George Brent (born George Brendan Nolan; 15 March 1904 – 26 May 1979) was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor.
Brent was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway in 1904 to John J. and Mary (née McGuinness) Nolan. His mother was a native of Clonfad, Moore, County Roscommon.
Brent made his first film, Under Suspicion, in 1930. Over the next two years, he appeared in a number of minor films produced by Universal Studios and Fox, before being signed to contract by Warner Bros. in 1932. He remained at Warner Bros. for the next 20 years, carving out a successful career as a top-flight leading man during the late 1930s and 1940s.
Highly regarded by Bette Davis, he became her most frequent male co-star, appearing with her in 13 films, including Front Page Woman (1935), Special Agent (1935), The Golden Arrow (1936), Jezebel (1938), The Old Maid (1939), Dark Victory (1939), and The Great Lie (1941). Brent also played opposite Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933), Greta Garbo in The Painted Veil (1934), Ginger Rogers in In Person (1935), Madeleine Carroll in The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936), Jean Arthur in More Than a Secretary (1936), Myrna Loy in Stamboul Quest (1934) and The Rains Came (1939), Merle Oberon in 'Til We Meet Again (1940), Ann Sheridan in Honeymoon for Three (1941), Joan Fontaine in The Affairs of Susan (1945), Barbara Stanwyck in So Big! (1932), The Purchase Price (1932), Baby Face (1933), The Gay Sisters (1942), and My Reputation (1946), Claudette Colbert in Tomorrow Is Forever (1946), Dorothy McGuire in The Spiral Staircase (1946), Lucille Ball in Lover Come Back (1946), and Yvonne De Carlo in Slave Girl (1947).
Brent drifted into "B" pictures from the late 1940s and retired from film in 1953. He continued to appear on television until 1960, having appeared on the religion anthology series Crossroads. He was cast in the lead in the 1956 television series Wire Service. In 1978, he made one last film, the made-for-television production Born Again.
In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars. He received a motion-pictures star located at 1709 Vine Street, and a second star located at 1612 Vine Street for his work in television.
Brent was married five times: Helen Louise Campbell (1925–1927), Ruth Chatterton (1932–1934), Constance Worth (1937), Ann Sheridan (1942–1943), and Janet Michaels (1947–1974). His final marriage to Janet Michaels, a former model and dress designer, lasted 27 years until her death in 1974. They had a son and a daughter.
Brent also carried on a lengthy relationship with his frequent Warner Bros. co-star, actress Bette Davis, who described her last meeting with Brent after many years of estrangement. He was suffering from advanced emphysema, and she expressed great sadness at his ill health and deterioration. George Brent died in 1979 in Solana Beach, California.
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)(1 ep)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Judge Gerhard Gesell
as Fred Girard(1 ep)
as Jefferson Devereaux(1 ep)
as Man with Balloon at Party
as Dean Evans(35 eps)
as Father Raymond(1 ep)
as David L. 'Dave' Brady
as Steve Gordon
as Tom Bradfield
as John Harman
as Jeff Donley
as Sam Bentley(1 ep)
as Paul Martin
as Mike Jackson
as Chief Agent Dan Collins
as Matthew Bostel
as Captain Jeremy Bradford
as Jim Warburton
as Michael Brooks
as Matt Claibourne
as Joe Medford
as Arthur Earthleigh
as Nigel Armine
as Bill Williams
as Lawrence Hamilton
as Professor Warren
as Major Scott Landis
as Roger Berton
as Self
as Dr. Huntington Bailey
as Self
as James Kincaid
as Steve Mitchell
as Charles Barclay
as Craig Fleming
as Mike Abbott
as Tim Hanley
as Prince Kurt von Rotenberg
as Peter 'Pete' Van Allen
as Kenneth Bixby
as Self
as John Gamble
as Stephen Forbes
as Dan Hardesty
as Capt. Stephen Dennett
as Wild Bill Donovan
as Tom Ransome
as Clem Spender
as Buck Cantrell (edited from 'Jezebel')
as Dr. Frederick Steele
as Cass Harrington
as Buck Cantrell (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Himself (uncredited)
as Richard 'Dick' Orr
as Denny Jordan
as Jared Whitney (archive footage)
as Buck Cantrell
as Jared Whitney
as Self
as Lt. Commander Dan Matthews
as Bill Austin
as Paul Cameron
as Steve Russett
as Self
as Fred Gilbert
as James 'Jim' Baker
as Johnny Jones
as Matt Logan
as Alan Tanner
as Himself (uncredited)
as Emory Muir
as Bob McNear
as Bill Bradford
as Curt Devlin
as Mack Hale
as Terry Parker
as Colin Trent
as Jack Townsend
as McAllister
as William H. Reynolds
as Douglas Beall
as Lt. Jim Stevens
as Jim Thorne
as Courtland Trenholm
as Bob Chandler
as Neil Davis
as Pat Denning
as Dr. Karl Bernhard
as Dr. Tony Travers
as Geoffrey Gault
as Jim Gilson
as Peter Acton
as Police Inspector Patten
as Julian Tierney
as Adult Roelf Pool
as Alan Scott
as Jimmy
as Donald Swift
as Capt. Ronald Keane
as Les Haines
as James Brent
as Inspector Turner
as Worker (uncredited)
