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Ronald Colman


1891 - 1958

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The actor Ronald Colman began his acting career at stages in England. During World War I he served in the army but was discharged after a wound in 1916. He began successfully to impersonate youthful leading roles at the theater and already in 1917 he made his film debut with "The Live Wire". 

After that he emigrated to the USA where he continued playing at theaters. From 1919 followed smaller parts for movies like "The Toilers" (19), "Snow in the Desert" (19), "The Black Spider" (20) and "Handcuffs or Kisses" (21).

He had his great breakthrough when the actress Lillian Gish engaged him for "The White Sister" (23). They also appeared together in "Romola" (24).
Ronald Colman became a romantic leading actor after these successes and won swiftly a huge fan community with his roles in "Twenty Dollars a Week" (24), "Her Night of Romance" (24), "The Sporting Venus" (25), "The Dark Angel" (25), "Stella Dallas" (25), "Lady Windermere's Fan" (25), "Beau Geste" (26), "The Magic Flame" (27) and "The Rescue" (29).

When the talkies replaced the silent movie, this didn't detract from his career because he had a very pleasant voice which fitted wonderful to his appearance.
His first two talkies were very successful right away, moreover he was nominated for an Oscar for his performances in "Bulldog Drummond" (29) and "Condemned" (29). 
In the 30's followed a whole string of successful works in which Ronald Colman cemented his reputation. To his well-known movies of this decade belong "The Unholy Garden" (31), "Arrowsmith" (31), "The Masquerader" (33), "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (35), "Under Two Flags" (36), "Lost Horizon" (37), "The Prisoner of Zenda" (37) and "If I Were King" (38).

Ronald Colman appeared only in few more but still remarkable movies in the 40's. After "My Life with Caroline" (41) he took part in "Random Harvest" (42) and was again nominated for an Oscar. It followed "Kismet" (44) and "The Late George Apley" (47), finally "A Double Life" (47), for which he won the Oscar at all.

Despite his success he appeared only in three more movies after the Oscar - "Champagne for Caesar" (50), "Around the World in Eighty Days" (56) and "The Story of Mankind" (57). Between them he also worked sporadically for different TV serials.
 

Other movies with Ronald Colman: 
Sheba (19) A Daughter of Eve (19) A Son of David (20) Anna the Adventuress (20) The Eternal City (23) Tarnish (24) A Thief in Paradise (25) His Supreme Moment (25) Her Sister from Paris (25) Kiki (26) The Winning of Barbara Worth (26) The Night of Love (27) Two Lovers (28) Raffles (30) The Devil to Pay! (30) Cynara (32) Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (34) Clive of India (35) A Tale of Two Cities (35) The Light That Failed (39) Lucky Partners (40) The Talk of the Town (42) Serie "Four Star Playhouse: The Lost Silk Hat" (52) Serie "Four Star Playhouse: The Man Who Walked Out on Himself" (53) Serie "Four Star Playhouse: The Ladies on His Mind" (53) Serie "Four Star Playhouse: A String of Pearls" (54) Serie "The Halls of Ivy" (54) Serie "General Electric Theater: The Chess Game" (56) Serie "Studio 57: Perfect Likeness" (57)


 
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