1932)
Lord Jimmy
Platinum Blonde (1931)
Dexter Grayson
The Man in Possession (1931)
Claude Dabney
The Letter (1929)
Robert Crosbie
Phroso (1922)
Lord Wheatley
Stablemates (1938)
Story
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
Dialogue