Reginald Owen

Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
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. A few years earlier, Reginald Owen 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 co-authored the play with Mills using the pseudonym John Ramsey.
He went to the United States in 1920 and worked originally on Broadway in New York City, and later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career. He was 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 several actors to play both Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson, along with Jeremy Brett, Carleton Hobbs, Patrick Macnee, Howard Marion-Crawford, and Edward Woodward.
Owen first played Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932) starring Clive Brook as Holmes, and then Holmes 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 with James Garner in the television series Maverick in the episodes "The Belcastle Brand" (1957) and "Gun-Shy" (1958) and guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond, Kentucky Jones, 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 mansion in Bel Air was rented to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.
Death
Owen died from a heart attack at age 85 in Boise, Idaho, and eventually was buried at the Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.
Filmography
Henry VIII (1911) as Thomas Cromwell
Sally in Our Alley (1916) as Harry
A Place in the Sun (1916) as Stuart Capel
Possession (1922) as Lord Wheatley
The Grass Orphan (1922) as Heathcote St. John
The Letter (1929) as Robert Crosbie
The Man in Possession (1931) as Claude Dabney
Platinum Blonde (1931) as Grayson
Lovers Courageous (1932) as Jimmy
A Woman Commands (1932) as The Prime Minister
The Man Called Back (1932) as Dr. Atkins
Downstairs (1932) as Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
Sherlock Holmes (1932) as Dr. Watson
Robbers' Roost (1932) as Cecil Herrick
A Study in Scarlet (1933) as Sherlock Holmes
The Narrow Corner (1933) as Mr. Frith
Double Harness (1933) as Freeman
Voltaire (1933) as King Louis XV
The Big Brain (1933) as Lord Darlington
Queen Christina (1933) as Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Nana (1934) as Bordenave
Mandalay (1934) as Col. Thomas Dawson - Police Commissioner
Fashions of 1934 (1934) as Oscar Baroque
The House of Rothschild (1934) as Herries
The Countess of Monte Cristo (1934) as The Baron
Where Sinners Meet (1934) as Leonard
Stingaree (1934) as The Governor-General
Madame Du Barry (1934) as King Louis XV
Of Human Bondage (1934) as Athelny
The Human Side (1934) as James Dalton
Music in the Air (1934) as Ernst Weber
Here Is My Heart (1934) as Prince Vladimir / Vova
The Good Fairy (1935) as Detlaff, the Waiter
Enchanted April (1935) as Henry Arbuthnot
Escapade (1935) as Paul
The Call of the Wild (1935) as Mr. Smith
Anna Karenina (1935) as Stiva
The Bishop Misbehaves (1935) as Guy Waller
A Tale of Two Cities (1935) as Stryver
Rose Marie (1936) as Myerson
Petticoat Fever (1936) as Sir James Felton
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) as Sampston
Trouble for Two (1936) as President of Club
Yours for the Asking (1936) as Dictionary McKinney
The Girl on the Front Page (1936) as Archie Biddle
Adventure in Manhattan (1936) as Blackton Gregory
Love on the Run (1936) as Baron Otto Spanderman
Dangerous Number (1937) as Cousin William
Personal Property (1937) as Claude Dabney
Madame X (1937) as Maurice Dourel
The Bride Wore Red (1937) as Admiral Monti
Conquest (1937) as Tallyrand
Rosalie (1937) as Chancellor
Everybody Sing (1938) as Hillary Bellaire
Paradise for Three (1938) as Johann Kesselhut
Kidnapped (1938) as Captain Hoseason
Three Loves Has Nancy (1938) as William, the Butler
Vacation from Love (1938) as John Hodge Lawson
A Christmas Carol (1938) as Ebenezer Scrooge
The Girl Downstairs (1938) as Charlie Grump
Fast and Loose (1939) as Vincent Charlton
Hotel Imperial (1939) as General Videnko
Bridal Suite (1939) as Sir Horace Bragdon
The Real Glory (1939) as Capt. Hartley
Bad Little Angel (1939) as Edwards, Marvin's Valet
Remember? (1939) as Mr. Bronson
The Earl of Chicago (1940) as Gervase Gonwell
The Ghost Comes Home (1940) as Hemingway
Florian (1940) as Emperor Franz Josef
Hullabaloo (1940) as 'Buzz' Foster
Blonde Inspiration (1941) as Reginald
Free and Easy (1941) as Sir George Kelvin
A Woman's Face (1941) as Bernard Dalvik
They Met in Bombay (1941) as General Allen
Charley's Aunt (1941) as Redcliff
Lady Be Good (1941) as Max Milton
A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941) as 'Internal Injury' in Air raid drill (uncredited)
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) as Professor Elliott
Woman of the Year (1942) as Clayton
We Were Dancing (1942) as Major Berty Tyler-Blane
Mrs. Miniver (1942) as Foley
I Married an Angel (1942) as 'Whiskers'
Pierre of the Plains (1942) as Noah Glenkins
Cairo (1942) as Philo Cobson
Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) as Willie Manning
White Cargo (1942) as Skipper of the Congo Queen
Random Harvest (1942) as 'Biffer'
Reunion in France (1942) as Schultz
Forever and a Day (1943) as Simpson
Assignment in Brittany (1943) as Colonel Trane
Above Suspicion (1943) as Dr. Mespelbrunn
Three Hearts for Julia (1943) as John Girard
Salute to the Marines (1943) as Mr. Henry Caspar
Madame Curie (1943) as Dr. Becquerel
The Canterville Ghost (1944) as Lord Canterville
National Velvet (1944) as Farmer Ede
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) as Lord George Farmour (uncredited)
The Valley of Decision (1945) as McCready
Kitty (1945) as Duke of Malmunster
She Went to the Races (1945) as Dr. Pembroke
Captain Kidd (1945) as Cary Shadwell
The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945) as Mr. Amboy
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) as Captain Lanlaire
Cluny Brown (1946) as Sir Henry Carmel
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) as King Louis XV
Piccadilly Incident (1946) as Judge
The Imperfect Lady (1947) as Mr. Hopkins
Thunder in the Valley (1947) as James Moore
Green Dolphin Street (1947) as Captain O'Hara
If Winter Comes (1947) as Mr. Fortune
The Pirate (1948) as The Advocate
Julia Misbehaves (1948) as Benjamin Hawkins
The Three Musketeers (1948) as Treville
Hills of Home (1948) as Hopps
The Secret Garden (1949) as Ben Weatherstaff
Challenge to Lassie (1949) as Sergeant Davie
The Miniver Story (1950) as Mr. Foley
Kim (1950) as Father Victor
Grounds for Marriage (1951) as Dely Delacorte
The Great Diamond Robbery (1954) as Bainbridge Gibbons
Red Garters (1954) as Judge Wallace Winthrop
While the City Sleeps (1956) as Steven (Vincent Price's Butler, Uncredited)
Darby's Rangers (1958) as Sir Arthur Hollister
Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) as Consul
Tammy and the Doctor (1963) as Jason Tripp
The Thrill of It All (1963) as Old Tom Fraleigh
Voice of the Hurricane (1964) as Nigel Charter
Mary Poppins (1964) as Admiral Boom
Rosie! (1967) as Patrick
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) as Major General Sir Brian Teagler
References
Further reading
External links
1887 births
1972 deaths
Alumni of RADA
English expatriates in the United States
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
People from Wheathampstead
20th-century English male actors
Male actors from Hertfordshire
British expatriate male actors in the United States