John Ridgely

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John Ridgely (* 6. September 1909 in Chicago , Illinois as John Huntington Rea , † 18 January 1968 in New York City , New York ) was an American actor. He starred in around 170 films between 1935 and 1954. He was best known for the role of blackmailer Eddie Mars in the film noir classic Dead Sleeping .

Life

John Ridgely was originally supposed to be in the industry, but then became an actor. He began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse and made his film debut in 1935 in a minor supporting role as a ship steward on Streamline Express . In the next few years Ridgely played mostly small supporting roles in numerous films, including Victims of a Great Love , The Roaring Twenties and The Secret of Malampur . But for Ridgely it was not until the early 1940s that his roles were given more substance and were mentioned in the credits . The black-haired, tall actor usually embodied the average guy like police officers, officers, workers or the main character's friend. He had two of his greatest roles in 1943 as army commander in Howard Hawk's war film Into the Japanese Sun and in Destination Tokyo in the role of a metrologist alongside Cary Grant .

Only occasionally did Ridgely impersonate malicious characters, and when he did, then often only as "surprise killers". Nevertheless, he is remembered today mainly for his role as extortionate gangster Eddie Mars in the film noir classic Dead Sleeping Firm (1946) alongside Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall . Ridgely initially played mainly for Warner Brothers , but from 1948 he worked without a permanent studio contract . So he could choose his roles, but he received only a few significant film offers. Later films in his career include the crime film Deadly Frontier (1949) with Ricardo Montalbán and Cecil B. DeMille's circus film The Greatest Show in the World (1952), which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Towards the end of his career he still had a few television appearances. In 1954 he shot his last of around 170 films and in 1955 he made his last television appearance.

He then worked as a theater actor, but without achieving great success. He died of heart disease in 1968 at the age of 58 and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Ridgely | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved September 10, 2018 .
  2. ^ John Ridgely (1909-1968) - Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved September 10, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Ridgely, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rea, John Huntington (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH 18th January 1968
Place of death New York City , New York