Arthur Housman

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Arthur Housman (1925)

Arthur Housman (born October 10, 1889 in New York City , New York , † April 8, 1942 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor who was best known for his portrayals of numerous comical drunkards.

life and career

Arthur Housman began his acting career in vaudeville and in the theaters of his hometown New York. Arthur Housman made his first film in 1912. During the silent film era, he was the leading actor in numerous comedies and in the 1920s even had his own film series, but probably only the film Male Wanted did not go missing. Housman worked with the production companies Edison Manufacturing Company , Fox Film Corporation and Selig , among others . In addition, the thin, aristocratic-looking actor with the mustache supported other comedians such as Harold Lloyd as a supporting actor and was seen in the role of a harassing gentleman in Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's highly acclaimed silent film Sunrise - A Song of Two People .

Like many other silent film actors, Housman's career also suffered damage in the late 1920s with the start of talkies. From then on he mostly had to be content with small supporting roles, but found his niche as the actor of drunks in dozens of films. In all of his five appearances with Laurel and Hardy , he embodied drunks, including the man in the phone booth in The Double and the drunk sailor in The Live Ghost , who the comedian duo has to watch out for and who ultimately thinks he is a ghost. Other comedians who played with Housman included The Three Stooges , Thelma Todd & ZaSu Pitts , Edgar Kennedy and Andy Clyde . Housman also appeared as a drunk in numerous feature films, even if he was only seen on the screen for a few seconds in most of them. By the end of his life he had acted in over 315 films.

Unfortunately, his portrayals also reflected his personal life: Housman became increasingly an alcoholic and died of pneumonia in 1942 at the age of only 52. He was buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Los Angeles . From 1919 until his death he was married to Ellen Grubley (1893-1960).

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article on Arthur Housman and Jack Norton, another drunk actor
  2. ↑ Arthur Housman in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 28, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Housman, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1942
Place of death Los Angeles , California