Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1889-10-12
Day of Death
1974-04-02
Place of Birth
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Douglass Dumbrille
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor and one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood. In 1913, the East Coast film industry was flourishing and that year he appeared in the film What Eighty Million Women Want, but it would be another 11 years before he appeared on screen again. In 1924, he made his Broadway debut and worked off and on in the theatre for several years while supplementing his income by selling such products as car accessories, tea, insurance, real estate, and books. During the Great Depression, Dumbrille moved to the West Coast of the U.S., where he specialized in playing secondary character roles alongside the great stars of the day. His physical appearance and suave voice equipped him for roles as slick politician, corrupt businessman, crooked sheriff, or unscrupulous lawyer. He was highly regarded by the studios and was sought out by Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Capra, Hal Roach and other prominent Hollywood filmmakers. A friend of fellow Canadian-born director Allan Dwan, Dumbrille played Athos in Dwan’s 1939 adaptation of The Three Musketeers. Dumbrille had roles in more than 200 motion pictures and, with the advent of television, made numerous appearances in the 1950s and 1960s. He had the ability to project a balance of menace and pomposity in roles as the "heavy" in comedy films, such as those of the Marx Brothers or Abbott and Costello.
Filmography (154)
Complicated Women
2003
Johnny Cool
1963
Air Patrol
1962
High Time
1960
The Buccaneer
1958
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
1956
The Ten Commandments
1956
Mobs, Inc.
1956
Jungle Safari
1956Life of Vernon Hathaway
1955
Allen in Movieland
1955
A Life at Stake
1955
Jupiter's Darling
1955
The Lawless Rider
1954
