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Do You Know Me?


jdb1
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I was born in Pittsburgh and educated at Northwestern.I began my acting career in radio, and entered films during WW II, being excused from the service for a medical problem. I became a mildly popular Hollywood personality, and appeared in one Hitchcock film. However, I never became a leading star. I had a major role in a Broadway play of the early '50s which was soon made into a successful film without me. I was married for 7 years to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner, and I died suddenly in my early forties. Who am I?

 

Edited by: finance on Oct 31, 2009 9:46 AM

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Do you know me? I was born in Georgia in the late 19th century. As a young man I had a fine singing voice and sang at some cabarets in Florida. I also got involved with a film company in Florida. Eventually, I made my way to New York and then to Hollywood where I specialized in playing villians in short comedies. I was a large man, and my roles were usually as the "heavy". I worked for several studios until, in the early 1920's, I teamed with a skinny hatchet-faced comic in a series of short comedies. After a few years, I moved on to the Hal Roach Studio where I worked often in slapstick comedies, but without a recurring character. It was quite by chance that I was paired with another actor who would become my on screen partner for many films. It was a strange pairing. Neither one of us played straight man for the other, and we were complete opposites, on and off the screen. What we did have was the right chemistry as a team. Our timing was impeccable and when sound came to the movies, our voices matched our characters perfectly. We were often immitated, but never duplicated. One of our short films even won an academy award. Do you know me? I bet you do!

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I just wanted to add that the hatchet-faced actor was Larry Semon and Laurel and Hardy's Oscar winner was "The Music Box", best short subject of 1932. The stairway used in "The Music Box" is still there. It's on Sunset Boulevard in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. Finance, it's still your turn.

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I was born in Brooklyn. I made my stage debut in stock at 18 and the first of several Broadway appearances at 20. I made a tentative screen debut in the early '40s under a different name, but then returned to the stage and it wasn't until more than 3 years later that I reappeared on screen as a clean-cut, mild-mannered young MGM lead. But my bland style failed to sustain interest in the postwar years, and by the early '50s I had been dropped by MGM and played diminishing roles in mostly minor films. By the '60s I was acting infrequently and worked as a car salesman to make money Who am I?

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?My family moved to Long Beach, California from Utah. I come from a prominent Mormon family. I began acting, and using my real name and an alternate name, I was in some westerns with an actor, known for his physique. Then my name was changed again and I joined one of those MGM on-going series, where I eventually tired of it and MGM was grooming me for bigger and better things. Even though I was in a few good movies after that, I never really achieved super stardom. Newer stars kept getting the better films at MGM. I got better attention from other studios and from movies with Hitchcock, Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, and Cary Grant. I had a tv show that ran briefly in 1951. I was married three times, once to a sports figure, where I really got involved and enjoyed the spotlight of a ?first lady.? ?

 

?Do you know me??

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I was born in South Africa. I went to England in my teens and served in WW I. I played my first screen role in 1924, and alternated as a leading man of stage and screen until 1934, when I left for Hollywood. I usually played devoted, dependable husbands, lovers, or friends, often opposite an actress whose mother was a well-known business entrepreneur. One of my best-friend roles was in a famous remake. In 1942 I returned to England for WW II service, and subsequently appeared in numerous British plays and films. On both sides of the Atlantic, I appeared in close to 100 films. Who am I?

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This one shouldn't be too difficult because the early part of my career sounds just like the life of Ian Hunter. I, too, was born in South Africa. I, too, was raised in Britain and served in the British military in World War I. I, too, started in British silent films in the 1920's, and when sound came in, I, too moved to Hollywood. Now here is where our careers differed. For the first eight to ten years of my Hollywood career, I played mainly villains. I played some of the nastiest villains in some very well known movies. I was even a villain in a movie where Ian Hunter played one of the good guys. I also did some horror movies. I would return to that genre later in life. Around 1939, I was fortunate to play the hero, for a change, in a mystery story, That led to a series of movies playing that character. In fact, I am probably best remembered for that character. I also was known around town for the great parties that I hosted with my wife. Now, do you know me?

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