Richard Cromwell (actor)

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Richard Cromwell (around 1933)

Richard "Dick" Cromwell (born January 8, 1910 in Long Beach , California as LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh , † October 11, 1960 in Hollywood , California) was an American actor and artist.

life and career

Richard Cromwell was born the second of five children under the name LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh, which he gave up for his acting career. His father Ralph, an inventor, died of the Spanish flu in 1918 . As a teenager, he attended the Chouinard Art Institute, a precursor to the California Institute of the Arts . He set up a small art shop in the late 1920s, where he made masks and oil paintings. The good-looking Cromwell made contacts with film stars of the time such as Greta Garbo , Joan Crawford and Tallulah Bankhead , some of which he immortalized in his paintings and masks. It was through them that he found his way into the film industry. His first film was an extra role in The Jazz King (1930). In his second film, Tol'able David , Cromwell got the lead role that same year. He received good reviews, was considered an upcoming star in Hollywood and was invited to the White House to see President Herbert Hoover .

In the following years Cromwell played some leading roles in smaller films, often in youthful, somewhat sensitive roles. Leslie Halliwell later referred to him as the "friendly hero of the early talkies". Cromwell's friend Marie Dressler ensured that he got a leading role in Emma, ​​the pearl next to her, in 1932 . In this and many other films, Cromwell's characters suffered tragic fates. The following year he played the male lead in Clara Bow 's last film Hoop-La . In 1935 he took on a major role in the adventure film Bengali , which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. In it, Cromwell played the son of a high officer who was tortured by insurgents and who refused to save his son in order to demonstrate his impartiality. Soon afterwards, Cromwell's career took a bend: he wanted artistic independence and not be dependent on the studio contracts that were common for actors at the time , which is why he received fewer and fewer roles despite good reviews. In the fall of 1936 he starred on Broadway in the play So Proudly We Hail . He also worked as a radio announcer.

Cromwell played his last really important film roles alongside Henry Fonda in Jezebel - The Malicious Lady (1938) and The Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). In 1943 he ended his film career after 39 films and served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. In 1945 he married 19-year-old Angela Lansbury , and after only nine months the marriage was divorced - the reason for this was his homosexuality, which was kept secret from the public, which not even Lansbury knew about before the marriage. In fact, Cromwell was an active member of the Hollywood gay scene. Lansbury and Cromwell remained good friends for the rest of his life, she later described him as "charming with a good knowledge of jazz music".

In 1948 Richard Cromwell failed to make a comeback as a film actor with a role in the mystery film Bungalow 13 . A little later he opened an art studio, with which he was able to record considerable success. He remained connected to acting in the theater. In 1960 he tried a second comeback in the film business with a supporting role in the drama The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come , but he was already too sick to take the role and was replaced by Chill Wills . Richard Cromwell, who was a heavy smoker for many years and at times promoted Lucky Strike , died of liver cancer at the age of only 50. He is buried in Santa Ana . For his contributions to the film industry, Cromwell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1627 Vine Street).

Filmography

  • 1930: The King of Jazz
  • 1930: Tol'able David
  • 1931: Fifty Fathoms Deep
  • 1931: Shanghaied Love
  • 1931: Maker of Men
  • 1932: Emma, ​​the Pearl (Emma)
  • 1932: The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
  • 1932: Tom Brown of Culver
  • 1932: The Age of Consent
  • 1932: That's My Boy
  • 1933: Revolution of Youth (This Day and Age)
  • 1933: Hoop-La
  • 1933: Above the Clouds
  • 1934: Carolina
  • 1934: The Most Precious Thing in Life
  • 1934: Name the Woman
  • 1934: Among the Missing
  • 1934: When Strangers Meet
  • 1935: Bengali (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer)
  • 1935: McFadden's Flats
  • 1935: Life Begins at Forty
  • 1935: Men of the Hour
  • 1935: Unknown Woman
  • 1935: His last command (Annapolis Farewell)
  • 1936: Poppy
  • 1937: Our Fighting Navy
  • 1937: The Road Back
  • 1937: The Wrong Road
  • 1938: Jezebel - The Malicious Lady (Jezebel)
  • 1938: Come On, Leathernecks!
  • 1938: Storm Over Bengal
  • 1939: Young Mr. Lincoln (Young Mr. Lincoln)
  • 1940: Village Barn Dance
  • 1940: Enemy Agent
  • 1940: The Villain Still Pursued Her
  • 1941: Parachutte Battalion
  • 1941: Riot Squat
  • 1942: Baby Face Morgan
  • 1943: Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
  • 1948: Bungalow 13

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Article in the Los Angeles Times for Richard Cromwell
  2. Article about Richard Cromwell at Frontiers ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.frontiersla.com
  3. Interview with Angela Lansbury