
Roland Young
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1887-11-10
Day of Death
1953-06-05 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
London, England, UK
Roland Young
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roland Young (11 November 1887 – 5 June 1953) was an English actor.
Young made his first stage appearance in London's West End in Find the Woman in 1908, and in 1912 he made his Broadway debut in Hindle Wakes. He appeared in two comedies written for him by Clare Kummer, Good Gracious Annabelle! (1916) and A Successful Calamity (1917) before he served with the United States Army during World War I. He returned to New York when the war ended, and married Kummer's daughter, Frances. For the next few years he alternated between New York and London. He made his film debut in the 1922 silent film Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Watson opposite John Barrymore as Holmes.
He signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his talkie debut in The Unholy Night (1929), directed by Lionel Barrymore. He was loaned to Warner Bros. to appear in Her Private Life, with Billie Dove and Fox Film Corporation, winning critical approval for his comedic performance as Jeanette MacDonald's husband in Don't Bet on a Woman. He was again paired with MacDonald in the film version of Good Gracious Annabelle!, titled Annabelle's Affairs. He appeared in Cecil B. de Mille's The Squaw Man, and played opposite Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Guardsman (both 1931). He appeared with Evelyn Brent in Columbia's The Pagan Lady (1932) and Pola Negri in RKO's A Woman Commands (1932). His final film under his MGM contract was Lovers Courageous (1932), opposite Robert Montgomery. In 1933 he had a starring role in the risqué comedy for Fox Film called Pleasure Cruise along side Genevieve Tobin.
Young began to work as a freelance performer and found himself in constant demand. He appeared with Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You (1932) and with Kay Francis in Street of Women (1932). Alexander Korda invited him to return to Britain to make his British film debut in Wedding Rehearsal (1932). He returned to Hollywood and appeared in a diverse group of films that included comedies, murder mysteries, and dramas, and also worked on Broadway. Among his films of this period were Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), David Copperfield (1935) (playing Uriah Heep), and the H.G. Wells fantasy The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936).
In 1937, he achieved one of the most important successes of his career in Topper, as a bank president haunted by the ghosts of his clients, played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. It was one of the most successful films of the year, and Young was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Topper's wife was played by Billie Burke, who wrote in her memoir that Young "was dry and always fun to work with". They also appeared together in The Young in Heart (1938), and both of the Topper sequels, Topper Takes a Trip (1938) and Topper Returns (1941).
He continued working steadily through the 1940s, playing small roles opposite some of Hollywood's leading actresses, such as Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard and Greta Garbo in her final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). In the 1950s, Young appeared on several episodic television series, including Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre.
Known For
Acting
(1994)
That's Entertainment! III
as (archive footage)
(1953)
That Man from Tangier
as George
(1951)
St. Benny the Dip
as Matthew
(1950)
Let's Dance
as Edmund Pohlwhistle
(1949)
The Great Lover
as C.J. Dabney
(1948)
Bond Street
as George Chester-Barrett
(1948)
You Gotta Stay Happy
as Ralph Tutwiler
(1945)
And Then There Were None
as William Blore
(1944)
Standing Room Only
as Ira Cromwell
(1943)
Forever and a Day
as Henry Barringer
(1942)
Tales of Manhattan
as Edgar - Wilson's butler
(1942)
The Lady Has Plans
as Ronald Dean
(1942)
They All Kissed the Bride
as Marsh
(1941)
Topper Returns
as Cosmo Topper
(1941)
Two-Faced Woman
as Oscar 'O.O.' Miller
(1941)
The Flame of New Orleans
as Charles Giraud
(1940)
The Philadelphia Story
as Uncle Willie
(1940)
No, No, Nanette
as Mr. 'Happy' Jimmy Smith
(1940)
Irene
as Mr. Smith
(1940)
Private Affairs
as Amos Bullerton
(1940)
Dulcy
as Roger Forbes
(1940)
Star Dust
as Thomas Brooke
(1940)
He Married His Wife
as Bill Carter
(1939)
Here I Am a Stranger
as Professor Daniels
(1939)
The Night of Nights
as Barry Keith-Trimble
(1939)
Yes, My Darling Daughter
as Titus Jaywood
(1938)
Topper Takes a Trip
as Cosmo Topper
(1938)
The Young in Heart
as Col. Anthony 'Sahib' Carleton
(1938)
Sailing Along
as Anthony Gulliver
(1937)
Topper
as Cosmo Topper
(1937)
King Solomon's Mines
as Cmdr. John Good
(1937)
Ali Baba Goes to Town
as Sultan
(1937)
Call It a Day
as Frank Haines
(1936)
The Unguarded Hour
as William "Bunny" Jeffers
(1936)
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
as George McWhirter Fotheringay
(1936)
One Rainy Afternoon
as Maillot
(1936)
Gypsy
as Alan Brooks
(1936)
Give Me Your Heart
as Edward 'Tubbs' Barrow
(1935)
David Copperfield
as Uriah Heep
(1935)
Ruggles of Red Gap
as Earl of Burnstead
(1934)
Here Is My Heart
as Nicki
(1933)
A Lady's Profession
as Lord Reginald Withers
(1933)
Pleasure Cruise
as Andrew Poole
(1933)
Blind Adventure
as Holmes
(1933)
His Double Life
as Priam Farrel
(1933)
They Just Had to Get Married
as Hillary Hume
(1932)
This Is the Night
as Gerald Gray
(1932)
One Hour with You
as Professor Olivier
(1932)
A Woman Commands
as King Alexander
(1932)
Wedding Rehearsal
as Reggie Buckley Candysshe - Marquis of Buckminster
(1932)
Lovers Courageous
as Jeffrey
(1932)
Hollywood on Parade No. A-5
as Self
(1932)
Street of Women
as Linkhorne 'Link' Gibson
(1931)
The Prodigal
as Doc
(1931)
The Guardsman
as The Critic
(1931)
The Squaw Man
as Sir John Applegate
(1931)
Annabelle's Affairs
as Roland Wimbleton
(1931)
The Pagan Lady
as Dr. Heath
(1931)
Don't Bet on Women
as Herbert Drake
(1930)
Madam Satan
as Jimmy Wade
(1930)
New Moon
as Count Strogoff
(1929)
The Unholy Night
as Lord Montague
(1929)
The Bishop Murder Case
as Sigurd 'Erik' Arnesson
(1929)
Wise Girls
as Duke Merrill
(1929)
Her Private Life
as Charteris
(1926)
Camille: The Fate of a Coquette
as Lord Kyne
(1924)
Grit
as Houdini Hart
(1922)
Sherlock Holmes
as Dr. Watson