Roland Young

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roland Young (11 November 1887 – 5 June 1953) was an English actor. Young made his first stage appearance in London's West End in Find the Woman in 1908, and in 1912 he made his Broadway debut in Hindle Wakes. He appeared in two comedies written for him by Clare Kummer, Good Gracious Annabelle! (1916) and A Successful Calamity (1917) before he served with the United States Army during World War I. He returned to New York when the war ended, and married Kummer's daughter, Frances. For the next few years he alternated between New York and London. He made his film debut in the 1922 silent film Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Watson opposite John Barrymore as Holmes. He signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his talkie debut in The Unholy Night (1929), directed by Lionel Barrymore. He was loaned to Warner Bros. to appear in Her Private Life, with Billie Dove and Fox Film Corporation, winning critical approval for his comedic performance as Jeanette MacDonald's husband in Don't Bet on a Woman. He was again paired with MacDonald in the film version of Good Gracious Annabelle!, titled Annabelle's Affairs. He appeared in Cecil B. de Mille's The Squaw Man, and played opposite Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Guardsman (both 1931). He appeared with Evelyn Brent in Columbia's The Pagan Lady (1932) and Pola Negri in RKO's A Woman Commands (1932). His final film under his MGM contract was Lovers Courageous (1932), opposite Robert Montgomery. In 1933 he had a starring role in the risqué comedy for Fox Film called Pleasure Cruise along side Genevieve Tobin. Young began to work as a freelance performer and found himself in constant demand. He appeared with Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You (1932) and with Kay Francis in Street of Women (1932). Alexander Korda invited him to return to Britain to make his British film debut in Wedding Rehearsal (1932). He returned to Hollywood and appeared in a diverse group of films that included comedies, murder mysteries, and dramas, and also worked on Broadway. Among his films of this period were Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), David Copperfield (1935) (playing Uriah Heep), and the H.G. Wells fantasy The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936). In 1937, he achieved one of the most important successes of his career in Topper, as a bank president haunted by the ghosts of his clients, played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. It was one of the most successful films of the year, and Young was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Topper's wife was played by Billie Burke, who wrote in her memoir that Young "was dry and always fun to work with". They also appeared together in The Young in Heart (1938), and both of the Topper sequels, Topper Takes a Trip (1938) and Topper Returns (1941). He continued working steadily through the 1940s, playing small roles opposite some of Hollywood's leading actresses, such as Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard and Greta Garbo in her final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). In the 1950s, Young appeared on several episodic television series, including Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre.

Known For: Acting

Born: London, England, UK, 1887-11-10

Died: 1953-06-05

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1922	Sherlock Holmes	Dr. Watson	61
2	1924	Grit	Houdini Hart	0
3	1926	Camille: The Fate of a Coquette	Lord Kyne	40
4	1929	Her Private Life	Charteris	10
5	1929	The Unholy Night	Lord Montague	53
6	1929	Wise Girls	Duke Merrill	47
7	1929	The Bishop Murder Case	Sigurd 'Erik' Arnesson	52
8	1930	Madam Satan	Jimmy Wade	58
9	1930	New Moon	Count Strogoff	43
10	1931	Don't Bet on Women	Herbert Drake	42
11	1931	The Prodigal	Doc	33
12	1931	Annabelle's Affairs	Roland Wimbleton	0
13	1931	The Squaw Man	Sir John Applegate	54
14	1931	The Pagan Lady	Dr. Heath	25
15	1931	The Guardsman	The Critic	54
16	1932	Lovers Courageous	Jeffrey	58
17	1932	A Woman Commands	King Alexander	80
18	1932	One Hour with You	Professor Olivier	65
19	1932	This Is the Night	Gerald Gray	56
20	1932	Street of Women	Linkhorne 'Link' Gibson	48
21	1932	Wedding Rehearsal	Reggie Buckley Candysshe - Marquis of Buckminster	46
22	1932	Hollywood on Parade No. A-5	Self	0
23	1933	They Just Had to Get Married	Hillary Hume	0
24	1933	A Lady's Profession	Lord Reginald Withers	0
25	1933	Pleasure Cruise	Andrew Poole	57
26	1933	Blind Adventure	Holmes	55
27	1933	His Double Life	Priam Farrel	61
28	1934	Here Is My Heart	Nicki	68
29	1935	David Copperfield	Uriah Heep	67
30	1935	Ruggles of Red Gap	Earl of Burnstead	71
31	1936	The Unguarded Hour	William "Bunny" Jeffers	62
32	1936	One Rainy Afternoon	Maillot	48
33	1936	The Man Who Could Work Miracles	George McWhirter Fotheringay	57
34	1936	Give Me Your Heart	Edward 'Tubbs' Barrow	60
35	1936	Gypsy	Alan Brooks	0
36	1937	Call It a Day	Frank Haines	50
37	1937	King Solomon's Mines	Cmdr. John Good	53
38	1937	Topper	Cosmo Topper	67
39	1937	Ali Baba Goes to Town	Sultan	59
40	1938	Sailing Along	Anthony Gulliver	70
41	1938	The Young in Heart	Col. Anthony 'Sahib' Carleton	64
42	1938	Topper Takes a Trip	Cosmo Topper	64
43	1939	Yes, My Darling Daughter	Titus Jaywood	40
44	1939	Here I Am a Stranger	Professor Daniels	70
45	1939	The Night of Nights	Barry Keith-Trimble	0
46	1940	He Married His Wife	Bill Carter	51
47	1940	Star Dust	Thomas Brooke	47
48	1940	Irene	Mr. Smith	60
49	1940	Private Affairs	Amos Bullerton	0
50	1940	Dulcy	Roger Forbes	58
51	1940	The Philadelphia Story	Uncle Willie	76
52	1940	No, No, Nanette	Mr. 'Happy' Jimmy Smith	60
53	1941	Topper Returns	Cosmo Topper	64
54	1941	The Flame of New Orleans	Charles Giraud	63
55	1941	Two-Faced Woman	Oscar 'O.O.' Miller	64
56	1942	The Lady Has Plans	Ronald Dean	52
57	1942	They All Kissed the Bride	Marsh	58
58	1942	Tales of Manhattan	Edgar - Wilson's butler	63
59	1943	Forever and a Day	Henry Barringer	74
60	1944	Standing Room Only	Ira Cromwell	50
61	1945	And Then There Were None	William Blore	71
62	1948	Bond Street	George Chester-Barrett	68
63	1948	You Gotta Stay Happy	Ralph Tutwiler	65
64	1949	The Great Lover	C.J. Dabney	68
65	1950	Let's Dance	Edmund Pohlwhistle	55
66	1951	St. Benny the Dip	Matthew	50
67	1953	That Man from Tangier	George	10
68	1994	That's Entertainment! III	(archive footage)	70

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	The Ed Sullivan Show	Self	68
2	1948	Studio One	Harold. Mummery	50
3	1950	What's My Line?	Self	69
4	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Sumner	63

Roland Young

Film

Television