Reginald Owen

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	Acting
Most Rating	9.796
Birthday	1887-08-04
Place of Birth	Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Also Known As	John Reginald Owen, Джон Реджинальд Оуэн, Реджинальд Оуэн,

Mary Poppins

Woman of the Year

Conquest

The Thrill of It All

Random Harvest

Queen Christina

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

A Christmas Carol

Above Suspicion

Platinum Blonde

Mrs. Miniver

A Woman's Face

Tarzan's Secret Treasure

Reunion in France

The Pirate

Five Weeks in a Balloon

Cairo

Rosalie

Everybody Sing

The Great Ziegfeld

Challenge to Lassie

The Secret Garden

Love on the Run

The Valley of Decision

Madame Curie

Personal Property

Madame X

Rose Marie

Of Human Bondage

The Diary of a Chambermaid

A Study in Scarlet

Somewhere I'll Find You

The Good Fairy

A Tale of Two Cities

Tammy and the Doctor

Three Loves Has Nancy

Julia Misbehaves

The Canterville Ghost

Anna Karenina

Cluny Brown

Fashions of 1934

Music in the Air

They Met in Bombay

The Man in Possession

Salute to the Marines

White Cargo

Kitty

Green Dolphin Street

The Ghost Comes Home

Kidnapped

The Real Glory

The Bride Wore Red

Petticoat Fever

The Earl of Chicago

The Letter

If Winter Comes

Downstairs

Call of the Wild

Sherlock Holmes

The Great Diamond Robbery

Stingaree

Here Is My Heart

Escapade

Lovers Courageous

Blonde Inspiration

Trouble for Two

Enchanted April

Double Harness

Voltaire

The Girl Downstairs

Fast and Loose

The Imperfect Lady

We Were Dancing

Rosie!

Remember?

Florian

Assignment in Brittany

Piccadilly Incident

Paradise for Three

Hotel Imperial