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.
Known For
Credits
- 2001 · Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies as Self (archive footage)
- 1988 · The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind as Self (archive footage)
- 1976 · That's Entertainment, Part II as (archive footage)
- 1961 · Hollywood: The Selznick Years as 'A Tale of Two Cities' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1957 · The Story of Mankind as The Spirit of Man
- 1956 · Around the World in Eighty Days as Railway Official
- 1954 · The Halls of Ivy as
- 1953 · General Electric Theater as Graham
- 1952 · Four Star Playhouse as Caller
- 1952 · Four Star Playhouse as Cameron
- 1952 · Four Star Playhouse as Dr. Bosanquent
- 1952 · Four Star Playhouse as Narrator
- 1950 · The Jack Benny Program as Ronald Colman
- 1950 · Champagne for Caesar as Beauregard Bottomley
- 1949 · The Art Director as Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
- 1947 · A Double Life as Anthony John
- 1947 · The Late George Apley as George Apley
- 1944 · Kismet as Hafiz
- 1942 · Random Harvest as Charles Rainier
- 1942 · The Talk of the Town as Michael Lightcap
- 1941 · My Life with Caroline as Anthony Mason
- 1940 · Lucky Partners as David Grant
- 1939 · The Light That Failed as Dick Heldar
- 1938 · If I Were King as François Villon
- 1937 · The Prisoner of Zenda as Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
- 1937 · Lost Horizon as Robert " Bob " Conway
- 1936 · Under Two Flags as Sgt. Victor
- 1935 · A Tale of Two Cities as Sydney Carton
- 1935 · The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo as Paul Gaillard
- 1935 · Clive of India as Robert Clive
- 1934 · Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
- 1933 · The Masquerader as Sir John Chilcote / John Loder
- 1932 · Cynara as James Warlock
- 1931 · Arrowsmith as Dr. Martin Arrowsmith
- 1931 · The Unholy Garden as Barrington Hunt
- 1930 · Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season as
- 1930 · The Devil to Pay! as Willie Hale
- 1930 · Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1 as
- 1930 · Raffles as A.J. Raffles
- 1929 · Condemned! as Michel
- 1929 · Bulldog Drummond as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
- 1929 · The Rescue as Tom Lingard
- 1928 · Two Lovers as Mark van Rycke
- 1927 · The Magic Flame as Tito the Clown / The Count
- 1927 · The Night of Love as Montero
- 1926 · The Winning of Barbara Worth as Willard Holmes
- 1926 · Beau Geste as Michael 'Beau' Geste
- 1926 · Kiki as Victor Renal
- 1925 · Lady Windermere's Fan as Lord Darlington
- 1925 · Stella Dallas as Stephen Dallas
- 1925 · The Dark Angel as Captain Alan Trent
- 1925 · Her Sister from Paris as Joseph
- 1925 · A Thief in Paradise as Maurice Blake
- 1925 · The Sporting Venus as Donald MacAllan
- 1925 · His Supreme Moment as John Douglas
- 1924 · Romola as Carlo Bucellini
- 1924 · Her Night of Romance as Paul Menford
- 1924 · Tarnish as Emmet Carr
- 1924 · Twenty Dollars a Week as Chester Reeves
- 1923 · The White Sister as Capt. Giovanni Severi
- 1920 · Anna the Adventuress as Brendan
- 1919 · The Toilers as Bob