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.
Filmography · 135
Maverick
1957
Bewitched
1964
Climax!
1954 · Doctor
Thriller
1960 · The Hussar ('A Terribl...
Run for Your Life
1965 · Sir Hillary Cooper
One Step Beyond
1959 · Herbert Blakely
McCloud
1970
Mary Poppins
1964 · Admiral Boom
Adventures in Paradise
1959 · Ambrose Feather
MGM Parade
1955 · Self
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
1971 · Gen. Teagler
The Three Musketeers
1948 · Treville
Mrs. Miniver
1942 · Foley
The Pirate
1948 · The Advocate
That's Entertainment!
1974 · (archive footage) (unc...
A Christmas Carol
1938 · Ebenezer Scrooge
Call of the Wild
1935 · Mr. Smith
Queen Christina
1934 · Charles
National Velvet
1945 · Farmer Ede
Rosalie
1937 · Chancellor
The Secret Garden
1949 · Ben Weatherstaff
Anna Karenina
1935 · Stiva
Moochie of the Little League
1959 · J. Cecil Bennett
A Woman's Face
1941 · Bernard Dalvik
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
1941 · Professor Elliott
Of Human Bondage
1934 · Thorpe Athelny
Madame Curie
1943 · Dr. Becquerel
Random Harvest
1942 · "Biffer"
The Valley of Decision
1945 · McCready
A Tale of Two Cities
1935 · Stryver
The Great Ziegfeld
1936 · Sampston
The Thrill of It All
1963 · Tom Fraleigh
Madame X
1937 · Maurice Dourel
The Diary of a Chambermaid
1946 · Captain Lanlaire
Cluny Brown
1946 · Henry Carmel
The Canterville Ghost
1944 · Lord Canterville
Green Dolphin Street
1947 · Captain O'Hara
Blonde Inspiration
1941 · Reginald Mason
The Good Fairy
1935 · The Waiter
The Girl Downstairs
1938 · Charlie Grump
Above Suspicion
1943 · Dr. Mespelbrunn
Kim
1950 · Father Victor
Somewhere I'll Find You
1942 · Willie Manning
Captain Kidd
1945 · Cary Shadwell
Woman of the Year
1942 · Clayton
The House of Rothschild
1934 · Herries
Stingaree
1934 · The Governor-General
The Real Glory
1939 · Capt. Hartley
Thunder in the Valley
1947 · James Moore
Tammy and the Doctor
1963 · Jason Tripp
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
1960 · Mr. Bennett
Reunion in France
1942 · Schultz, Gestapo agent
They Met in Bombay
1941 · General Allen
Vacation from Love
1938 · John Hodge Lawson
Fast and Loose
1939 · Vincent Charlton
Rose Marie
1936 · Myerson
Three Loves Has Nancy
1938 · William, the Butler
The Bride Wore Red
1937 · Admiral Monti
Grounds for Marriage
1951 · Dely Delacorte
Five Weeks in a Balloon
1962 · Consul
Everybody Sing
1938 · Hillary Bellaire
Florian
1940 · Emperor Franz Josef
Remember?
1939 · Mr. Bronson
Forever and a Day
1943 · Simpson
Madame du Barry
1934 · King Louis XV
Fashions of 1934
1934 · Oscar Baroque
Charley's Aunt
1941 · Mr. Redcliffe
Kitty
1945 · Duke of Malmunster
The Great Diamond Robbery
1954 · Bainbridge Gibbons
She Went to the Races
1945 · Dr. Pembroke
Julia Misbehaves
1948 · Benjy Hawkins
Lady Be Good
1941 · Max Milton
Three Hearts for Julia
1943 · John Girard
Phroso
1922 · Lord Wheatley
Dangerous Number
1937 · William
The Earl of Chicago
1940 · Gervase Gonwell
Monsieur Beaucaire
1946 · King Louis XV
Pierre of the Plains
1942 · Noah Glenkins
The Bishop Misbehaves
1935 · Guy Waller
Yours for the Asking
1936 · Dictionary McKinney
Downstairs
1932 · Baron 'Nicky' von Burg...
The Countess of Monte Cristo
1934 · The Baron
Here Is My Heart
1934 · Vova
Platinum Blonde
1931 · Dexter Grayson
Red Garters
1954 · Judge Wallace Winthrop
Salute to the Marines
1943 · Mr. Henry Casper
Free and Easy
1941 · Sir George Kelvin
Adventure in Manhattan
1936 · Blackton Gregory
Double Harness
1933 · Freeman
Assignment in Brittany
1943 · Col. Trane
If Winter Comes
1947 · Mr. Fortune
Conquest
1937 · Tallyrand
The Sailor Takes a Wife
1945 · Mr. Amboy
Challenge to Lassie
1949 · Sergeant Davie
Robbers' Roost
1932 · Cecil Herrick
The Human Side
1934 · James Dalton
White Cargo
1942 · Skipper of the Congo Q...
Rosie!
1967 · Patrick
Personal Property
1937 · Claude Dabney
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
1985 · Sherlock Holmes (archi...
Cairo
1942 · Philo Cobson
Music in the Air
1934 · Ernst Weber
The Ghost Comes Home
1940 · Hemingway
The Girl on the Front Page
1936 · Archie Biddle
Bad Little Angel
1939 · Edwards, Marvin's Vale...
Voltaire
1933 · King Louis XV
Enchanted April
1935 · Henry Arbuthnot
Love on the Run
1936 · Baron Otto Spandermann
Hills of Home
1948 · Hopps
The Imperfect Lady
1946 · Mr. Hopkins
I Married an Angel
1942 · 'Whiskers'
The Miniver Story
1950 · Mr. Foley
A Study in Scarlet
1933 · Sherlock Holmes
Bridal Suite
1939 · Sir Horace Bragdon
Kidnapped
1938 · Capt. Hoseason
We Were Dancing
1942 · Maj. Tyler-Blane
Where Sinners Meet
1934 · Leonard
The Narrow Corner
1933 · Mr. Frith
Mandalay
1934 · Police Commissioner Co...
The Man Called Back
1932 · Dr. Herbert Atkins
Nana
1934 · Bordenave
A Woman Commands
1932 · The Prime Minister
Voice of the Hurricane
1964
Hotel Imperial
1939 · General Videnko
Paradise for Three
1938 · Johann Kesselhut
The Man in Possession
1931 · Claude Dabney
The Letter
1929 · Robert Crosbie
Petticoat Fever
1936 · Sir James Felton
Trouble for Two
1936 · President of Club
The Big Brain
1933 · Lord Darlington
Sherlock Holmes
1932 · Dr. Watson
Piccadilly Incident
1946 · Judge
Hullabaloo
1940 · 'Buzz' Foster
Lovers Courageous
1932 · Lord Jimmy
Escapade
1935 · Paul