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.
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
as George
as Matthew
as Edmund Pohlwhistle
as Sumner(1 ep)
as Self(1 ep)
as C.J. Dabney
as Harold. Mummery(1 ep)
as Ralph Tutwiler
as Self(1 ep)
as George Chester-Barrett
as William Blore
as Ira Cromwell
as Henry Barringer
as Edgar
as Marsh
as Ronald Dean
as Oscar 'O.O.' Miller
as Charles Giraud
as Cosmo Topper
as Mr. 'Happy' Jimmy Smith
as Uncle Willie
as Roger Forbes
as Amos Bullerton
as Mr. Smith
as Thomas Brooke
as Bill Carter
as Barry Keith-Trimble
as Professor Daniels
as Titus Jaywood
as Cosmo Topper
as Col. Anthony 'Sahib' Carleton
as Anthony Gulliver
as Sultan
as Cosmo Topper
as Cmdr. John Good
as Frank Haines
as Alan Brooks
as Edward 'Tubbs' Barrow
as George McWhirter Fotheringay
as Maillot
as William "Bunny" Jeffers
as Earl of Burnstead
as Uriah Heep
as Nicki
as Priam Farrel
as Holmes
as Andrew Poole
as Lord Reginald Withers
as Hillary Hume
as Self
as Reggie Buckley Candysshe - Marquis of Buckminster
as Linkhorne 'Link' Gibson
as Gerald Gray
as Professor Olivier
as King Alexander
as Jeffrey
as The Critic
as Dr. Heath
as Sir John Applegate
as Roland Wimbleton
as Doc
as Herbert Drake
as Count Strogoff
as Jimmy Wade
as Sigurd 'Erik' Arnesson
as Duke Merrill
as Lord Montague
as Charteris
as Lord Kyne
as Houdini Hart
as Dr. Watson
