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