Ronald Colman

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Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor who began his career in theatre and silent film in his home country before emigrating to the United States and establishing a fruitful Hollywood film career.

He was most popular during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

He was nominated for Bulldog Drummond (1929), Condemned (1929), and Random Harvest (1942).

Colman appeared in numerous classic films, including A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Lost Horizon (1937) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).

He appeared in the Technicolor masterpiece Kismet (1944), which was also nominated for four Academy Awards, as well as Marlene Dietrich.

For the film A Double Life, he received the Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Colman was one of the first recipients of a Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in motion pictures.

He was named a second star for his television work.

Early years

Ronald Charles Colman was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, as the third son (his eldest brother died in infancy in 1892) and the fifth child of Charles Colman, a silk merchant, and his mother, Marjory Read Fraser. Gladys, Edith, Eric, and Freda were among his surviving siblings. Despite his shyness, he was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he discovered that acting was a passion. He intended to study engineering at Cambridge, but his father's unexpected death from pneumonia in 1907 made it financially impossible.

He became a well-known amateur actor, and he served as a member of the West Middlesex Dramatic Society from 1908 to 2009. In 1914, he made his first appearance on the professional stage.

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Career

Colman recovered sufficiently from wartime injuries to appear in The Maharani of Arakan on June 19th, as Stephen Weatherbee in the Charles Goddard/Paul Dickey play The Misleading Lady; and as Webber in Partnership in March 1917. He appeared in Damaged Goods by Eugène Brieux the following year. He appeared in The Little Brother at the Ambassadors Theatre in February 1918. In 1918, David Goldsmith appeared in The Bubble, a British monarchy.

Colman traveled to America and toured with Robert Warwick in The Dauntless Three, then touring with Fay Bainter in East Is West in 1920. In 1920, he married Thelma Raye, his first wife; they divorced in 1934. He appeared in William Archer's play The Temple Priest at the Booth Theatre in New York City in January 1921. In August 1921, George Arliss appeared as Charles in The Nightcap, with George Arliss in the 39th Street Theatre. In September 1922, he had great success as Alain Sergyll at La Tendresse, which was to be his last stage appearance.

Colman appeared in films in the United Kingdom in 1917 and 1919, and he later appeared in Snow in the Desert for the old Broadwest Film Company. Director Henry King observed him and engaged him as the leading man in the 1923 film The White Sister, opposite Lillian Gish, as he appeared on stage in New York City. He was a huge hit on the first go around. Colman practically ended the scene for film after that. He made a name for himself in both romantic and adventure films, including The Dark Angel (1925), Stella Dallas (1926), and Barbara Worth (1926). Reviewers like him as a "Valentino type" because of his dark hair and eyes as well as his athletic and riding skills (he did most of his own stunts until late in his career). He was often seen in similar, exotic roles. Colman and Hungarian actress Vilma Bánky were teamed under Samuel Goldwyn under Samuel Goldwyn at the end of the silent period; the two became a popular film team rivalry Greta Garbo and John Gilbert.

Despite being a huge success in silent films, he was unable to capitalize on one of his key assets until the advent of the talking picture – "his dramatically manipulated and cultured voice" was also described as "a bewitching, finely tuned, resonant voice." Colman was often thought of as a virulent English gentleman whose voice embodied chivalry and resembled that of a "stereotypical English gentleman." Colman's appeal was dismissed by English film critic David Shipman, who said Colman was "the dream lover" - calm, dignified, trustworthy. Despite being a young figure in adventure stories, his fame – which was sincere – came from his respect; he was an aristocratic figure without being aloof;

Condemned and Bulldog Drummond was his first major talkie success in 1930, when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for two roles. He appeared in a number of notable films including Raffles in 1930, The Masquerader in 1936, Clive of India, and A Tale of Two Cities in 1935, If I Were King in 1938, and Random Harvest and The Talk of the Town in 1942. In 1948, he received the Best Actor Award for A Double Life. He appeared in a screwball comedy next year, 1950's Champagne for Caesar.

Colman was contracted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the lead role in Village of the Damned at the time of his death. Following Colman's death, the film became a British production starring George Sanders, who married Colman's widow, Benita Hume.

Colman has been mentioned in several books, but he is particularly mentioned in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man because of his charming, well-known voice. The main character of this book admits that he wishes he had a voice like Colman's because it is charming, and compares the appearance of a gentleman or a man from Esquire magazine. Colman was indeed well-known for his voice. Colman had a "resonant, mellifluous speaking voice with a distinct, appealing timbre," according to Encyclopdia Britannica. Colman had a vivacious demeanor that made him a leading actor of sound films, as well as his charming voice.

Colman and others from Hollywood pioneers joined forces with others to launch international broadcasts by CBS radio network over La Cadena de las Americas (The Network of the Americas), under the direction of Nelson Rockefeller's Office. During World War II, he played a significant part in the success of President Franklin Roosevelt's cultural diplomacy campaigns across South America.

On D-Day, 64 years ago, Colman's vocal contributions to National Broadcasting Company programming. Colman read "Poem and Prayer for an Invading Army," written by Edna St. Vincent Millay for exclusive radio use by NBC on the day.

Colman appeared on radio in 1945, as his second wife, stage and screen actress Benita Hume, who married in 1938. Benny's constant frustration with their neighbors resulted in their own radio comedy The Halls of Ivy, produced by Fibber McGee & Molly mastermind Don Quinn, in which the Colmans played the literate, charming president of a middle American college and his former-actress wife. The episode of "The Goya Bequest," a tale examining the bequest of a Goya painting that had been accused of being a scam by its late owner, was surprised by listeners who took the evening's credits at the show's conclusion, but Colman, who ridiculed his achievement.

From 1950 to 1952, the Halls of Ivy appeared on NBC radio, later moving to CBS television for the 1954-55 season.

Colman appeared on syndicated anthology and occasionally in The Favorite Story (1946–49). In a 1948 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, his narrator and portrayal of Scrooge was of note.

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