Rudy Bowman

Rudolph "Rudy" Marcy Bowman (born December 15, 1890 in Kansas , United States , † October 29, 1972 in Los Angeles County , California , United States) was an American actor.

Life

Rudolph Bowman was married to Gertrude Creason Bowman. The marriage had four children.

Bowman began his acting career on the theatrical stages in and around Philadelphia . There he became a local celebrity. During the First World War he fought with the American expeditionary forces in France . Shortly before the end of the war, on November 3, 1918, he was seriously wounded in the area of ​​the Meuse . A shrapnel had cut his vocal cords, rendering him unable to speak. Thanks to his own willpower, he later managed to achieve a limited, croaking articulation that was difficult to understand for the audience.

Bowman's theater career was ended by the war-related disability. For this he got to silent film , where he could express emotions and feelings wordlessly. With the advent of the talkie , this stage in his career was also canceled due to his disability. He was no longer an option for supporting, therefore speaking, roles. Bowman had his most famous appearance in a sound film in the western The Devil's Captain by director John Ford . There he played the role of the former Southern General Brome Clay , who after the end of the Civil War practically incognito served as a simple soldier John Smith . The ex-general, fatally wounded after an Indian attack, was only able to express himself with a croak while lying dying. Here Bowman's infirmity was used dramatically.

literature

• Bill Levy: John Ford: A Bio-bibliography . Greenwood, Westport (Conn.) 1998, ISBN 0313275149 , pp. 162f

Web links

• Rudy Bowman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Rudy Bowman in the All Movie Guide (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ in the literature often incorrectly Rome Clay - John Wayne clearly calls him Brome Clay in the film (original version) .