Reginald Owen
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was an English character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and later in television programmes. The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert Tree's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905. In 1911, he starred in the original production of Where the Rainbow Ends as Saint George which opened to very good reviews on 21 December 1911. Reginald Owen had a few years earlier met the author Mrs. Clifford Mills as a young actor, and it was he who on hearing her idea of a Rainbow Story persuaded her to turn it into a play, and thus "Where the Rainbow Ends" was born. He went to the United States in 1920 and worked originally on Broadway in New York, but later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career. He was always a familiar face in many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions. Owen is perhaps best known today for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a role he inherited from Lionel Barrymore, who had played the part of Scrooge on the radio every Christmas for years until Barrymore broke his hip in an accident. Owen was one of only five actors to play both Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr Watson (Jeremy Brett played Watson on stage in the United States prior to adopting the mantle of Holmes on British television, Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television films). Howard Marion-Crawford played Holmes in a radio adaptation of "The Speckled Band" and later played Watson to Ronald Howard’s Holmes in the 1954-55 television series. Owen first played Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932), and then Holmes himself in A Study in Scarlet (1933). Having played Ebenezer Scrooge, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Owen has the odd distinction of playing three classic characters of Victorian fiction only to live to see those characters be taken over and personified by other actors, namely Alastair Sim as Scrooge, Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Later in his career, Owen appeared opposite James Garner in the television series Maverick in the episodes "The Belcastle Brand" (1957) and "Gun-Shy" (1958) and also guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond and Bewitched. He was featured in the Walt Disney films Mary Poppins (1964) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He had a small role in the 1962 Irwin Allen production of the Jules Verne novel Five Weeks in a Balloon. In August 1964, his Bel-Air mansion was rented out to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.
Known For
Admiral Boom
Mary Poppins
Clayton
Woman of the Year
Tallyrand
Conquest
Old Tom Fraleigh
The Thrill of It All
"Biffer"
Random Harvest
Charles
Queen Christina
Gen. Teagler
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Dexter Grayson
Platinum Blonde
Ebenezer Scrooge
A Christmas Carol
Dr. Mespelbrunn
Above Suspicion
Voice of the Hurricane
Bernard Dalvik
A Woman's Face
Foley
Mrs. Miniver
Professor Elliott
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Schultz
Reunion in France
The Advocate
The Pirate
Consul
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Sampston
The Great Ziegfeld
Chancellor
Rosalie
Hillary Bellaire
Everybody Sing
Sergeant Davie
Challenge to Lassie
Philo Cobson
Cairo
Ben Weatherstaff
The Secret Garden
Dr. Becquerel
Madame Curie
McCready
The Valley of Decision
Maurice Dourel
Madame X
Claude Dabney
Personal Property
Baron Otto Spandermann
Love on the Run
Myerson
Rose Marie
Thorpe Athelny
Of Human Bondage
Captain Lanlaire
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Sherlock Holmes
A Study in Scarlet
Stryver
A Tale of Two Cities
Willie Manning
Somewhere I'll Find You
The Waiter
The Good Fairy
Jason Tripp
Tammy and the Doctor
William, the Butler
Three Loves Has Nancy
Lord Canterville
The Canterville Ghost
Benjy Hawkins
Julia Misbehaves
Stiva
Anna Karenina
Henry Carmel
Cluny Brown
Oscar Baroque
Fashions of 1934
Edwards, Marvin's Valet
Bad Little Angel
Ernst Weber
Music in the Air
General Allen
They Met in Bombay
Claude Dabney
The Man in Possession
Mr. Henry Casper
Salute to the Marines
Skipper of the Congo Queen
White Cargo
Duke of Malmunster
Kitty
Capt. Hoseason
Kidnapped
Captain O'Hara
Green Dolphin Street
Hemingway
The Ghost Comes Home
Admiral Monti
The Bride Wore Red
Capt. Hartley
The Real Glory
Bordenave
Nana
Sir James Felton
Petticoat Fever
Gervase Gonwell
The Earl of Chicago
Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
Downstairs
Mr. Fortune
If Winter Comes
Robert Crosbie
The Letter
Mr. Smith
Call of the Wild
Bainbridge Gibbons
The Great Diamond Robbery
Dr. Watson
Sherlock Holmes
Paul
Escapade
Vova
Here Is My Heart
The Governor-General
Stingaree
Lord Jimmy
Lovers Courageous
Reginald Mason
Blonde Inspiration
President of Club
Trouble for Two
Henry Arbuthnot
Enchanted April
Freeman
Double Harness
King Louis XV
Voltaire
Charlie Grump
The Girl Downstairs
Vincent Charlton
Fast and Loose
Mr. Hopkins
The Imperfect Lady
Maj. Tyler-Blane
We Were Dancing
Patrick
Rosie!
Mr. Bronson
Remember?
Emperor Franz Josef
Florian
Col. Trane
Assignment in Brittany
Judge
Piccadilly Incident
Johann Kesselhut
Paradise for Three
Herries
The House of Rothschild
General Videnko
Hotel Imperial
Mr. Frith
The Narrow Corner
King Louis XV
Madame du Barry
Mr. Foley
The Miniver Story
Dr. Pembroke
She Went to the Races
Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson
Mandalay
James Moore
Thunder in the Valley
John Hodge Lawson
Vacation from Love
Sir Horace Bragdon
Bridal Suite
Treville
The Three Musketeers
Mr. Amboy
The Sailor Takes a Wife
Dely Delacorte
Grounds for Marriage
John Girard
Three Hearts for Julia
Hopps
Hills of Home
King Louis XV
Monsieur Beaucaire
Scrooge (atchive footage)
A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore
Dictionary McKinney
Yours for the Asking
William
Dangerous Number
(archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Entertainment!
'Whiskers'
I Married an Angel
Lord Darlington
The Big Brain
Mr. Redcliffe
Charley's Aunt
Blackton Gregory
Adventure in Manhattan
Dr. Herbert Atkins
The Man Called Back
Father Victor
Kim
Farmer Ede
National Velvet
Leonard
Where Sinners Meet
Max Milton
Lady Be Good
Noah Glenkins
Pierre of the Plains
Sir George Kelvin
Free and Easy
The Prime Minister
A Woman Commands
Guy Waller
The Bishop Misbehaves
Judge Wallace Winthrop
Red Garters
'Buzz' Foster
Hullabaloo
Simpson
Forever and a Day
Archie Biddle
The Girl on the Front Page
The Baron
The Countess of Monte Cristo
Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
Cecil Herrick
Robbers' Roost
Cary Shadwell
Captain Kidd
Lord Wheatley
Phroso
James Dalton
The Human Side
Mr. Bennett
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
J. Cecil Bennett
Moochie of the Little League
Heathcote St. John
The Grass Orphan
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
128
Gender
Male
Birthday
1887-08-04
Place of Birth
Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Also Known As
John Reginald Owen