Stanley Ridges
Encyclopedia
Stanley Ridges was a British-born actor who made his mark in films by playing a wide assortment of character parts. Born July 17, 1890 or 1891 in Southampton
, Hampshire
, England
, Stanley Ridges would become a protégé of Beatrice Lillie
, a star of musical stage comedies, and spent a great many years learning and honing his craft on the stage.
Eventually making his way over to America, Ridges started out as a song-and-dance man on Broadway
, but later turned to dramatic roles onstage, appearing in such plays as Maxwell Anderson
's Mary of Scotland (as Lord Morton) and Valley Forge
(as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench), becoming a romantic leading man on Broadway.
Ridges' silent film debut was in 1923's Success. But with his excellent diction and rich speaking voice, he easily made the transition into sound film career, with his career taking off at the middle-age of 43, in 1934's Crime Without Passion
, opposite actor Claude Rains
. Stanley found himself cast in character roles, as his graying hair put his romantic leading man days at an end. Ridges' most famous roles probably were two different professors, one of them the kindly Professor Kingsley in the thriller Black Friday
. Kingsley is hit by a car, operated on by Boris Karloff
's character, receiving part of the brain of a deceased gangster, and begins experiencing Jekyll-and-Hyde personality transformations. Ridges' other "scholarly" role is that of the treacherous double agent secretly working for the Nazis, Professor Siletsky, in the original version of Ernst Lubitsch
's classic World War II
comedy, To Be or Not to Be
, starring Jack Benny
and Carole Lombard
. Ridges was many times cast in supporting roles in scores of classic films; he played the leading role in only one film, the 1943 B-picture False Faces.
Ridges's other notable film roles were as the Scotland Yard
inspector who is shadowing Charles Laughton
in the 1944 film The Suspect
, as Major Buxton (Gary Cooper
's commanding officer) in the film Sergeant York
, and as Cary Travers Grayson
, the official White House
physician in the film Wilson
.
By 1950, he had just begun a career appearing in notable television anthologies such as Studio One
and Philco Television Playhouse. His last feature film, the Ginger Rogers
comedy The Groom Wore Spurs, in which he played a mobster, was released a month before his death. Stanley Ridges died April 22, 1951, in Westbrook, CT., aged 60.
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
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...
, Stanley Ridges would become a protégé of Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
, a star of musical stage comedies, and spent a great many years learning and honing his craft on the stage.
Eventually making his way over to America, Ridges started out as a song-and-dance man on 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...
, but later turned to dramatic roles onstage, appearing in such plays as Maxwell Anderson
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
's Mary of Scotland (as Lord Morton) and Valley Forge
Valley Forge (play)
Valley Forge is a 1934 play by Maxwell Anderson, about the winter that George Washington spent in Valley Forge. Philip Merivale played Washington in the original production, and Richard Basehart played him in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television version....
(as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench), becoming a romantic leading man on Broadway.
Ridges' silent film debut was in 1923's Success. But with his excellent diction and rich speaking voice, he easily made the transition into sound film career, with his career taking off at the middle-age of 43, in 1934's Crime Without Passion
Crime Without Passion
Crime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures...
, opposite actor Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
. Stanley found himself cast in character roles, as his graying hair put his romantic leading man days at an end. Ridges' most famous roles probably were two different professors, one of them the kindly Professor Kingsley in the thriller Black Friday
Black Friday (1940 film)
Black Friday is a 1940 American science fiction film starring Boris Karloff. Béla Lugosi, although second-billed, has only a small part in the film and does not appear with Karloff....
. Kingsley is hit by a car, operated on by Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
's character, receiving part of the brain of a deceased gangster, and begins experiencing Jekyll-and-Hyde personality transformations. Ridges' other "scholarly" role is that of the treacherous double agent secretly working for the Nazis, Professor Siletsky, in the original version of Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
's classic World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
comedy, To Be or Not to Be
To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)
To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel...
, starring Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
and Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
. Ridges was many times cast in supporting roles in scores of classic films; he played the leading role in only one film, the 1943 B-picture False Faces.
Ridges's other notable film roles were as the Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
inspector who is shadowing Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
in the 1944 film The Suspect
The Suspect
The Suspect is a 1944 film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, set in Victorian times. It is based on the novel This Way Out, by James Ronald. Released by Universal Pictures, it tells the story of Philip Marshall , a kind but henpecked bank teller who strikes up an innocent friendship with a young...
, as Major Buxton (Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
's commanding officer) in the film Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
, and as Cary Travers Grayson
Cary Travers Grayson
Admiral Cary Travers Grayson was a surgeon in the United States Navy who served a variety of roles from personal aide to President Woodrow Wilson to chairman of the American Red Cross.-Career:Grayson was born to Dr...
, the official White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
physician in the film Wilson
Wilson (film)
Wilson is a 1944 biographical film in Technicolor about President Woodrow Wilson. It stars Charles Coburn, Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.The movie was written by Lamar Trotti and directed by Henry King...
.
By 1950, he had just begun a career appearing in notable television anthologies such as Studio One
Studio One (TV series)
Studio One is a long-running American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by the 26-year-old Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.-Radio:...
and Philco Television Playhouse. His last feature film, the Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
comedy The Groom Wore Spurs, in which he played a mobster, was released a month before his death. Stanley Ridges died April 22, 1951, in Westbrook, CT., aged 60.
Partial filmography
- Success (1923)
- The Sign of the CrossThe Sign of the Cross (film)The Sign of the Cross is a pre-Code epic film released by Paramount Pictures, produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, and based on the original 1895 play by Wilson Barrett....
(1932) (uncredited)
(his footage was added especially for the 1944 re-release only) - Crime Without PassionCrime Without PassionCrime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures...
(1934) - The ScoundrelThe ScoundrelThe Scoundrel is a drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Noël Coward, Julie Haydon, Stanley Ridges, and Lionel Stander. It was Coward's film debut, aside from a bit role in a silent film...
(1935) - Internes Can't Take MoneyInternes Can't Take MoneyInternes Can't Take Money released in the UK as You Can't Take Money, is a drama film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea, and released by Paramount Pictures. McCrea portrayed Dr. Kildare in the character's first screen appearance....
(1937) - Yellow JackYellow Jack (play and film)Yellow Jack is a 1934 play and a 1938 Hollywood movie, both co-written by Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif ....
(1938) - If I Were KingIf I Were KingIf I Were King is a 1938 American biographical historical drama film starring Ronald Colman as medieval poet François Villon, and featuring Basil Rathbone and Frances Dee...
(1938) - The Mad Miss MantonThe Mad Miss MantonThe Mad Miss Manton is a 1938 screwball comedy and mystery film starring Barbara Stanwyck as fun-loving socialite Melsa Manton and Henry Fonda as newspaper editor Peter Ames. Melsa and her debutante friends hunt for a murderer while eating bonbons, flirting with Ames, and otherwise behaving like...
(1938) - They're Always CaughtThey're Always CaughtThey're Always Caught is a 1938 short crime film directed by Harold S. Bucquet. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1939 for Best Live Action Short Film, Two-Reel.-Cast:* Stanley Ridges as Doctor John Pritchard* John Eldredge as Jimmy Stark...
(1938) - Union PacificUnion Pacific (film)Union Pacific is a 1939 American dramatic western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Based on the novel Trouble Shooter by Western fiction author Ernest Haycox, the film is about the building of the railroad across the American West.-Plot:The 1862...
(1939) - Each Dawn I DieEach Dawn I DieEach Dawn I Die is a 1939 gangster film featuring James Cagney and George Raft in their only movie together as leads, although Raft had made an unbilled appearance in a 1932 Cagney vehicle called Taxi! in which he won a dance contest against Cagney, after which he and Cagney brawl...
(1939) - Dust Be My DestinyDust Be My DestinyDust Be My Destiny is a drama film released in 1939. John Garfield stars as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.-Plot:...
(1939) - Espionage AgentEspionage AgentEspionage Agent is a pre–World War II spy melodrama produced by Hal B. Wallis in 1939. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, Espionage Agent, like many Warner Bros. movies, clearly identifies the Germans as the enemy...
(1939) - Black FridayBlack Friday (1940 film)Black Friday is a 1940 American science fiction film starring Boris Karloff. Béla Lugosi, although second-billed, has only a small part in the film and does not appear with Karloff....
(1940) - The Sea WolfThe Sea Wolf (1941 film)The Sea Wolf is a 1941 black-and-white film adaptation of Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf with Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield. The film was written by Robert Rossen and directed by Michael Curtiz....
(1941) - Sergeant YorkSergeant YorkSergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
(1941)
- They Died with Their Boots OnThey Died with Their Boots OnThey Died with Their Boots On is a 1941 western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Despite being rife with historical inaccuracies, the film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the last of eight Flynn–de Havilland collaborations.Like...
(1941) - To Be or Not to BeTo Be or Not to Be (1942 film)To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel...
(1942) - The Big ShotThe Big ShotThe Big Shot is a crime drama film starring Humphrey Bogart as a crime boss and Irene Manning as the woman with whom he falls in love.-Cast:*Humphrey Bogart as Joseph "Duke" Berne*Irene Manning as Lorna Fleming*Richard Travis as George Anderson...
(1942) - False Faces (1943)
- Air Force (1943)
- This is the ArmyThis Is the ArmyThis Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...
(1943) - The Story of Dr. WassellThe Story of Dr. WassellThe Story of Dr. Wassell is a Technicolor World War II film set in the Dutch East Indies, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, and Dennis O'Keefe. It is based on the wartime activities of US Navy Doctor Corydon M...
(1944) - WilsonWilson (film)Wilson is a 1944 biographical film in Technicolor about President Woodrow Wilson. It stars Charles Coburn, Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.The movie was written by Lamar Trotti and directed by Henry King...
(1944) - The SuspectThe SuspectThe Suspect is a 1944 film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, set in Victorian times. It is based on the novel This Way Out, by James Ronald. Released by Universal Pictures, it tells the story of Philip Marshall , a kind but henpecked bank teller who strikes up an innocent friendship with a young...
(1944) - God Is My Co-PilotGod is My Co-Pilot (film)God is My Co-Pilot is a 1945 American propaganda film based on the autobiography of the same name by Robert Lee Scott, Jr. The film tells the story of Scott's association with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma during World War II.-Plot:God Is My Co-Pilot was...
(1945) - PossessedPossessed (1947 film)Possessed is a 1947 Warner Bros. film starring Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, and Raymond Massey in a tale about an unstable woman's obsession with her ex-lover. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall and Silvia Richards was based upon a story by Rita Weiman. The film was directed by Curtis Bernhardt and...
(1947) - An Act of MurderAn Act of MurderAn Act of Murder is a 1948 crime film directed by Michael Gordon...
(1948) - Streets of LaredoStreets of Laredo (film)Streets of Laredo is a 1949 western film starring William Holden, Macdonald Carey and William Bendix as three outlaws who rescue a young girl, played by Mona Freeman...
(1949) - Task ForceTask Force (film)Task Force is a war film filmed in black and white with some Technicolor sequences about the development of U.S. aircraft carriers from the USS Langley to the USS Franklin . The film stars Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Walter Brennan, Wayne Morris, Julie London, and Jack Holt.-Plot:Depicted as a 1917...
(1949) - The File on Thelma JordonThe File on Thelma JordonThe File on Thelma Jordon is a 1950 film noir directed by Robert Siodmak from a screenplay by Ketti Frings. It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.-Plot:...
(1950) - No Way Out (1950)