Ronald Colman
Acting • Born 1891-02-08 – Died 1958-05-19
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.
Filmography
62 credits
Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
Movie • 1930
Lost Horizon
Movie • 1937
Robert " Bob " Conway
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie • 1956
Railway Official
The Talk of the Town
Movie • 1942
Michael Lightcap
Random Harvest
Movie • 1942
Charles Rainier
Champagne for Caesar
Movie • 1950
Beauregard Bottomley
A Double Life
Movie • 1947
Anthony John
The Story of Mankind
Movie • 1957
The Spirit of Man
Kismet
Movie • 1944
Hafiz
The Prisoner of Zenda
Movie • 1937
Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie • 1935
Sydney Carton
My Life with Caroline
Movie • 1941
Anthony Mason
Bulldog Drummond
Movie • 1929
Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
The White Sister
Movie • 1923
Capt. Giovanni Severi
Romola
Movie • 1924
Carlo Bucellini
Arrowsmith
Movie • 1931
Dr. Martin Arrowsmith
Under Two Flags
Movie • 1936
Sgt. Victor
The Unholy Garden
Movie • 1931
Barrington Hunt
The Winning of Barbara Worth
Movie • 1926
Willard Holmes
The Devil to Pay!
Movie • 1930
Willie Hale
Clive of India
Movie • 1935
Robert Clive
Lady Windermere's Fan
Movie • 1925
Lord Darlington
Condemned!
Movie • 1929
Michel
Raffles
Movie • 1930
A.J. Raffles
Stella Dallas
Movie • 1925
Stephen Dallas
If I Were King
Movie • 1938
François Villon
Lucky Partners
Movie • 1940
David Grant
The Late George Apley
Movie • 1947
George Apley
Cynara
Movie • 1932
James Warlock
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Movie • 1934
Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
Movie • 1935
Paul Gaillard
The Magic Flame
Movie • 1927
Tito the Clown / The Count
Her Sister from Paris
Movie • 1925
Joseph
Her Night of Romance
Movie • 1924
Paul Menford
Beau Geste
Movie • 1926
Michael 'Beau' Geste
The Light That Failed
Movie • 1939
Dick Heldar
The Masquerader
Movie • 1933
Sir John Chilcote / John Loder
The Rescue
Movie • 1929
Tom Lingard
Two Lovers
Movie • 1928
Mark van Rycke
Kiki
Movie • 1926
Victor Renal
A Thief in Paradise
Movie • 1925
Maurice Blake
The Night of Love
Movie • 1927
Montero
Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1
Movie • 1930
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Movie • 2001
Self (archive footage)
Anna the Adventuress
Movie • 1920
Brendan
The Sporting Venus
Movie • 1925
Donald MacAllan
The Dark Angel
Movie • 1925
Captain Alan Trent
His Supreme Moment
Movie • 1925
John Douglas
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie • 1976
(archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Movie • 1988
Self (archive footage)
The Art Director
Movie • 1949
Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Twenty Dollars a Week
Movie • 1924
Chester Reeves
Tarnish
Movie • 1924
Emmet Carr
The Toilers
Movie • 1919
Bob
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Graham
The Halls of Ivy
TV • 1954
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Caller
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Cameron
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Dr. Bosanquent
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Narrator
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
The Jack Benny Program
TV • 1950
Ronald Colman