Douglass Dumbrille(1889-1974)
- Actor
Distinguished character villain Douglass (R.) Dumbrille, whose
distinctive stern features, beady eyes, tidy mustache, prominent hook
nose and suave, cultivated presence graced scores of talking films, was
born on October 13, 1889, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was first
employed as a bank clerk in his home town but caught the acting bug and
subsequently left his position to pursue work in various stock
companies in the States.
After appearing in a production of "Rain" in 1923, Dumbrille made his
Broadway debut in 1924 as Banquo in "Macbeth" at the 48th Street
Theatre. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s he was a moderate fixture
on the Great White Way, appearing in dramas ("The Call of Life" (1925)
with Eva Le Gallienne, "Chinese
O'Neill" (1929), "As You Desire Me" (1931)), romantic comedies
("Joseph" (1930), "Child of Manhattan" (1932)) and musical operettas
("Princess Flavia" (1925), "Princess Charming" (1930)). He also
appeared in Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s
1928 musical production of "The Three Musketeers", portraying Athos
alongside Dennis King's D'Artagnan,
with Rudolf Friml providing the music. A
decade later he portrayed Athos once again, this time in a film version
(The Three Musketeers (1939)).
On the silent screen he portrayed Thomas Jefferson in the short
historical film
The Declaration of Independence (1924),
but did not return to film until 1931, when he began unleashing a
number of sneering, oily villains on the viewing public. His first film
job was to harass sea captain
Gary Cooper in
His Woman (1931). From there he proved
a slick nemesis to a number of stars, both male and female:
Marion Davies with his leering moneybags
in
Blondie of the Follies (1932);
Pat O'Brien with his cruel-minded
chain gang warden in
Laughter in Hell (1933);
Barbara Stanwyck as her unctuous love
patsy in Baby Face (1933);
James Cagney as gangster Spade Maddock in
Lady Killer (1933);
Warner Baxter and
Myrna Loy as a mobster involved in horse race
fixing in Broadway Bill (1934) and,
most notoriously, Gary Cooper and
Franchot Tone, both of whom he
induces fingernail torture ("We have ways of making men talk!") as the
sinister, turban-wearing rebel leader Mohammed Khan in
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935).
Dumbrille was also a great pompous foil in comedy slapstick - harassing
everybody from The Marx Brothers,
Bud Abbott and
Lou Costello to
Bob Hope. He returned to the musical
operetta fold as well on film and played a nuisance to
Jeanette MacDonald in three of her
films. Seen everywhere, both billed and unbilled, he played sheriffs
who went bad in westerns, red-herring suspects or victims who deserved
their fate in murder mysteries and corrupters of the legal system in
political dramas.
The man everybody loved to hate on film softened his image a bit with
old age, playing a number of non-plussed executive or officious types
in films and TV comedy. Finding a stream of TV work in the 1950s and
early 1960s (including
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950),
The Untouchables (1959),
Perry Mason (1957),
Laramie (1959).
Petticoat Junction (1963)),
Dumbrille's final role was at age 76 as a doctor in a TV episode of
Batman (1966) in 1966.
His long-time first wife, Jessie Lawson, died in 1957, leaving him two
sons, John and Douglas Murray. Dumbrille had more than a few Hollywood
tongues wagging when, at age 70, he married Patricia Mowbray, the
28-year-old daughter of his good friend, character actor
Alan Mowbray. The marriage was a lasting
one, however, and she was among his survivors when he passed away
several years later from a heart attack on April 2, 1974. Dumbrille was
buried at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North
Hollywood, California.
distinctive stern features, beady eyes, tidy mustache, prominent hook
nose and suave, cultivated presence graced scores of talking films, was
born on October 13, 1889, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was first
employed as a bank clerk in his home town but caught the acting bug and
subsequently left his position to pursue work in various stock
companies in the States.
After appearing in a production of "Rain" in 1923, Dumbrille made his
Broadway debut in 1924 as Banquo in "Macbeth" at the 48th Street
Theatre. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s he was a moderate fixture
on the Great White Way, appearing in dramas ("The Call of Life" (1925)
with Eva Le Gallienne, "Chinese
O'Neill" (1929), "As You Desire Me" (1931)), romantic comedies
("Joseph" (1930), "Child of Manhattan" (1932)) and musical operettas
("Princess Flavia" (1925), "Princess Charming" (1930)). He also
appeared in Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s
1928 musical production of "The Three Musketeers", portraying Athos
alongside Dennis King's D'Artagnan,
with Rudolf Friml providing the music. A
decade later he portrayed Athos once again, this time in a film version
(The Three Musketeers (1939)).
On the silent screen he portrayed Thomas Jefferson in the short
historical film
The Declaration of Independence (1924),
but did not return to film until 1931, when he began unleashing a
number of sneering, oily villains on the viewing public. His first film
job was to harass sea captain
Gary Cooper in
His Woman (1931). From there he proved
a slick nemesis to a number of stars, both male and female:
Marion Davies with his leering moneybags
in
Blondie of the Follies (1932);
Pat O'Brien with his cruel-minded
chain gang warden in
Laughter in Hell (1933);
Barbara Stanwyck as her unctuous love
patsy in Baby Face (1933);
James Cagney as gangster Spade Maddock in
Lady Killer (1933);
Warner Baxter and
Myrna Loy as a mobster involved in horse race
fixing in Broadway Bill (1934) and,
most notoriously, Gary Cooper and
Franchot Tone, both of whom he
induces fingernail torture ("We have ways of making men talk!") as the
sinister, turban-wearing rebel leader Mohammed Khan in
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935).
Dumbrille was also a great pompous foil in comedy slapstick - harassing
everybody from The Marx Brothers,
Bud Abbott and
Lou Costello to
Bob Hope. He returned to the musical
operetta fold as well on film and played a nuisance to
Jeanette MacDonald in three of her
films. Seen everywhere, both billed and unbilled, he played sheriffs
who went bad in westerns, red-herring suspects or victims who deserved
their fate in murder mysteries and corrupters of the legal system in
political dramas.
The man everybody loved to hate on film softened his image a bit with
old age, playing a number of non-plussed executive or officious types
in films and TV comedy. Finding a stream of TV work in the 1950s and
early 1960s (including
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950),
The Untouchables (1959),
Perry Mason (1957),
Laramie (1959).
Petticoat Junction (1963)),
Dumbrille's final role was at age 76 as a doctor in a TV episode of
Batman (1966) in 1966.
His long-time first wife, Jessie Lawson, died in 1957, leaving him two
sons, John and Douglas Murray. Dumbrille had more than a few Hollywood
tongues wagging when, at age 70, he married Patricia Mowbray, the
28-year-old daughter of his good friend, character actor
Alan Mowbray. The marriage was a lasting
one, however, and she was among his survivors when he passed away
several years later from a heart attack on April 2, 1974. Dumbrille was
buried at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North
Hollywood, California.