John Boles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Boles (October 28, 1895 – February 27, 1969) was an American singer and actor best known for playing Victor Moritz in the 1931 film Frankenstein. He started out in Hollywood in silent movies, but became a huge star with the advent of talkies. After the war, Boles moved to New York to study music. He quickly became well known for his talents and was selected to replace the leading man in the 1923 Broadway musical Little Jesse James. He became an established star on Broadway and attracted the attention of Hollywood producers and actors. Boles' Broadway credits include One Touch of Venus (1943), Kitty's Kisses (1925), Mercenary Mary (1924), and Little Jessie James (1923). He was hired by MGM to appear in a silent film in 1924. He starred in two more films for that studio before returning to New York and the stage. In 1927, he returned to Hollywood to star in The Love of Sunya (1927) opposite Gloria Swanson, which was a big success for him. Unfortunately, because the movies were still silent he was unable to show off his singing ability until late in the decade. In 1929, Warner Brothers hired him to star in their lavish musical operetta The Desert Song (1929). This film featured sequences in Technicolor and was a box-office success. Soon after, Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) selected him to play the leading man in their extravagant production (the last portion of the film was photographed in Technicolor) of Rio Rita, opposite Bebe Daniels. Audiences were enthralled by his beautiful voice, and John Boles suddenly found himself in huge demand. RCA Victor even hired him to make phonograph records of songs that he had sung in his films. As soon as Rio Rita was completed, Boles went back to Warner Brothers as the leading man in an even more extravagant musical entitled Song of the West (1930) that was filmed entirely in Technicolor. Shortly after this film, Universal Pictures offered John Boles a contract, which he accepted. He starred in a number of pictures for them, most notably the all-Technicolor musical revue entitled The King of Jazz (1930) and a historical operetta entitled Captain of the Guard (1930). In 1931, he starred in One Heavenly Night (1931), which would prove to be his last major musical. Boles portrayed Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931). He starred with Irene Dunne in a 1934 film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence directed for RKO Radio Pictures by Philip Moeller, and took the role of Edward Morgan in Curly Top (1935), starring Shirley Temple In 1937, Boles starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the King Vidor classic Stella Dallas. In 1943, he co-starred with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker in One Touch of Venus. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Boles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Credits
- 1952 · Babes in Bagdad as Hassan
- 1943 · Thousands Cheer as Colonel Bill Jones
- 1942 · Between Us Girls as Steven J. Forbes
- 1941 · Road to Happiness as Jeff Carter
- 1938 · Sinners in Paradise as Jim Taylor
- 1938 · Romance in the Dark as Antal Kovach
- 1937 · She Married an Artist as Lee Thornwood
- 1937 · Fight for Your Lady as Robert Densmore
- 1937 · Stella Dallas as Stephen Dallas
- 1937 · As Good as Married as Alexander Drew
- 1936 · Craig's Wife as Walter Craig
- 1936 · Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1) as Self
- 1936 · A Message to Garcia as Lt. Andrew Rowan
- 1936 · Rose of the Rancho as Jim Kearney
- 1935 · The Littlest Rebel as Capt. Herbert Cary
- 1935 · Starlit Days at the Lido as Self
- 1935 · Redheads on Parade as John Bruce
- 1935 · Orchids to You as Thomas Bentley
- 1935 · Curly Top as Edward Morgan
- 1934 · Music in the Air as Bruno Mahler
- 1934 · The White Parade as Ronald Hall III
- 1934 · The Age of Innocence as Newland Archer
- 1934 · The Life of Vergie Winters as John Shadwell
- 1934 · Wild Gold as Steve Miller
- 1934 · Stand Up and Cheer! as John Boles
- 1934 · Hollywood on Parade No. B-9 as Self
- 1934 · Bottoms Up as Hal Reed
- 1934 · I Believed in You as Michael Harrison
- 1934 · Beloved as Carl Hausmann
- 1933 · My Lips Betray as King Rupert aka Captain von Linden
- 1933 · Only Yesterday as James Stanton "Jim" Emerson
- 1933 · Child of Manhattan as Paul Vanderkill
- 1932 · 6 Hours to Live as Karl Kranz
- 1932 · Back Street as Walter D. Saxel
- 1932 · Careless Lady as Stephen Illington
- 1931 · Good Sport as Boyce Cameron
- 1931 · Frankenstein as Victor Moritz
- 1931 · Seed as Bart Carter
- 1931 · Resurrection as Prince Dmitri Nekhludoff
- 1930 · One Heavenly Night as Count Mirko Tibor
- 1930 · King of Jazz as Vocalist ('Song of the Dawn' / 'It Happened in Monterey')
- 1930 · Captain of the Guard as Rouget de L'isle
- 1930 · Song of the West as Captain Stanton
- 1929 · Rio Rita as Capt. Jim Stewart
- 1929 · Scandal as Maurice
- 1929 · The Desert Song as The Red Shadow
- 1928 · The Last Warning as Richard Quayle
- 1928 · Romance of the Underworld as Stephen Ransome
- 1928 · Man-Made Women as John Payson
- 1928 · The Water Hole as Bert Durland
- 1928 · Virgin Lips as Barry Blake
- 1928 · Fazil as John Clavering
- 1928 · We Americans as Hugh Bradleigh
- 1928 · The Shepherd of the Hills as Young Matt
- 1927 · The Love of Sunya as Paul Judson
- 1925 · Excuse Me as Lt. Shaw
- 1924 · So This Is Marriage? as Uriah
- 1924 · The Sixth Commandment as John Brant