Arthur Lake

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Arthur Lake with Blondie film partner Penny Singleton (1980)

Arthur Lake (born April 17, 1905 in Corbin , Kentucky , † January 9, 1987 in Indian Wells , California ; actually Arthur Silverlake ) was an American film actor .

Life

Arthur Lake was born Arthur Silverlake in Kentucky in 1905. His father Arthur and uncle were acrobats at the circus and toured the United States as "The Flying Silverlakes" . When Lake was three years old, he went on to appear in vaudeville theaters in the southern and southwestern United States with his parents and sister Florence (who later became known in countless short films as the simple-minded, giggling wife of the troubled Edgar Kennedy ) . His mother, Edith (née Goodwin), an actress, eventually brought him and Florence to Hollywood , where Lake got his first film role in Jack and the Beanstalk (1917) at age twelve . There followed numerous roles in silent films , which were often westerns .

In the mid-1920s, he signed a contract with Universal Pictures , where his real last name was shortened to Lake, as studio boss Carl Laemmle found that Silverlake sounded too Jewish. Lake moved to RKO Pictures at the end of the decade . He is best known, however, by the appearance of Dagwood Bumstead in until 1938 Blondie film series from Columbia Pictures , which on Chic Young's popular Blondie - comic strip based. With the actress Penny Singleton , who played the title role, he was seen in 28 episodes of the film series from 1938 to 1950. From 1939 there was also a radio play series of the same name, for which Lake and Singleton also played their roles on the radio. In the 1950s, Lake appeared again as Dagwood Bumstead in a short-lived Blondie television series. The series turned out to be a flop, especially since not Penny Singleton, but Pamela Britton played the role of Blondie. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lake rarely appeared in public. In contrast to the naive Dagwood, Lake was a shrewd businessman who knew how to invest the money he had earned in films well for his retirement.

From 1942 until his death, Lake was married to Patricia Van Cleve, with whom he had two children, Marion (* 1944) and Arthur Jr. Patricia was introduced to actress Marion Davies as the niece of her life . It was only after her death that Patricia's will revealed that she was the daughter of Davies and her longtime lover, the powerful newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst . Arthur Lake died of a heart attack in 1987 in Indian Wells, California, aged 81 . He was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery . For his services to the radio, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6646 Hollywood Boulevard).

Filmography (selection)

  • 1943: Footlight Glamor
  • 1944: Three Is a Family
  • 1945: Leave It to Blondie
  • 1945: Life with Blondie
  • 1946: Blondie's Lucky Day
  • 1946: Blondie Knows Best
  • 1947: Blondie's Big Moment
  • 1947: Blondie's Holiday
  • 1947: Blondie in the Dough
  • 1947: Blondie's Anniversary
  • 1948: Blondie's Reward
  • 1948: Blondie's Secret
  • 1949: Blondie's Big Deal
  • 1949: Blondie Hits the Jackpot
  • 1950: Blondie's Hero
  • 1950: Beware of Blondie
  • 1957: Blondie (TV series, 26 episodes)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jim Cox: The Great Radio Sitcoms . McFarland, 2007, ISBN 0-78643-146-6 , p. 92.
  2. ↑ a b c d Jack Jones: Arthur Lake Dies; 'Blondie' movie star . In: Los Angeles Times , January 10, 1987.
personal data
SURNAME Lake, Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silverlake, Arthur (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Corbin , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1987
Place of death Indian Wells , California