Ronald Colman
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.
Fotos
Películas (56)
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
2001 · Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988 · Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · (archive footage)
The Story of Mankind
1957 · The Spirit of Man
Around the World in 80 Days
1956 · Railway Official
Champagne for Caesar
1950 · Beauregard Bottomley
The Art Director
1949 · Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Double Life
1947 · Anthony John
The Late George Apley
1947 · George Apley
Kismet
1944 · Hafiz
Random Harvest
1942 · Charles Rainier
The Talk of the Town
1942 · Michael Lightcap
My Life with Caroline
1941 · Anthony Mason
Lucky Partners
1940 · David Grant
The Light That Failed
1939 · Dick Heldar
If I Were King
1938 · François Villon
The Prisoner of Zenda
1937 · Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
Lost Horizon
1937 · Robert " Bob " Conway
Under Two Flags
1936 · Sgt. Victor
A Tale of Two Cities
1935 · Sydney Carton
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
1935 · Paul Gaillard
Clive of India
1935 · Robert Clive
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1934 · Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
The Masquerader
1933 · Sir John Chilcote / John Loder
Cynara
1932 · James Warlock
Arrowsmith
1931 · Dr. Martin Arrowsmith
The Unholy Garden
1931 · Barrington Hunt
Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
1930
The Devil to Pay!
1930 · Willie Hale
Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1
1930
Raffles
1930 · A.J. Raffles
Condemned!
1929 · Michel
Bulldog Drummond
1929 · Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
The Rescue
1929 · Tom Lingard
Two Lovers
1928 · Mark van Rycke
The Magic Flame
1927 · Tito the Clown / The Count
The Night of Love
1927 · Montero
The Winning of Barbara Worth
1926 · Willard Holmes
Beau Geste
1926 · Michael 'Beau' Geste
Kiki
1926 · Victor Renal
Lady Windermere's Fan
1925 · Lord Darlington
Stella Dallas
1925 · Stephen Dallas
The Dark Angel
1925 · Captain Alan Trent
Her Sister from Paris
1925 · Joseph
A Thief in Paradise
1925 · Maurice Blake
The Sporting Venus
1925 · Donald MacAllan
His Supreme Moment
1925 · John Douglas
Romola
1924 · Carlo Bucellini
Her Night of Romance
1924 · Paul Menford
Tarnish
1924 · Emmet Carr
Twenty Dollars a Week
1924 · Chester Reeves
The White Sister
1923 · Capt. Giovanni Severi
Handcuffs or Kisses
1921 · Lodyard
The Black Spider
1920 · Vicomte de Beaurais
Anna the Adventuress
1920 · Brendan
The Toilers
1919 · Bob
