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