Selena Royle
Encyclopedia
Selena Royle was an American stage, television and film actress.
, Royle's parents were playwright Edwin Milton Royle
and actress Selena Fetter (April 12, 1860 - May 10, 1955). She had an older sister Josephine Fetter Royle (1901–1992). She turned to acting despite the objections of her parents. Nonetheless, her first professional role was as Guinevere
in her father's play Lancelot and Elaine. Eventually she landed a part on her own in the 1923 Theatre Guild
production of Peer Gynt
with Joseph Schildkraut
and became a respected Broadway
actress. She made one film in the 1930s, Misleading Lady
, but otherwise worked on the stage and on radio, starring on the shows Hilda Hope, M.D. and Kate Hopkins.
In the 1940s, she returned to film and had a successful run, mainly playing maternal characters such as Ingrid Bergman
's mother in Joan of Arc
(1948). She also made several appearances on early television
. However, in 1951, when she refused to testify about her alleged Communist sympathies before the House Un-American Activities Committee
, her acting career came to a sudden standstill. She appeared in only two more films afterwards, including the low-budget Robot Monster
.
from 1948 until his death in 1969.
Royle died in Guadalajara
, Jalisco
, Mexico
on April 23, 1983, aged 78.
Early life and career
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Royle's parents were playwright Edwin Milton Royle
Edwin Milton Royle
Edwind Milton Royle was an American playwright. He was born in Lexington, Missouri.Over 30 of his plays were performed. His best known is The Squaw Man....
and actress Selena Fetter (April 12, 1860 - May 10, 1955). She had an older sister Josephine Fetter Royle (1901–1992). She turned to acting despite the objections of her parents. Nonetheless, her first professional role was as Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
in her father's play Lancelot and Elaine. Eventually she landed a part on her own in the 1923 Theatre Guild
Theatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the Washington Square Players.Its original purpose was to...
production of Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
with Joseph Schildkraut
Joseph Schildkraut
Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian stage and film actor.-Early life:Born in Vienna, Austria, Schildkraut was the son of stage actor Rudolph Schildkraut. The younger Schildkraut moved to the United States in the early 1900s. He appeared in many Broadway productions...
and became a respected Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress. She made one film in the 1930s, Misleading Lady
Misleading Lady
Misleading Lady is a 1932 film directed by Stuart Walker, and starring Claudette Colbert and Edmund Lowe.Paramount closed its studio in Astoria, Queens upon the completion of this film on 1 March 1932.-Plot:...
, but otherwise worked on the stage and on radio, starring on the shows Hilda Hope, M.D. and Kate Hopkins.
In the 1940s, she returned to film and had a successful run, mainly playing maternal characters such as Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
's mother in Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (1948 film)
Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948). She also made several appearances on early television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. However, in 1951, when she refused to testify about her alleged Communist sympathies before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
, her acting career came to a sudden standstill. She appeared in only two more films afterwards, including the low-budget Robot Monster
Robot Monster
Robot Monster is a 1953 American science fiction film made in 3-D by Phil Tucker. It is frequently considered one of the worst films ever made.- Plot :...
.
Personal life and death
Her first husband was Earle Larrimore. They were married in 1932 and divorced in 1942. She was married to actor Georges RenaventGeorges Renavent
Georges Renavent was an actor in American classic films, Broadway plays and operator of American Grand Guignol. He was born in Paris, France....
from 1948 until his death in 1969.
Royle died in Guadalajara
Guadalajara
Guadalajara may refer to:In Mexico:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico**Guadalajara Metropolitan Area*University of Guadalajara, a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco...
, Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
on April 23, 1983, aged 78.
Selected filmography
- Misleading LadyMisleading LadyMisleading Lady is a 1932 film directed by Stuart Walker, and starring Claudette Colbert and Edmund Lowe.Paramount closed its studio in Astoria, Queens upon the completion of this film on 1 March 1932.-Plot:...
(1932) - The Fighting SullivansThe Fighting SullivansThe Fighting Sullivans, originally released as The Sullivans, is a 1944 American biographical war film directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Edward Doherty, Mary C. McCall Jr. and Jules Schermer...
(1944) - Mrs. ParkingtonMrs. ParkingtonMrs. Parkington is a 1944 drama film. It tells the story of a woman's life, told in flashbacks, from hotel maid to society matron. The movie was adapted by Polly James and Robert Thoeren from the novel by Louis Bromfield...
(1944) - This Man's NavyThis Man's NavyThis Man's Navy is a World War II film about U.S. Navy airships starring Wallace Beery, Tom Drake, and James Gleason, and directed by William A. Wellman.-Plot:...
(1945) - The Harvey GirlsThe Harvey GirlsThe Harvey Girls is a 1946 MGM musical film based on a 1942 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams about Fred Harvey's famous Harvey House restaurants. Directed by George Sidney, the film stars Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Angela Lansbury, Virginia O'Brien, Ray Bolger, and Marjorie Main...
(1946) - The Green YearsThe Green Years (film)The Green Years is a 1946 American comedy-drama film featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy, based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title...
(1946) - Gallant JourneyGallant JourneyGallant Journey is a historical film about early U.S. aeronautical experimenter John Joseph Montgomery. It depicts his efforts to build and fly gliders, from his childhood through to his death in 1911.The chief pilot for the film was Paul Mantz....
(1946) - Night and Day (1946)
- The Romance of Rosy RidgeThe Romance of Rosy RidgeThe Romance of Rosy Ridge is a 1947 drama film about a rural community still bitterly divided in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It stars Van Johnson, Thomas Mitchell, and Janet Leigh in her film debut...
(1947) - Cass TimberlaneCass TimberlaneCass Timberlane is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1945. It is Sinclair Lewis' nineteenth novel and one of his last.It was made into a romantic drama film starring Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner, directed by George Sidney, and released in 1947.Timberlane is a minor character in...
(1947) - Summer HolidaySummer Holiday (1948 film)Summer Holiday is a 1948 American musical film, starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven. It is based on the play Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill, which had been filmed as Ah, Wilderness! by MGM in 1935.-Cast:...
(1948) - A Date with JudyA Date with Judy (film)A Date with Judy is a 1948 MGM musical film starring Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, and Elizabeth Taylor. Directed by Richard Thorpe, the movie was based on the radio series of the same name....
(1948) - MoonriseMoonrise (film)-Plot:Dane Clark plays Danny Hawkins, the son of a murderer who was hanged for his crimes. Haunted by his father's past, the young man is tormented by the young people of the small southern town in which he lives. Hawkins' only friend is Gilly Johnson , a girl who is quickly falling in love with...
(1948) - Joan of ArcJoan of Arc (1948 film)Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948) - My Dream Is YoursMy Dream Is YoursMy Dream Is Yours is a 1949 musical romantic comedy film starring Doris Day, Jack Carson and Lee Bowman.The film is perhaps best remembered today for an extended dream sequence combining animation and live action which featured a cameo appearance by Bugs Bunny, dancing with Jack Carson and Doris...
(1949) - The HeiressThe HeiressThe Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...
(1949) - BrandedBranded (film)Branded is a 1950 western film starring Alan Ladd, Mona Freeman, Charles Bickford, and Robert Keith. It was adapted from the novel Montana Rides Again by Max Brand. A gunfighter on the run from the law is talked into posing as the long-lost son of a wealthy rancher.-Plot:Choya, a gunfighter on the...
(1950) - He Ran All the WayHe Ran All the WayHe Ran All the Way is a 1951 crime drama, considered a film noir, starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. The film was Garfield's last, as accusations of his involvement with the Communist Party and a refusal to name names while testifying before the HUAC led to his blacklisting in Hollywood...
(1951) - Robot MonsterRobot MonsterRobot Monster is a 1953 American science fiction film made in 3-D by Phil Tucker. It is frequently considered one of the worst films ever made.- Plot :...
(1953)
External links
- Selena Fetter mother of Selena Royle, portrait from the University of Louisville