Reginald Owen
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.
Filmography (137 Appearances)
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
That's Entertainment!
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
McCloud
Rosie!
Run for Your Life
Mary Poppins
Bewitched
Voice of the Hurricane
The Thrill of It All
Tammy and the Doctor
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
Thriller
Adventures in Paradise
Moochie of the Little League
One Step Beyond
Maverick
MGM Parade
Climax!
Red Garters
The Great Diamond Robbery
Grounds for Marriage
Kim
The Miniver Story
Challenge to Lassie
The Secret Garden
Hills of Home
The Three Musketeers
Julia Misbehaves
The Pirate
If Winter Comes
Thunder in the Valley
Green Dolphin Street
The Imperfect Lady
Monsieur Beaucaire
Piccadilly Incident
Cluny Brown
The Diary of a Chambermaid
The Sailor Takes a Wife
Captain Kidd
She Went to the Races
Kitty
The Valley of Decision
National Velvet
The Canterville Ghost
Madame Curie
Salute to the Marines
Above Suspicion
Three Hearts for Julia
Assignment in Brittany
Forever and a Day
Reunion in France
Random Harvest
White Cargo
Somewhere I'll Find You
Cairo
Pierre of the Plains
I Married an Angel
Mrs. Miniver
We Were Dancing
Woman of the Year
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Lady Be Good
Charley's Aunt
They Met in Bombay
A Woman's Face
Free and Easy
Blonde Inspiration
Hullabaloo
Florian
The Ghost Comes Home
The Earl of Chicago
Remember?
Bad Little Angel
The Real Glory
Bridal Suite
Hotel Imperial
Fast and Loose
The Girl Downstairs
A Christmas Carol
A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore
Vacation from Love
Three Loves Has Nancy
Paradise for Three
Kidnapped
Everybody Sing
Rosalie
Conquest
The Bride Wore Red
Madame X
Personal Property
Dangerous Number
Love on the Run
Adventure in Manhattan
The Girl on the Front Page
Yours for the Asking
Trouble for Two
The Great Ziegfeld
Petticoat Fever
Rose Marie
A Tale of Two Cities
The Bishop Misbehaves
Anna Karenina
Call of the Wild
Escapade
The Good Fairy
Enchanted April
Here Is My Heart
Music in the Air
Madame du Barry
The Human Side
Of Human Bondage
Stingaree
Where Sinners Meet
The House of Rothschild
The Countess of Monte Cristo
Fashions of 1934
Mandalay
Queen Christina
Nana
Voltaire
The Big Brain
Double Harness
The Narrow Corner
A Study in Scarlet
Robbers' Roost
Sherlock Holmes
Downstairs
The Man Called Back
A Woman Commands
Lovers Courageous
Platinum Blonde
The Man in Possession
The Letter
The Grass Orphan
Phroso