Brian Donlevy

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Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy in Kiss of Death, 1947
Born	Waldo Bruce Donlevy February 9, 1901(1901-02-09) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 5, 1972 (aged 71) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active	1924–1969
Spouse(s)	Yvonne Grey (1928–1936) Marjorie Lane (1936–1938) Lillian Lugosi (1966–1972)
Awards won Academy Awards Nominated: Best Supporting Actor 1939 Beau Geste

Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 5, 1972) was an American actor, known for many film roles from the 1930s to the 1960s. Particularly known for playing "tough guy" roles, he mainly appeared in supporting roles on screen. Amongst the films for which he was best known were Beau Geste (1939) and The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His obituary in The Times newspaper in the United Kingdom stated that "any consideration of the American 'film noir' of the 1940s would be incomplete without him."^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting career 3 Personal life 4 Partial filmography 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Donlevy was born Waldo Bruce Donlevy in Cleveland, Ohio. Early in his career, Hollywood film bosses established a fictional background of Donlevy having been born in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland. It remains a popular myth.^[2]

After lying about his age, Donlevy joined the American army in 1916 and saw service as a pilot during the First World War. After the war, he remained in the army for a short time before he decided to make the move into acting.

[edit] Acting career

He began his career in New York in the early 1920s, over the course of the decade appearing in many theatre productions and also winning an increasing number of silent film parts.

Donlevy's break into major film roles came in 1935, when he was cast in the Edward G. Robinson film Barbary Coast. A large amount of film work followed, with several important parts. In 1939, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, although the Oscar went to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach.

The following year, he played the role for which he is perhaps best remembered, that of McGinty in The Great McGinty (known as Down Went McGinty in the United Kingdom), a role he reprised four years later in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. In 1942, Donlevy starred in the Paramount film Wake Island. In 1955, he played the lead in the British science-fiction horror film The Quatermass Xperiment (called The Creeping Unknown in the US) for the Hammer Films company, playing the lead role of Professor Bernard Quatermass. The film was based on a 1953 BBC Television serial of the same name. The character had been British, but Hammer cast Donlevy in an attempt to help sell the film to American audiences. Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale disliked Donlevy's portrayal, referring to Donlevy as "a former Hollywood heavy gone to seed". Nonetheless, the film version was a success and Donlevy returned for the sequel, Quatermass 2 (Enemy From Space in the US), in 1957, also based on a BBC television serial. This made Donlevy the only man ever to play the famous scientist on screen twice, although later Scottish actor Andrew Keir would play him two times, once on film and later on the radio.

Throughout his film career, Donlevy also did several radio shows, including a reprise of The Great McGinty. He went on to feature in a number of films over the following years until his death. He also appeared in a variety of television series from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s, guest starring in episodes of such popular programs as Perry Mason, Wagon Train, Rawhide, as well as in his own series in the 1950s, Dangerous Assignment. In 1957, he appeared in a CBS production of the A. J. Cronin novel, Beyond This Place. His last film role was in a picture called The Winner, released in 1969.

[edit] Personal life

Donlevy was married three times: first to Yvonne Grey from 1928-36, then to actress Marjorie Lane from 1936-1938, and finally to Lillian Lugosi (the widow of Bela Lugosi, famous for playing Dracula) from 1966 until his death in 1972.

He died on April 6, 1972 in Woodland Hills, California from throat cancer, aged 71, survived by his wife Lillian and a daughter, Judy Donlevy, by his second wife. His ashes were scattered over Santa Monica Bay.

[edit] Partial filmography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Brian Donlevy at Find A Grave
• Brian Donlevy at the Internet Movie Database