Reginald Owen
Acting • Born 1887-08-04 – Died 1972-11-05
Biography
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
139 credits
Mary Poppins
Movie • 1964
Admiral Boom
Woman of the Year
Movie • 1942
Clayton
Conquest
Movie • 1937
Tallyrand
The Thrill of It All
Movie • 1963
Tom Fraleigh
Random Harvest
Movie • 1942
"Biffer"
Queen Christina
Movie • 1934
Charles
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Movie • 1971
Gen. Teagler
Platinum Blonde
Movie • 1931
Dexter Grayson
A Christmas Carol
Movie • 1938
Ebenezer Scrooge
Above Suspicion
Movie • 1943
Dr. Mespelbrunn
Voice of the Hurricane
Movie • 1964
A Woman's Face
Movie • 1941
Bernard Dalvik
Mrs. Miniver
Movie • 1942
Foley
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Movie • 1941
Professor Elliott
Reunion in France
Movie • 1942
Schultz, Gestapo agent
The Pirate
Movie • 1948
The Advocate
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Movie • 1962
Consul
The Great Ziegfeld
Movie • 1936
Sampston
Rosalie
Movie • 1937
Chancellor
Everybody Sing
Movie • 1938
Hillary Bellaire
Challenge to Lassie
Movie • 1949
Sergeant Davie
Cairo
Movie • 1942
Philo Cobson
The Secret Garden
Movie • 1949
Ben Weatherstaff
Madame Curie
Movie • 1943
Dr. Becquerel
The Valley of Decision
Movie • 1945
McCready
Madame X
Movie • 1937
Maurice Dourel
Personal Property
Movie • 1937
Claude Dabney
Love on the Run
Movie • 1936
Baron Otto Spandermann
Rose Marie
Movie • 1936
Myerson
Of Human Bondage
Movie • 1934
Thorpe Athelny
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Movie • 1946
Captain Lanlaire
A Study in Scarlet
Movie • 1933
Sherlock Holmes
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie • 1935
Stryver
Somewhere I'll Find You
Movie • 1942
Willie Manning
The Good Fairy
Movie • 1935
The Waiter
Tammy and the Doctor
Movie • 1963
Jason Tripp
Three Loves Has Nancy
Movie • 1938
William, the Butler
The Canterville Ghost
Movie • 1944
Lord Canterville
Julia Misbehaves
Movie • 1948
Benjy Hawkins
Anna Karenina
Movie • 1935
Stiva
Cluny Brown
Movie • 1946
Henry Carmel
Fashions of 1934
Movie • 1934
Oscar Baroque
Bad Little Angel
Movie • 1939
Edwards, Marvin's Valet
Music in the Air
Movie • 1934
Ernst Weber
They Met in Bombay
Movie • 1941
General Allen
The Man in Possession
Movie • 1931
Claude Dabney
Salute to the Marines
Movie • 1943
Mr. Henry Casper
White Cargo
Movie • 1942
Skipper of the Congo Queen
Kitty
Movie • 1945
Duke of Malmunster
Kidnapped
Movie • 1938
Capt. Hoseason
Green Dolphin Street
Movie • 1947
Captain O'Hara
The Ghost Comes Home
Movie • 1940
Hemingway
The Bride Wore Red
Movie • 1937
Admiral Monti
The Real Glory
Movie • 1939
Capt. Hartley
Nana
Movie • 1934
Bordenave
Petticoat Fever
Movie • 1936
Sir James Felton
The Earl of Chicago
Movie • 1940
Gervase Gonwell
Downstairs
Movie • 1932
Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
If Winter Comes
Movie • 1947
Mr. Fortune
The Letter
Movie • 1929
Robert Crosbie
Call of the Wild
Movie • 1935
Mr. Smith
The Great Diamond Robbery
Movie • 1954
Bainbridge Gibbons
Sherlock Holmes
Movie • 1932
Dr. Watson
Escapade
Movie • 1935
Paul
Here Is My Heart
Movie • 1934
Vova
Stingaree
Movie • 1934
The Governor-General
Lovers Courageous
Movie • 1932
Lord Jimmy
Blonde Inspiration
Movie • 1941
Reginald Mason
Trouble for Two
Movie • 1936
President of Club
Enchanted April
Movie • 1935
Henry Arbuthnot
Double Harness
Movie • 1933
Freeman
Voltaire
Movie • 1933
King Louis XV
The Girl Downstairs
Movie • 1938
Charlie Grump
Fast and Loose
Movie • 1939
Vincent Charlton
The Imperfect Lady
Movie • 1946
Mr. Hopkins
We Were Dancing
Movie • 1942
Maj. Tyler-Blane
Rosie!
Movie • 1967
Patrick
Remember?
Movie • 1939
Mr. Bronson
Florian
Movie • 1940
Emperor Franz Josef
Assignment in Brittany
Movie • 1943
Col. Trane
Piccadilly Incident
Movie • 1946
Judge
Paradise for Three
Movie • 1938
Johann Kesselhut
The House of Rothschild
Movie • 1934
Herries
Hotel Imperial
Movie • 1939
General Videnko
The Narrow Corner
Movie • 1933
Mr. Frith
Madame du Barry
Movie • 1934
King Louis XV
The Miniver Story
Movie • 1950
Mr. Foley
She Went to the Races
Movie • 1945
Dr. Pembroke
Mandalay
Movie • 1934
Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson
Thunder in the Valley
Movie • 1947
James Moore
Vacation from Love
Movie • 1938
John Hodge Lawson
Bridal Suite
Movie • 1939
Sir Horace Bragdon
The Three Musketeers
Movie • 1948
Treville
The Sailor Takes a Wife
Movie • 1945
Mr. Amboy
Grounds for Marriage
Movie • 1951
Dely Delacorte
Three Hearts for Julia
Movie • 1943
John Girard
Hills of Home
Movie • 1948
Hopps
Monsieur Beaucaire
Movie • 1946
King Louis XV
A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore
Movie • 1938
Scrooge (atchive footage)
Yours for the Asking
Movie • 1936
Dictionary McKinney
Dangerous Number
Movie • 1937
William
That's Entertainment!
Movie • 1974
(archive footage) (uncredited)
I Married an Angel
Movie • 1942
'Whiskers'
The Big Brain
Movie • 1933
Lord Darlington
Charley's Aunt
Movie • 1941
Mr. Redcliffe
Adventure in Manhattan
Movie • 1936
Blackton Gregory
The Man Called Back
Movie • 1932
Dr. Herbert Atkins
Kim
Movie • 1950
Father Victor
National Velvet
Movie • 1945
Farmer Ede
Where Sinners Meet
Movie • 1934
Leonard
Lady Be Good
Movie • 1941
Max Milton
Pierre of the Plains
Movie • 1942
Noah Glenkins
Free and Easy
Movie • 1941
Sir George Kelvin
A Woman Commands
Movie • 1932
The Prime Minister
The Bishop Misbehaves
Movie • 1935
Guy Waller
Red Garters
Movie • 1954
Judge Wallace Winthrop
Hullabaloo
Movie • 1940
'Buzz' Foster
Forever and a Day
Movie • 1943
Simpson
The Girl on the Front Page
Movie • 1936
Archie Biddle
The Countess of Monte Cristo
Movie • 1934
The Baron
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
Movie • 1985
Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
Robbers' Roost
Movie • 1932
Cecil Herrick
Captain Kidd
Movie • 1945
Cary Shadwell
Phroso
Movie • 1922
Lord Wheatley
The Human Side
Movie • 1934
James Dalton
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
Movie • 1960
Mr. Bennett
Moochie of the Little League
Movie • 1959
J. Cecil Bennett
The Grass Orphan
Movie • 1922
Heathcote St. John
Bewitched
TV • 1964
Run for Your Life
TV • 1965
Sir Hillary Cooper
Thriller
TV • 1960
The Hussar ('A Terribly Strange Bed')
McCloud
TV • 1970
One Step Beyond
TV • 1959
Herbert Blakely
Climax!
TV • 1954
Doctor
Adventures in Paradise
TV • 1959
Ambrose Feather
Maverick
TV • 1957
Maverick
TV • 1957
Marquis Norbert Belcastle
Maverick
TV • 1957
Freddie Hawkins
MGM Parade
TV • 1955
Self