Reginald Owen

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK, 1887-08-04

Died: 1972-11-05

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1922	Phroso	Lord Wheatley	0
2	1922	The Grass Orphan	Heathcote St. John	0
3	1929	The Letter	Robert Crosbie	57
4	1931	The Man in Possession	Claude Dabney	65
5	1931	Platinum Blonde	Dexter Grayson	67
6	1932	Lovers Courageous	Lord Jimmy	58
7	1932	A Woman Commands	The Prime Minister	80
8	1932	The Man Called Back	Dr. Herbert Atkins	45
9	1932	Downstairs	Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen	69
10	1932	Sherlock Holmes	Dr. Watson	51
11	1932	Robbers' Roost	Cecil Herrick	55
12	1933	A Study in Scarlet	Sherlock Holmes	55
13	1933	The Narrow Corner	Mr. Frith	55
14	1933	Double Harness	Freeman	67
15	1933	The Big Brain	Lord Darlington	0
16	1933	Voltaire	King Louis XV	57
17	1933	Queen Christina	Charles	68
18	1934	Nana	Bordenave	50
19	1934	Mandalay	Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson	59
20	1934	Fashions of 1934	Oscar Baroque	64
21	1934	The Countess of Monte Cristo	The Baron	60
22	1934	The House of Rothschild	Herries	62
23	1934	Where Sinners Meet	Leonard	40
24	1934	Stingaree	The Governor-General	59
25	1934	Of Human Bondage	Thorpe Athelny	65
26	1934	The Human Side	James Dalton	0
27	1934	Madame du Barry	King Louis XV	48
28	1934	Music in the Air	Ernst Weber	48
29	1934	Here Is My Heart	Vova	68
30	1935	Enchanted April	Henry Arbuthnot	54
31	1935	The Good Fairy	The Waiter	70
32	1935	Escapade	Paul	0
33	1935	Call of the Wild	Mr. Smith	63
34	1935	Anna Karenina	Stiva	66
35	1935	The Bishop Misbehaves	Guy Waller	40
36	1935	A Tale of Two Cities	Stryver	68
37	1936	Rose Marie	Myerson	62
38	1936	Petticoat Fever	Sir James Felton	55
39	1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Sampston	63
40	1936	Trouble for Two	President of Club	60
41	1936	Yours for the Asking	Dictionary McKinney	10
42	1936	The Girl on the Front Page	Archie Biddle	0
43	1936	Adventure in Manhattan	Blackton Gregory	58
44	1936	Love on the Run	Baron Otto Spandermann	64
45	1937	Dangerous Number	William	50
46	1937	Personal Property	Claude Dabney	69
47	1937	Madame X	Maurice Dourel	62
48	1937	The Bride Wore Red	Admiral Monti	67
49	1937	Conquest	Tallyrand	65
50	1937	Rosalie	Chancellor	55
51	1938	Everybody Sing	Hillary Bellaire	47
52	1938	Kidnapped	Capt. Hoseason	47
53	1938	Paradise for Three	Johann Kesselhut	68
54	1938	Three Loves Has Nancy	William, the Butler	42
55	1938	Vacation from Love	John Hodge Lawson	0
56	1938	A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore	Scrooge (atchive footage)	0
57	1938	A Christmas Carol	Ebenezer Scrooge	70
58	1938	The Girl Downstairs	Charlie Grump	45
59	1939	Fast and Loose	Vincent Charlton	56
60	1939	Hotel Imperial	General Videnko	60
61	1939	Bridal Suite	Sir Horace Bragdon	51
62	1939	The Real Glory	Capt. Hartley	63
63	1939	Bad Little Angel	Edwards, Marvin's Valet	49
64	1939	Remember?	Mr. Bronson	58
65	1940	The Earl of Chicago	Gervase Gonwell	56
66	1940	The Ghost Comes Home	Hemingway	50
67	1940	Florian	Emperor Franz Josef	10
68	1940	Hullabaloo	'Buzz' Foster	40
69	1941	Blonde Inspiration	Reginald Mason	54
70	1941	Free and Easy	Sir George Kelvin	55
71	1941	A Woman's Face	Bernard Dalvik	69
72	1941	They Met in Bombay	General Allen	73
73	1941	Charley's Aunt	Mr. Redcliffe	58
74	1941	Lady Be Good	Max Milton	54
75	1941	Tarzan's Secret Treasure	Professor Elliott	58
76	1942	Woman of the Year	Clayton	69
77	1942	We Were Dancing	Maj. Tyler-Blane	42
78	1942	Mrs. Miniver	Foley	71
79	1942	I Married an Angel	'Whiskers'	50
80	1942	Pierre of the Plains	Noah Glenkins	42
81	1942	Cairo	Philo Cobson	58
82	1942	Somewhere I'll Find You	Willie Manning	59
83	1942	White Cargo	Skipper of the Congo Queen	58
84	1942	Random Harvest	"Biffer"	73
85	1942	Reunion in France	Schultz	64
86	1943	Forever and a Day	Simpson	74
87	1943	Assignment in Brittany	Col. Trane	66
88	1943	Three Hearts for Julia	John Girard	60
89	1943	Above Suspicion	Dr. Mespelbrunn	65
90	1943	Salute to the Marines	Mr. Henry Casper	68
91	1943	Madame Curie	Dr. Becquerel	71
92	1944	The Canterville Ghost	Lord Canterville	67
93	1945	National Velvet	Farmer Ede	72
94	1945	The Valley of Decision	McCready	73
95	1945	Kitty	Duke of Malmunster	55
96	1945	She Went to the Races	Dr. Pembroke	55
97	1945	Captain Kidd	Cary Shadwell	60
98	1945	The Sailor Takes a Wife	Mr. Amboy	60
99	1946	The Diary of a Chambermaid	Captain Lanlaire	63
100	1946	Cluny Brown	Henry Carmel	71
101	1946	Piccadilly Incident	Judge	62
102	1946	Monsieur Beaucaire	King Louis XV	56
103	1946	The Imperfect Lady	Mr. Hopkins	0
104	1947	Green Dolphin Street	Captain O'Hara	61
105	1947	Thunder in the Valley	James Moore	75
106	1947	If Winter Comes	Mr. Fortune	66
107	1948	The Pirate	The Advocate	64
108	1948	Julia Misbehaves	Benjy Hawkins	65
109	1948	The Three Musketeers	Treville	67
110	1948	Hills of Home	Hopps	67
111	1949	The Secret Garden	Ben Weatherstaff	71
112	1949	Challenge to Lassie	Sergeant Davie	48
113	1950	The Miniver Story	Mr. Foley	60
114	1950	Kim	Father Victor	62
115	1951	Grounds for Marriage	Dely Delacorte	43
116	1954	The Great Diamond Robbery	Bainbridge Gibbons	0
117	1954	Red Garters	Judge Wallace Winthrop	50
118	1959	Moochie of the Little League	J. Cecil Bennett	60
119	1960	Moochie of Pop Warner Football	Mr. Bennett	65
120	1962	Five Weeks in a Balloon	Consul	54
121	1963	Tammy and the Doctor	Jason Tripp	52
122	1963	The Thrill of It All	Old Tom Fraleigh	70
123	1964	Voice of the Hurricane		0
124	1964	Mary Poppins	Admiral Boom	76
125	1967	Rosie!	Patrick	0
126	1971	Bedknobs and Broomsticks	Gen. Teagler	70
127	1974	That's Entertainment!	(archive footage) (uncredited)	73
128	1985	The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes	Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)	70

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1954	Climax!	Doctor	33
2	1957	Maverick		68
3	1957	Maverick	Marquis Norbert Belcastle	68
4	1959	One Step Beyond	Herbert Blakely	56
5	1959	Adventures in Paradise	Ambrose Feather	57
6	1960	Thriller	The Hussar ('A Terribly Strange Bed')	64
7	1964	Bewitched		79
8	1965	Run for Your Life	Sir Hillary Cooper	72
9	1970	McCloud		71

Reginald Owen

Film

Television