Edmund Breese
Edmund Breese (born June 18, 1871 in Brooklyn , New York , † April 6, 1936 in New York City , New York ) was an American actor, director and writer.
life and career
Edmund Breese was born in Brooklyn to Josephine Busby and Renshaw Breese . He began his acting career in the theater in 1892 and toured the United States with various groups over the next few years. He made his Broadway debut probably in 1900 in Monte Christo . In the decades that followed, he starred in over 20 plays on Broadway and earned a reputation as a character actor. He played alongside former theater stars such as Richard Bennett , Elliott Dexter and Estelle Winwood . In addition to his work on Broadway, he also appeared regularly in vaudeville shows and was active as a playwright himself. In 1914 he made his film debut in the drama The Master Mind , the film adaptation of a Broadway play with Breese in the leading roles. In the following years he played leading roles in numerous now forgotten silent films. In 1915 he was the director of the short film He Fell in a Cabaret , but it was to remain his only directorial work.
In the 1920s, he commuted between appearances in the theater on Broadway and film roles in Hollywood. Breese made the transition to talkies at the end of this decade without any major problems, but due to his increasing age he was only given secondary roles. Because he was good at imitating different dialects , he often played foreigners and strangers, especially Asians. Several times in his film career he was seen as a judge, doctor, businessman, politician or officer. In the then controversial anti-war film In the West Nothing New (1930), he played the role of a know-it-all German regulars' table strategist and in Duck Soup (1933) he played a prime minister alongside the Marx Brothers . In 1935 he made his last of around 130 films and returned to Broadway, where he in the play Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand took a role.
Towards the end of a performance of Night of January 16th in April 1936, 64-year-old Breese collapsed from peritonitis from which he died just four days later. He was married to Genevieve Landry and Harriet A. Beach throughout his life. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale .
Filmography (selection)
- 1914: The Master Mind
- 1916: The Lure of Heart's Desire
- 1916: The Spell of the Yukon
- 1922: Beyond the Rainbow
- 1927: Paradise for Two
- 1929: The Gamblers
- 1930: Hold Everything
- 1930: on the Western Front (All Quiet on the Western Front)
- 1930: The Czar of Broadway
- 1930: Kismet
- 1931: Enmity (The Painted Desert)
- 1931: Warnings are given against blondes (Platinum Blonde)
- 1931: Mata Hari
- 1932: The Avenger of the Tong (The Hatchet Man)
- 1932: How do you want me (As You Desire Me)
- 1932: The cabin in the cotton field (The Cabin in the Cotton)
- 1933: A Woman Doesn't Forget (Only Yesterday)
- 1933: The boss is a beautiful woman (female)
- 1933: The Marx Brothers at War (Duck Soup)
- 1934: Come on Marines
- 1934: Treasure Island (Treasure Iceland)
- 1934: The Law of the Wild
- 1934: Broadway Bill
Web links
- Edmund Breese in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Notice of death in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette
- ^ Edmund Breese in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved January 7, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Breese, Edmund |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor, director, and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 18, 1871 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 6, 1936 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York |