Acting · Richmond, Surrey, England, UK · Born February 8, 1891
British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London Scottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France. Seriously wounded at the battle of Messines--he was gassed--he was invalided out of service scarcely two months after shipping out for France. Upon his recovery he tried to enter the consular service, but a chance encounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and concentrated on the theatre, and was rewarded with a succession of increasingly prominent parts. He made extra money appearing in a few minor films, and in 1920 set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war-depressed England. After two years of impoverishment he was cast in a Broadway hit, "La Tendresse". Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in The White Sister (1923). His success in the film led to a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, and his career as a Hollywood leading man was underway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as well as adventure films. The coming of sound made his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice even more important to the film industry. He played sophisticated, thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, and swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). A decade later he received an Academy Award for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life (1947). Much of his later career was devoted to "The Halls of Ivy", a radio show that later was transferred to television "The Halls of Ivy" (1954). He continued to work until nearly the end of his life, which came in 1958 after a brief lung illness. He was survived by his second wife, actress Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman.
MovieGoldwyn: The Man and His Movies
2001
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThat's Entertainment, Part II
1976
as (archive footage)
MovieThe Story of Mankind
1957
as The Spirit of Man
MovieAround the World in 80 Days
1956
as Railway Official
The Halls of Ivy
1954
TVGeneral Electric Theater
1953
as Graham
TVFour Star Playhouse
1952
as Caller
TVThe Jack Benny Program
1950
as Ronald Colman
MovieChampagne for Caesar
1950
as Beauregard Bottomley
MovieThe Art Director
1949
as Self - from 'Late George Apley' (archive footage) (uncredited)
TVThe Ed Sullivan Show
1948
as Self
MovieA Double Life
1947
as Anthony John
MovieThe Late George Apley
1947
as George Apley
MovieKismet
1944
as Hafiz
MovieRandom Harvest
1942
as Charles Rainier
MovieThe Talk of the Town
1942
as Michael Lightcap
MovieMy Life with Caroline
1941
as Anthony Mason
MovieLucky Partners
1940
as David Grant
MovieThe Light That Failed
1939
as Dick Heldar
MovieIf I Were King
1938
as François Villon
MovieThe Prisoner of Zenda
1937
as Major Rudolf Rassendyll / The Prisoner of Zenda
MovieLost Horizon
1937
as Robert " Bob " Conway
MovieUnder Two Flags
1936
as Sgt. Victor
MovieA Tale of Two Cities
1935
as Sydney Carton
MovieThe Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
1935
as Paul Gaillard
MovieClive of India
1935
as Robert Clive
MovieBulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1934
as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
MovieThe Masquerader
1933
as Sir John Chilcote / John Loder
MovieCynara
1932
as James Warlock
MovieArrowsmith
1931
as Dr. Martin Arrowsmith
MovieThe Unholy Garden
1931
as Barrington Hunt
MovieGovernor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
1930
MovieThe Devil to Pay!
1930
as Willie Hale
Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1
1930
MovieRaffles
1930
as A.J. Raffles
MovieCondemned!
1929
as Michel
MovieBulldog Drummond
1929
as Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
MovieThe Rescue
1929
as Tom Lingard
MovieTwo Lovers
1928
as Mark van Rycke
MovieThe Magic Flame
1927
as Tito the Clown / The Count
MovieThe Night of Love
1927
as Montero
MovieThe Winning of Barbara Worth
1926
as Willard Holmes
MovieBeau Geste
1926
as Michael 'Beau' Geste
MovieKiki
1926
as Victor Renal
MovieLady Windermere's Fan
1925
as Lord Darlington
MovieStella Dallas
1925
as Stephen Dallas
MovieThe Dark Angel
1925
as Captain Alan Trent
MovieHer Sister from Paris
1925
as Joseph
MovieA Thief in Paradise
1925
as Maurice Blake
The Sporting Venus
1925
as Donald MacAllan
MovieHis Supreme Moment
1925
as John Douglas
MovieRomola
1924
as Carlo Bucellini
MovieHer Night of Romance
1924
as Paul Menford
MovieTarnish
1924
as Emmet Carr
Twenty Dollars a Week
1924
as Chester Reeves
MovieThe White Sister
1923
as Capt. Giovanni Severi
Handcuffs or Kisses
1921
as Lodyard
The Black Spider
1920
as Vicomte de Beaurais
Anna the Adventuress
1920
as Brendan
The Toilers
1919
as Bob
