Ronald Colman

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1891-02-08

Deathday 1958-05-19 (67 years old)

Place of Birth Richmond, Surrey, England, UK

Also Known As Ronald Charles Colman

Ronald Colman

Biography

British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London Scottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France. Seriously wounded at the battle of Messines--he was gassed--he was invalided out of service scarcely two months after shipping out for France. Upon his recovery he tried to enter the consular service, but a chance encounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and concentrated on the theatre, and was rewarded with a succession of increasingly prominent parts. He made extra money appearing in a few minor films, and in 1920 set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war-depressed England. After two years of impoverishment he was cast in a Broadway hit, "La Tendresse". Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in The White Sister (1923). His success in the film led to a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, and his career as a Hollywood leading man was underway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as well as adventure films. The coming of sound made his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice even more important to the film industry. He played sophisticated, thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, and swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). A decade later he received an Academy Award for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life (1947). Much of his later career was devoted to "The Halls of Ivy", a radio show that later was transferred to television "The Halls of Ivy" (1954). He continued to work until nearly the end of his life, which came in 1958 after a brief lung illness. He was survived by his second wife, actress Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman.

Known For

Actor

2001
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies

as Self (archive footage)

1988
1976
That's Entertainment, Part II

as (archive footage)

1961
Hollywood: The Selznick Years

as 'A Tale of Two Cities' (archive footage) (uncredited)

1957
The Story of Mankind

as The Spirit of Man

1956
1952
1952
1952
Four Star Playhouse

as Dr. Bosanquent

1952
1950
Champagne for Caesar

as Beauregard Bottomley

1950
The Jack Benny Program

as Ronald Colman

1949
The Art Director

as Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)

1947
A Double Life

as Anthony John

1947
The Late George Apley

as George Apley

1944
Kismet

as Hafiz

1942
Random Harvest

as Charles Rainier

1942
The Talk of the Town

as Michael Lightcap

1941
My Life with Caroline

as Anthony Mason

1940
Lucky Partners

as David Grant

1939
The Light That Failed

as Dick Heldar

1938
If I Were King

as François Villon

1937
The Prisoner of Zenda

as Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda

1937
Lost Horizon

as Robert " Bob " Conway

1936
Under Two Flags

as Sgt. Victor

1935
A Tale of Two Cities

as Sydney Carton

1935
Clive of India

as Robert Clive

1934
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond

1933
The Masquerader

as Sir John Chilcote / John Loder

1932
Cynara

as James Warlock

1931
Arrowsmith

as Dr. Martin Arrowsmith

1931
The Unholy Garden

as Barrington Hunt

1930
The Devil to Pay!

as Willie Hale

1930
Raffles

as A.J. Raffles

1929
Condemned!

as Michel

1929
Bulldog Drummond

as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond

1929
The Rescue

as Tom Lingard

1928
Two Lovers

as Mark van Rycke

1927
The Magic Flame

as Tito the Clown / The Count

1927
1926
1926
Beau Geste

as Michael 'Beau' Geste

1926
Kiki

as Victor Renal

1925
Lady Windermere's Fan

as Lord Darlington

1925
Stella Dallas

as Stephen Dallas

1925
The Dark Angel

as Captain Alan Trent

1925
1925
A Thief in Paradise

as Maurice Blake

1925
The Sporting Venus

as Donald MacAllan

1925
His Supreme Moment

as John Douglas

1924
Romola

as Carlo Bucellini

1924
Her Night of Romance

as Paul Menford

1924
Tarnish

as Emmet Carr

1924
Twenty Dollars a Week

as Chester Reeves

1923
The White Sister

as Capt. Giovanni Severi

1920
1919

Writer

1952