Edmund Gwenn
Encyclopedia
Edmund Gwenn was an English
theatre
and film actor.
, London
(some references suggest he was born in the Vale of Glamorgan
, but this is apparently incorrect), and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London
, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895. Playwright
George Bernard Shaw
was impressed with his acting, casting him in the first production of Man and Superman
, and subsequently in five more of his plays. Gwenn's career was interrupted by his military service during World War I
; however, after the war, he began appearing in films in London
. (Cecil Kellaway
was his cousin and Arthur Chesney
was his brother.)
/Laurence Olivier
version of Pride and Prejudice
(1940), Cheers for Miss Bishop
, Of Human Bondage
, and The Keys of the Kingdom
. George Cukor
's Sylvia Scarlett
(1935) marked his first appearance in a Hollywood movie, as Katharine Hepburn
's father; - his final British picture, as a capitalist trying to take over a family brewery in Cheer Boys Cheer
(1939) is credited with being the first authentic Ealing comedy. He settled in Hollywood in 1940 and became part of its British colony. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle
in Miracle on 34th Street
, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
. Upon receiving his Oscar, he said "Now I know there is a Santa Claus!" According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) he is the only person to win an acting Academy Award for playing the role of Santa Claus.
He received a second nomination for his role in Mister 880
(1950). Near the end of his career he played one of the main roles in Alfred Hitchcock
's The Trouble with Harry
(1955). He has a small but hugely memorable role as a Cockney assassin in another Hitchcock film, Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
In theater, he starred in a 1942 production on Broadway of Anton Chekhov
's Three Sisters
, which also starred Judith Anderson
and Ruth Gordon
. It was produced by and starred Katherine Cornell. Time magazine proclaimed it "a dream production by anybody's reckoning — the most glittering cast the theater has seen, commercially, in this generation."http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,886023,00.html
In 1954, Gwenn played Dr. Harold Medford in the classic science fiction film
Them! with James Arness
and James Whitmore
.
after suffering a stroke
, in Woodland Hills, California, twenty days before his 82nd birthday. According to several sources, his last words, when a friend at his bedside remarked that "It is hard to die," were: "But it is harder to do comedy." However, a very similar deathbed saying was earlier attributed to a similarly named 19th-century English actor, Edmund Kean
, so the association of the words with Gwenn may be erroneous. Gwenn was cremated and his ashes are stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
in Los Angeles, California
.
Edmund Gwenn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1751 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and film actor.
Background
Born Edmund John Kellaway in WandsworthWandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(some references suggest he was born in the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, but this is apparently incorrect), and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895. Playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
was impressed with his acting, casting him in the first production of Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...
, and subsequently in five more of his plays. Gwenn's career was interrupted by his military service during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
; however, after the war, he began appearing in films in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. (Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Lauriston Kellaway was a South African-born character actor.Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author, and director in the Australian film industry until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to...
was his cousin and Arthur Chesney
Arthur Chesney
Arthur Chesney was a British actor. He was the brother of the actor Edmund Gwenn and the cousin of the actor Cecil Kellaway.-Selected filmography:* The Lure of Crooning Water * Hindle Wakes * French Leave...
was his brother.)
Career
Gwenn appeared in more than eighty films during his career, including the Greer GarsonGreer Garson
Greer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
/Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
version of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)
Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel...
(1940), Cheers for Miss Bishop
Cheers for Miss Bishop
Cheers for Miss Bishop is a film based on the novel Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It was directed by Tay Garnett and stars Martha Scott in the title role. The other cast members include William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Dorothy Peterson, Marsha Hunt, Don Douglas, and Sidney...
, Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage (1946 film)
Of Human Bondage is a 1946 American drama filmdirected by Edmund Goulding. The second screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel, the Warner Bros. release was written by Catherine Turney...
, and The Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys of the Kingdom (film)
The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund...
. George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
's Sylvia Scarlett
Sylvia Scarlett
Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s...
(1935) marked his first appearance in a Hollywood movie, as Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
's father; - his final British picture, as a capitalist trying to take over a family brewery in Cheer Boys Cheer
Cheer Boys Cheer
Cheer Boys Cheer is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Nova Pilbeam, Edmund Gwenn, Jimmy O'Dea, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. Made by Ealing Studios the film depicts the fanatical rivalry between two local firms of brewers each hoping to establish a monopoly....
(1939) is credited with being the first authentic Ealing comedy. He settled in Hollywood in 1940 and became part of its British colony. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
in Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street is a 1947 Christmas film written by George Seaton from a story by Valentine Davies, directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn...
, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Upon receiving his Oscar, he said "Now I know there is a Santa Claus!" According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) he is the only person to win an acting Academy Award for playing the role of Santa Claus.
He received a second nomination for his role in Mister 880
Mister 880
Mister 880 is a 1950 film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, Edmund Gwenn, and Millard Mitchell. It was based on an article by St. Clair McKelway that was first published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelway's book True Tales from the Annals of...
(1950). Near the end of his career he played one of the main roles in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble With Harry is a 1955 American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel of the same name by Jack Trevor Story. It was released in the United States on October 3, 1955 then rereleased once the distribution rights were acquired by Universal Pictures in 1984...
(1955). He has a small but hugely memorable role as a Cockney assassin in another Hitchcock film, Foreign Correspondent
Foreign Correspondent (film)
Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War...
(1940)
In theater, he starred in a 1942 production on Broadway of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
, which also starred Judith Anderson
Judith Anderson
Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...
and Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
. It was produced by and starred Katherine Cornell. Time magazine proclaimed it "a dream production by anybody's reckoning — the most glittering cast the theater has seen, commercially, in this generation."http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,886023,00.html
In 1954, Gwenn played Dr. Harold Medford in the classic science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
Them! with James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
and James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
.
Death
Edmund Gwenn died from pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after suffering a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, in Woodland Hills, California, twenty days before his 82nd birthday. According to several sources, his last words, when a friend at his bedside remarked that "It is hard to die," were: "But it is harder to do comedy." However, a very similar deathbed saying was earlier attributed to a similarly named 19th-century English actor, Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.-Early life:Kean was born in London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey...
, so the association of the words with Gwenn may be erroneous. Gwenn was cremated and his ashes are stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory is a crematory and columbarium located at 1605 South Catalina Street Los Angeles, California, in the historic West Adams District a short distance southwest of Downtown...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Edmund Gwenn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1751 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures.
Selected filmography
- The Real Thing at LastThe Real Thing at LastThe Real Thing at Last is a satirical silent movie based on the play Macbeth. It was written in 1916 by Peter Pan creator and playwright J. M. Barrie as a parody of the American film industry...
(1916) - UnmarriedUnmarried (1920 film)Unmarried is a 1920 British silent drama film directed by Rex Wilson and starring Gerald du Maurier, Malvina Longfellow and Edmund Gwenn. The film portrays an unmarried mother and the social workers who support her.-Partial cast:...
(1920) - The Skin GameThe Skin Game (1921 film)The Skin Game is a 1921 British-Dutch silent drama film directed by B. E. Doxat-Pratt.-Cast:* Edmund Gwenn - Hornblower* Mary Clare - Chloe Hornblower* Helen Haye - Mrs. Hillcrist* Dawson Millward - Mr...
(1921) - How He Lied to Her HusbandHow He Lied to Her HusbandHow He Lied to Her Husband is a one-act comedy play by George Bernard Shaw, who wrote it, at the request of actor Arnold Daly, over a period of four days while he was vacationing in Scotland in 1905...
(1931) - Hindle WakesHindle Wakes (1931 film)Hindle Wakes is a 1931 British film drama, directed by Victor Saville for Gainsborough Pictures and starring Belle Chrystall and John Stuart. The film is adapted from Stanley Houghton's controversial 1912 stage play of the same name, which had previously been filmed twice as a silent in 1918 and...
(1931) - The Skin Game (1931)
- Love on WheelsLove on WheelsLove on Wheels is a 1932 British musical comedy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jack Hulbert, Leonora Corbett, Gordon Harker and Edmund Gwenn.-Cast:* Jack Hulbert - Fred Hopkins* Leonora Corbett - Jane Russell* Gordon Harker - Briggs...
(1932) - Friday the ThirteenthFriday the Thirteenth (1933 film)Friday the Thirteenth is a 1933 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Muriel Aked. The film depicts the lives of several passengers in the hours before they are involved in a bus crash.-Cast:...
(1933) - The Good CompanionsThe Good Companions (1933 film)The Good Companions is a 1933 comedy film directed by Victor Saville starring Jessie Matthews and John Gielgud. It is based on the novel of the same name.-Cast:* Jessie Matthews - Susie Dean* Edmund Gwenn - Jess Oakroyd* John Gielgud - Inigo Jollifant...
(1933) - I Was a SpyI Was a SpyI Was a Spy is a 1933 British thriller film directed by Victor Saville and starring Madeleine Carroll, Herbert Marshall and Conrad Veidt. A Belgian woman who nurses injured German soldiers during World War I passes intelligence to the British....
(1933) - Channel CrossingChannel CrossingChannel Crossing is a 1933 British crime film and starring Milton Rosmer and starring Matheson Lang, Constance Cummings, Anthony Bushell and Nigel Bruce.-Cast:* Matheson Lang - Jacob Van Eeden* Constance Cummings - Marion Slade...
(1933) - Warn LondonWarn LondonWarn London is a 1934 British thriller film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Edmund Gwenn, John Loder and Leonora Corbett. A detective goes undercover to infiltrate a gang planning a bullion robbery. It was based on a novel by Denison Clift.-Cast:...
(1934) - Waltzes from ViennaWaltzes from ViennaWaltzes from Vienna is a British musical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, also known as Strauss' Great Waltz.-Production background:The film tells the story of the writing and performance of The Blue Danube. According to Hitchcock:...
(1934) - Sylvia ScarlettSylvia ScarlettSylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s...
(1935) - The Walking DeadThe Walking Dead (1936 film)The Walking Dead is a 1936 horror film starring Boris Karloff as a wrongly executed man who is restored to life by a scientist . The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.-Plot:...
(1936) - Anthony AdverseAnthony AdverseAnthony Adverse is a 1936 American drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Sheridan Gibney is based on the sprawling 1,224-page novel of the same title by Hervey Allen.-Plot:...
(1936) - South RidingSouth Riding (film)South Riding is a 1938 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and produced by Alexander Korda, starring Edna Best, Ralph Richardson, Edmund Gwenn and Ann Todd. A squire becomes involved in local politics. It is based on the novel South Riding by Winifred Holtby...
(1938) - A Yank at OxfordA Yank at OxfordA Yank at Oxford is a 1938 British film, directed by Jack Conway from a screenplay by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios...
(1938) - Penny ParadisePenny ParadisePenny Paradise is a 1938 British comedy film, produced by Ealing Studios. It was an early directorial assignment for Carol Reed, and along with many other British productions of the era such as the same year's better-known Reed-directed Bank Holiday, is described as: "...belonging to a wider...
(1938) - Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice (1940 film)Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel...
(1940) - The Earl of ChicagoThe Earl of ChicagoThe Earl of Chicago is a 1940 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen and Edmund Gwenn...
(1940) - Foreign CorrespondentForeign Correspondent (film)Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War...
(1940) - Cheers for Miss BishopCheers for Miss BishopCheers for Miss Bishop is a film based on the novel Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It was directed by Tay Garnett and stars Martha Scott in the title role. The other cast members include William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Dorothy Peterson, Marsha Hunt, Don Douglas, and Sidney...
(1941) - Scotland YardScotland Yard (1941 film)Scotland Yard is a 1941 American crime drama film starring Nancy Kelly and Edmund Gwenn about a fugitive whose visage has been altered with plastic surgery. The movie was directed by Norman Foster.-Cast:*Nancy Kelly ................ Lady Sandra Lasher...
(1941) - The Devil and Miss JonesThe Devil and Miss JonesThe Devil and Miss Jones is a 1941 comedy film starring Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn. Directed by Sam Wood and scripted by Norman Krasna, the film was the product of an independent collaboration between Krasna and producer Frank Ross...
(1941)
- A Yank at EtonA Yank at EtonA Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. All of it was filmed in the United States and none of it at Eton...
(1942) - Lassie Come HomeLassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor, Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie...
(1943) - Between Two Worlds (1944)
- The Keys of the KingdomThe Keys of the Kingdom (film)The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund...
(1944) - She Went to the Races (1945)
- Of Human BondageOf Human Bondage (1946 film)Of Human Bondage is a 1946 American drama filmdirected by Edmund Goulding. The second screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel, the Warner Bros. release was written by Catherine Turney...
(1946) - Undercurrent (1946)
- Miracle on 34th StreetMiracle on 34th StreetMiracle on 34th Street is a 1947 Christmas film written by George Seaton from a story by Valentine Davies, directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn...
(1947) - Life with FatherLife with Father (film)Life with Father is a 1947 American comedy film. It tells the true story of Clarence Day, a stockbroker who wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife and his children ignoring him, until they start making demands for him to change his own life. In keeping with the autobiography, all the...
(1947) - Green Dolphin StreetGreen Dolphin StreetGreen Dolphin Street is a 1947 historic drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Plot summary:In the 1840s, two sisters fall in love with the same man...
(1947) - Apartment for PeggyApartment for PeggyApartment for Peggy is a 1948 film about a depressed professor whose spirits are lifted when he rents part of his home to a young couple. It was based on the novelette An Apartment for Jenny by Faith Baldwin. Campus exteriors were filmed at the University of Nevada, Reno.-Plot:Jason Taylor is a...
(1948) - Hills of HomeHills of Home (film)Hills of Home is a 1948 Technicolor drama film, the fourth in a series of MGM Lassie films. It starred Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Tom Drake.-Plot:...
(1948) - Challenge to LassieChallenge to LassieChallenge to Lassie is an American drama directed by Richard Thorpe and released October 31, 1949 by MGM Studios. It was the fifth feature film starring the original Lassie, a collie named Pal and the fourth, and final, Lassie film that Donald Crisp would star in.The movie is based on Eleanor...
(1949) - LouisaLouisa (film)Louisa is a 1950 comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Ronald Reagan and Spring Byington in the title role. This film was Piper Larie's film debut. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Louisa is a 1950 comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Ronald Reagan...
(1950) - Pretty BabyPretty Baby (1950 film)Pretty Baby is a 1950 comedy film starring Dennis Morgan, Betsy Drake, Zachary Scott and Edmund Gwenn. A young woman's little white lie leads to unforeseen complications.-Plot:...
(1950) - Mister 880Mister 880Mister 880 is a 1950 film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, Edmund Gwenn, and Millard Mitchell. It was based on an article by St. Clair McKelway that was first published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelway's book True Tales from the Annals of...
(1950) - Peking ExpressPeking Express (film)Peking Express is a 1951 adventure film made by Paramount Pictures. It is the second remake of Paramount's earlier Shanghai Express , remade as Night Plane from Chungking . It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Hal B. Wallis, from a screenplay by John Meredyth Lucas, based on the...
(1951) - Bonzo Goes to CollegeBonzo Goes to CollegeBonzo Goes to College is the sequel to Bedtime for Bonzo. Like that film, it was directed by Frederick De Cordova but has a different cast and writers....
(1952) - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (1952 film)Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and featured Michael Rennie as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton as Javert, Sylvia Sidney as Fantine, Debra Paget as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell as...
(1952) - The Bigamist (1953)
- The Student PrinceThe Student Prince (film)The Student Prince is a 1954 CinemaScope color film musical featuring, as the credits read, "the singing voice of Mario Lanza". Lanza had become embroiled in a bitter dispute with MGM during production and the studio dismissed him. Under the terms of the settlement with Lanza, MGM retained the...
(1954) - Them! (1954)
- The Trouble with HarryThe Trouble with HarryThe Trouble With Harry is a 1955 American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel of the same name by Jack Trevor Story. It was released in the United States on October 3, 1955 then rereleased once the distribution rights were acquired by Universal Pictures in 1984...
(1955) - CalabuchCalabuchCalabuch is a 1956 comedy film directed by Luis García Berlanga.-Production background:This Spanish-Italian co-production was filmed in Peniscola, Castellón , and features an international cast led by British-American actor Edmund Gwenn in his last film role, and Italians Valentina Cortese and...
(1956) U.S. title The Rocket from Calabuch
External links
- Edmund Gwenn in Screen Director's Playhouse: Miracle on 34th Street (1949) (Downloadable mp3 and streaming audio)
- Edmund Gwenn in Lux Radio Theater: Miracle on 34th Street (1948) (Downloadable mp3 and streaming audio)
- Regarding Edmund Gwenn (TCM Movie Morlocks)