Reginald Owen
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Aug 4, 1887
- Died
- Nov 5, 1972 (aged 85)
- Place of birth
- Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
- Credits
- 137
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.
Known for
Filmography
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
1985Movie
Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
That's Entertainment!
1974Movie
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
1971Movie
Gen. Teagler
McCloud
1970TV
Rosie!
1967Movie
Patrick
Run for Your Life
1965TV
Sir Hillary Cooper
Mary Poppins
1964Movie
Admiral Boom
Bewitched
1964TV
Voice of the Hurricane
1964Movie
The Thrill of It All
1963Movie
Tom Fraleigh
Tammy and the Doctor
1963Movie
Jason Tripp
Five Weeks in a Balloon
1962Movie
Consul
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
1960Movie
Mr. Bennett
Thriller
1960TV
The Hussar ('A Terribly Strange Bed')
Adventures in Paradise
1959TV
Ambrose Feather
Moochie of the Little League
1959Movie
J. Cecil Bennett
One Step Beyond
1959TV
Herbert Blakely
Maverick
1957TV
Marquis Norbert Belcastle, Freddie Hawkins
MGM Parade
1955TV
Self
Climax!
1954TV
Doctor
Red Garters
1954Movie
Judge Wallace Winthrop
The Great Diamond Robbery
1954Movie
Bainbridge Gibbons
Grounds for Marriage
1951Movie
Dely Delacorte
Kim
1950Movie
Father Victor
The Miniver Story
1950Movie
Mr. Foley
Challenge to Lassie
1949Movie
Sergeant Davie
The Secret Garden
1949Movie
Ben Weatherstaff
Hills of Home
1948Movie
Hopps
The Three Musketeers
1948Movie
Treville
Julia Misbehaves
1948Movie
Benjy Hawkins
The Pirate
1948Movie
The Advocate
If Winter Comes
1947Movie
Mr. Fortune
Thunder in the Valley
1947Movie
James Moore
Green Dolphin Street
1947Movie
Captain O'Hara
The Imperfect Lady
1946Movie
Mr. Hopkins
Monsieur Beaucaire
1946Movie
King Louis XV
Piccadilly Incident
1946Movie
Judge
Cluny Brown
1946Movie
Henry Carmel
The Diary of a Chambermaid
1946Movie
Captain Lanlaire
The Sailor Takes a Wife
1945Movie
Mr. Amboy
Captain Kidd
1945Movie
Cary Shadwell
She Went to the Races
1945Movie
Dr. Pembroke
Kitty
1945Movie
Duke of Malmunster
The Valley of Decision
1945Movie
McCready
National Velvet
1945Movie
Farmer Ede
The Canterville Ghost
1944Movie
Lord Canterville
Madame Curie
1943Movie
Dr. Becquerel
Salute to the Marines
1943Movie
Mr. Henry Casper
Above Suspicion
1943Movie
Dr. Mespelbrunn
Three Hearts for Julia
1943Movie
John Girard
Assignment in Brittany
1943Movie
Col. Trane
Forever and a Day
1943Movie
Simpson
Reunion in France
1942Movie
Schultz, Gestapo agent
Random Harvest
1942Movie
"Biffer"
White Cargo
1942Movie
Skipper of the Congo Queen
Somewhere I'll Find You
1942Movie
Willie Manning
Cairo
1942Movie
Philo Cobson
Pierre of the Plains
1942Movie
Noah Glenkins
I Married an Angel
1942Movie
'Whiskers'
Mrs. Miniver
1942Movie
Foley
We Were Dancing
1942Movie
Maj. Tyler-Blane
Woman of the Year
1942Movie
Clayton
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
1941Movie
Professor Elliott
Lady Be Good
1941Movie
Max Milton
Charley's Aunt
1941Movie
Mr. Redcliffe
They Met in Bombay
1941Movie
General Allen
A Woman's Face
1941Movie
Bernard Dalvik
Free and Easy
1941Movie
Sir George Kelvin
Blonde Inspiration
1941Movie
Reginald Mason
Hullabaloo
1940Movie
'Buzz' Foster
Florian
1940Movie
Emperor Franz Josef
The Ghost Comes Home
1940Movie
Hemingway
The Earl of Chicago
1940Movie
Gervase Gonwell
Remember?
1939Movie
Mr. Bronson
Bad Little Angel
1939Movie
Edwards, Marvin's Valet
The Real Glory
1939Movie
Capt. Hartley
Bridal Suite
1939Movie
Sir Horace Bragdon
Hotel Imperial
1939Movie
General Videnko
Fast and Loose
1939Movie
Vincent Charlton
The Girl Downstairs
1938Movie
Charlie Grump
A Christmas Carol
1938Movie
Ebenezer Scrooge
A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore
1938Movie
Scrooge (atchive footage)
Vacation from Love
1938Movie
John Hodge Lawson
Three Loves Has Nancy
1938Movie
William, the Butler
Paradise for Three
1938Movie
Johann Kesselhut
Kidnapped
1938Movie
Capt. Hoseason
Everybody Sing
1938Movie
Hillary Bellaire
Rosalie
1937Movie
Chancellor
Conquest
1937Movie
Tallyrand
The Bride Wore Red
1937Movie
Admiral Monti
Madame X
1937Movie
Maurice Dourel
Personal Property
1937Movie
Claude Dabney
Dangerous Number
1937Movie
William
Love on the Run
1936Movie
Baron Otto Spandermann
Adventure in Manhattan
1936Movie
Blackton Gregory
The Girl on the Front Page
1936Movie
Archie Biddle
Yours for the Asking
1936Movie
Dictionary McKinney
Trouble for Two
1936Movie
President of Club
The Great Ziegfeld
1936Movie
Sampston
Petticoat Fever
1936Movie
Sir James Felton
Rose Marie
1936Movie
Myerson
A Tale of Two Cities
1935Movie
Stryver
The Bishop Misbehaves
1935Movie
Guy Waller
Anna Karenina
1935Movie
Stiva
Call of the Wild
1935Movie
Mr. Smith
Escapade
1935Movie
Paul
The Good Fairy
1935Movie
The Waiter
Enchanted April
1935Movie
Henry Arbuthnot
Here Is My Heart
1934Movie
Vova
Music in the Air
1934Movie
Ernst Weber
Madame du Barry
1934Movie
King Louis XV
The Human Side
1934Movie
James Dalton
Of Human Bondage
1934Movie
Thorpe Athelny
Stingaree
1934Movie
The Governor-General
Where Sinners Meet
1934Movie
Leonard
The House of Rothschild
1934Movie
Herries
The Countess of Monte Cristo
1934Movie
The Baron
Fashions of 1934
1934Movie
Oscar Baroque
Mandalay
1934Movie
Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson
Queen Christina
1934Movie
Charles
Nana
1934Movie
Bordenave
Voltaire
1933Movie
King Louis XV
The Big Brain
1933Movie
Lord Darlington
Double Harness
1933Movie
Freeman
The Narrow Corner
1933Movie
Mr. Frith
A Study in Scarlet
1933Movie
Sherlock Holmes
Robbers' Roost
1932Movie
Cecil Herrick
Sherlock Holmes
1932Movie
Dr. Watson
Downstairs
1932Movie
Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
The Man Called Back
1932Movie
Dr. Herbert Atkins
A Woman Commands
1932Movie
The Prime Minister
Lovers Courageous
1932Movie
Lord Jimmy
Platinum Blonde
1931Movie
Dexter Grayson
The Man in Possession
1931Movie
Claude Dabney
The Letter
1929Movie
Robert Crosbie
The Grass Orphan
1922Movie
Heathcote St. John
Phroso
1922Movie
Lord Wheatley