Ronald Colman
Acting
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.
The Prisoner of Zenda
as Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
Age 46 (now 67)
The Winning of Barbara Worth
as Willard Holmes
Age 35 (now 67)
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
as Self (archive footage)
Age 110 (now 67)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self (archive footage)
Age 97 (now 67)
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
Age 85 (now 67)
Around the World in 80 Days
as Railway Official
Age 65 (now 67)
The Art Director
as Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Age 58 (now 67)
The Prisoner of Zenda
as Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
Age 46 (now 67)
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
as Paul Gaillard
Age 44 (now 67)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
Age 43 (now 67)
Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
The Winning of Barbara Worth
as Willard Holmes
Age 35 (now 67)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
Ronald Charles Colman
IMDB
nm0172903