Robert Arden

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1922-12-11

Deathday 2004-03-25 (81 years old)

Place of Birth London, England, UK

Also Known As Bob Arden, Rob Arden

Robert Arden

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Arden (11 December 1922 – 25 March 2004) was an American film, television and radio actor born in London who worked and lived mostly in the United Kingdom. Arden was born from an American father and an English mother. His father had a successful career as a professional boxer after World War I. He attended "a combination of English and American schools." Arden's most famous film appearance was as lead character Guy Van Stratten in Mr. Arkadin (1955), written and directed by Orson Welles. Welles had worked with Arden on the Harry Lime radio series, produced in London, and later cast the little-known actor in Mr. Arkadin, in the central role of the investigator who uncovers Arkadin's past. Reportedly, Arden was shocked that Welles might consider him for the part and initially thought that the director's phone inquiry was a crank call. Arden's performance in Mr. Arkadin was panned by some critics : The New York Times called it "hopelessly inadequate". Film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum has defended Arden's performance, locating the problem not in the actor's work but in "the unsavoriness and obnoxiousness of the character", who was intended by Welles to be unattractive even though he occupied in the film "the space normally reserved for charismatic heroes". The credits of one the film's Spanish versions misspelled Arden's name as "Bob Harden". Another Spanish print actually credited him as "Mark Sharpe". Mr. Arkadin did poorly at the box-office. Afterwards, Arden played a few other lead roles, in films such as The Depraved (1957) or The Child and the Killer (1959), but he worked mostly as a character actor, appearing in film, television and stage productions. he worked mostly as a character actor, appearing in film, television and stage productions.

Known For

Actor

1996
Silent Witness

as Alex Wein

1989
The Paradise Club

as Marzocca

1988
1987
Inspector Morse

as Eddie Poindexter

1986
Little Shop of Horrors

as Network Exec #1

1986
Strong Medicine

as Dr. Potter

1985
Among Wolves

as Général Lee W. Simon

1982
The Story of Ruth

as Ruth's Father

1981
Ragtime

as Foreman of the Jury

1981
Condorman

as CIA Chief

1981
The Final Conflict

as American Ambassador

1979
1965
The Pistol

as Captain Danzinger

1964
The Wednesday Play

as Captain Danziger

1963
1962
The Saint

as Detective Williams

1962
1962
Studio Four

as George Spencer

1959
1959
No Hiding Place

as James Sandford

1959
Interpol Calling

as Marston

1957
The Depraved

as Dave Dillon

1957
1957
The Counterfeit Plan

as Bob Fenton

1956
1956
1955
Mr. Arkadin

as Guy Van Stratten

1947
1946
A Matter of Life and Death

as GI Playing Snout (uncredited)

1945
The Man from Morocco

as American Sergeant

1944
Two Thousand Women

as Dave Kennedy

Producer

1968
A Hatful of Rain

as Associate Producer