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Reginald Owen
Actor
Died November 5, 1972 (85 years)
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.
Filmography
| 1987 | Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Heigh-Ho · as Admiral Boom |
| 1985 | The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes · as Sherlock Holmes (archive footage) |
| 1974 | That's Entertainment! · as (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 1971 | Bedknobs and Broomsticks · as Gen. Teagler |
| 1970 | McCloud (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1968 | It Takes a Thief (TV Series) · as Clerk |
| 1965 | Camp Runamuck (TV Series) · as Phineas Everwood |
| 1964 | Mary Poppins · as Admiral Boom |
| 1964 | Bewitched (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1964 | Voice of the Hurricane · as Unknown |
| 1963 | The Thrill of It All · as Old Tom Fraleigh |
| 1963 | Tammy and the Doctor · as Jason Tripp |
| 1962 | Five Weeks in a Balloon · as Consul |
| 1960 | Thriller (TV Series) · as The Hussar ('A Terribly Strange Bed') |
| 1959 | One Step Beyond (TV Series) · as Herbert Blakely |
| 1958 | Darby's Rangers · as Sir Arthur Hollister |
| 1957 | Maverick (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1954 | Red Garters · as Judge Wallace Winthrop |
| 1954 | The Great Diamond Robbery · as Bainbridge Gibbons |
| 1954 | Climax! (TV Series) · as Doctor |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as J. Cecil Bennett |
| 1950 | The Miniver Story · as Mr. Foley |
| 1950 | Kim · as Father Victor |
| 1949 | Challenge to Lassie · as Sergeant Davie |
| 1949 | The Secret Garden · as Ben Weatherstaff |
| 1948 | The Pirate · as The Advocate |
| 1948 | The Three Musketeers · as Treville |
| 1948 | Julia Misbehaves · as Benny Hawkins |
| 1948 | Hills of Home · as Hopps |
| 1947 | Green Dolphin Street · as Captain O'Hara |
| 1947 | If Winter Comes · as Mr. Fortune |
| 1946 | The Diary of a Chambermaid · as Captain Lanlaire |
| 1946 | They Met at Midnight · as Judge |
| 1945 | Captain Kidd · as Cary Shadwell |
| 1945 | The Picture of Dorian Gray · as Lord George Farmour |
| 1945 | The Valley of Decision · as McCready |
| 1944 | National Velvet · as Farmer Ede |
| 1944 | The Canterville Ghost · as Lord Canterville |
| 1943 | Above Suspicion · as Dr. Mespelbrunn |
| 1943 | Madame Curie · as Dr. Becquerel |
| 1943 | Salute to the Marines · as Mr. Henry Casper |
| 1942 | Woman of the Year · as Clayton |
| 1942 | Random Harvest · as Biffer |
| 1942 | Reunion in France · as Schultz |
| 1942 | Cairo · as Philo Cobson |
| 1942 | I Married an Angel · as 'Whiskers' |
| 1942 | Somewhere I'll Find You · as Willie Manning |
| 1942 | We Were Dancing · as Maj. Tyler-Blane |
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver · as Foley |
| 1941 | A Woman's Face · as Bernard Dalvik |
| 1941 | Tarzan's Secret Treasure · as Professor Elliott |
| 1941 | Lady Be Good · as Max Milton |
| 1941 | A Yank in the RAF · as 'Internal Injury' in Air Raid Drill |
| 1940 | Florian · as Emperor Franz Josef |
| 1940 | Hullabaloo · as 'Buzz' Foster |
| 1939 | The Real Glory · as Capt. Steve Hartley |
| 1938 | Three Loves Has Nancy · as William, the Butler |
| 1938 | A Christmas Carol · as Ebenezer Scrooge |
| 1937 | Conquest · as Tallyrand |
| 1937 | Rosalie · as Chancellor |
| 1937 | Personal Property · as Claude Dabney |
| 1937 | The Bride Wore Red · as Admiral Monti |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld · as Sampston |
| 1936 | Rose-Marie · as Myerson |
| 1936 | Love on the Run · as Baron Otto Spandermann |
| 1935 | A Tale of Two Cities · as Stryver |
| 1935 | Anna Karenina · as Stiva |
| 1935 | Call of the Wild · as Mr. Smith |
| 1935 | The Bishop Misbehaves · as Guy Waller |
| 1935 | Escapade · as Paul |
| 1935 | Enchanted April · as Henry Arbuthnot |
| 1934 | Of Human Bondage · as Thorpe Athelny |
| 1934 | Fashions of 1934 · as Oscar Baroque |
| 1934 | Nana · as Bordenave |
| 1933 | Queen Christina · as Charles |
| 1933 | A Study in Scarlet · as Sherlock Holmes |
| 1932 | Sherlock Holmes · as Dr. Watson |
| 1931 | Platinum Blonde · as Dexter Grayson |
| 1929 | The Letter · as Robert Crosbie |
| 1922 | The Grass Orphan · as Heathcote St. John |
| 1916 | Sally in Our Alley · as Harry |
| 1914 | The Flight of Death · as actor |