Reginald Owen
Acting
Born: August 4, 1887 · Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Died: November 5, 1972 (aged 85)
Highest Rated
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
Mary Poppins
1964
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
1971
Bewitched
1964
Mrs. Miniver
1942
Woman of the Year
1942
The Three Musketeers
1948
A Christmas Carol
1938
The Great Ziegfeld
1936
Queen Christina
1934
Of Human Bondage
1934
National Velvet
1945
Random Harvest
1942
Photos (3)
Movies (126)
Mary Poppins
Admiral Boom
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Gen. Teagler
The Three Musketeers
Treville
National Velvet
Farmer Ede
Call of the Wild
Mr. Smith
Woman of the Year
Clayton
Mrs. Miniver
Foley
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Consul
The Pirate
The Advocate
Queen Christina
Charles
Cluny Brown
Henry Carmel
Captain Kidd
Cary Shadwell
Random Harvest
"Biffer"
The Great Ziegfeld
Sampston
The Secret Garden
Ben Weatherstaff
A Tale of Two Cities
Stryver
Of Human Bondage
Thorpe Athelny
The Thrill of It All
Tom Fraleigh
The Valley of Decision
McCready
A Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge
A Woman's Face
Bernard Dalvik
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Captain Lanlaire
Anna Karenina
Stiva
The Great Diamond Robbery
Bainbridge Gibbons
The Real Glory
Capt. Hartley
Fashions of 1934
Oscar Baroque
Conquest
Tallyrand
Somewhere I'll Find You
Willie Manning
The House of Rothschild
Herries
Madame X
Maurice Dourel
Reunion in France
Schultz, Gestapo agent
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
If Winter Comes
Mr. Fortune
Kim
Father Victor
Julia Misbehaves
Benjy Hawkins
They Met in Bombay
General Allen
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Professor Elliott
Green Dolphin Street
Captain O'Hara
The Earl of Chicago
Gervase Gonwell
The Canterville Ghost
Lord Canterville
Trouble for Two
President of Club
The Bride Wore Red
Admiral Monti
Three Hearts for Julia
John Girard
Tammy and the Doctor
Jason Tripp
Hotel Imperial
General Videnko
Salute to the Marines
Mr. Henry Casper
Lady Be Good
Max Milton
The Good Fairy
The Waiter
Bridal Suite
Sir Horace Bragdon
We Were Dancing
Maj. Tyler-Blane
Remember?
Mr. Bronson
Music in the Air
Ernst Weber
White Cargo
Skipper of the Congo Queen
Above Suspicion
Dr. Mespelbrunn
Kitty
Duke of Malmunster
I Married an Angel
'Whiskers'
Madame Curie
Dr. Becquerel
The Miniver Story
Mr. Foley
Fast and Loose
Vincent Charlton
Rose Marie
Myerson
Three Loves Has Nancy
William, the Butler
Double Harness
Freeman
Nana
Bordenave
The Sailor Takes a Wife
Mr. Amboy
A Study in Scarlet
Sherlock Holmes
Yours for the Asking
Dictionary McKinney
Thunder in the Valley
James Moore
Vacation from Love
John Hodge Lawson
The Girl on the Front Page
Archie Biddle
Lovers Courageous
Lord Jimmy
The Man in Possession
Claude Dabney
The Big Brain
Lord Darlington
Platinum Blonde
Dexter Grayson
Stingaree
The Governor-General
The Countess of Monte Cristo
The Baron
Enchanted April
Henry Arbuthnot
Cairo
Philo Cobson
Kidnapped
Capt. Hoseason
Assignment in Brittany
Col. Trane
Hills of Home
Hopps
The Imperfect Lady
Mr. Hopkins
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
Mandalay
Police Commissioner Col. Thomas Dawson
The Ghost Comes Home
Hemingway
The Narrow Corner
Mr. Frith
Love on the Run
Baron Otto Spandermann
Forever and a Day
Simpson
Moochie of Pop Warner Football
Mr. Bennett
Personal Property
Claude Dabney
Here Is My Heart
Vova
She Went to the Races
Dr. Pembroke
Adventure in Manhattan
Blackton Gregory
Where Sinners Meet
Leonard
Piccadilly Incident
Judge
Florian
Emperor Franz Josef
Voice of the Hurricane
1964
Pierre of the Plains
Noah Glenkins
Voltaire
King Louis XV
Hullabaloo
'Buzz' Foster
Everybody Sing
Hillary Bellaire
Rosalie
Chancellor
Madame du Barry
King Louis XV
Challenge to Lassie
Sergeant Davie
Monsieur Beaucaire
King Louis XV
Rosie!
Patrick
Moochie of the Little League
J. Cecil Bennett
The Human Side
James Dalton
The Man Called Back
Dr. Herbert Atkins
Blonde Inspiration
Reginald Mason
Bad Little Angel
Edwards, Marvin's Valet
The Girl Downstairs
Charlie Grump
Downstairs
Baron 'Nicky' von Burgen
Red Garters
Judge Wallace Winthrop
Phroso
Lord Wheatley
Free and Easy
Sir George Kelvin
Paradise for Three
Johann Kesselhut
Charley's Aunt
Mr. Redcliffe
Escapade
Paul
Dangerous Number
William
Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Watson
A Woman Commands
The Prime Minister
Robbers' Roost
Cecil Herrick
Petticoat Fever
Sir James Felton
The Bishop Misbehaves
Guy Waller
Grounds for Marriage
Dely Delacorte
The Letter
Robert Crosbie
TV Shows (10)
Bewitched
2 eps
Maverick
1 eps
Maverick
Marquis Norbert Belcastle · 1 eps
Maverick
Freddie Hawkins · 1 eps
Climax!
Doctor · 1 eps
McCloud
1 eps
One Step Beyond
Herbert Blakely · 1 eps
Thriller
The Hussar ('A Terribly Strange Bed') · 1 eps
Run for Your Life
Sir Hillary Cooper · 1 eps
Adventures in Paradise
Ambrose Feather · 1 eps
