Richard Barbee, Arthur Byron, and Margaret Lawrence in Transplanting Jean (1921)

Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor. who played a mixture of British and American roles in films.

Early years

Byron was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He was a nephew of the stage actress

Ada Rehan Ada Rehan (born Bidelia Crehan; June 12, 1857 – January 8, 1916) was an American actress and comedian who typified the "personality" style of acting in the nineteenth century. Early life and career She was born Bidelia Crehan in Limerick cit ...

, his maternal aunt.

Career

Byron started his theatrical career in February 1889 at the age of 17 with his father's dramatic company. In 1939 he celebrated his 50 years in showbusiness. He appeared in more than 300 plays and played with stars like

Maxine Elliott Maxine Elliott (February 5, 1868 – March 5, 1940) was an American actress and businesswoman. Early life Born Jessie Dermott on February 5, 1868, to Thomas Dermott, a sea captain and Adelaide Hill Dermott, she had a younger sister, actress G ...

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

Katherine Cornell Katharine Cornell (February 16, 1893June 9, 1974) was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York. Dubbed "The First Lady of the Theatre" by critic A ...

Maude Adams Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production ...

and

Minnie Maddern Fiske Minnie Maddern Fiske (born Marie Augusta Davey; December 19, 1865 – February 15, 1932), but often billed simply as Mrs. Fiske, was one of the leading American actresses of the late 19th and early 20th century. She also spearheaded the fig ...

. He was the founder and one-time president of The

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

and he also served as an officer of The Lambs and the Actor's fund of America. Byron appeared many times at the Lakewood Playhouse in Maine.

Personal life and death

Byron was married to Kathryn Keyes, and they had two daughters and a son. He died of a heart ailment, from which he suffered for some years, in Hollywood in 1943. He was cremated and his ashes were sent to the Byron summer home in Maine.

Selected filmography

* ''

Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride ''Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride'' is a surviving 1904 silent film short comedy produced by Thomas Edison and directed by Edwin S. Porter and preserved from a paper print in the Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research ...

'' (1904, Edison) * '' Fast Life'' (1932) - John D. Jameson * ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States *Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Par ...

'' (1932) - Sir Joseph Whemple * '' 20,000 Years in Sing Sing'' (1932) - Warden Paul Long * ''

Gabriel Over the White House ''Gabriel Over the White House'' is a 1933 American pre-Code political fantasy film starring Walter Huston as a genial but politically corrupt U.S. President who has a near-fatal automobile accident and comes under divine influence—specifica ...

'' (1933) - Jasper Brooks - Secretary of State * ''

The Silk Express ''The Silk Express'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Ray Enright and written by Houston Branch and Ben Markson. The film, starring Neil Hamilton, Sheila Terry, Arthur Byron, Guy Kibbee, Dudley Digges and Arthur Hohl, was rele ...

'' (1933) - Conductor Clark * ''

Private Detective 62 ''Private Detective 62'' is a 1933 American pre-Code detective film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring William Powell as a private detective who falls for a woman whom he has been hired to frame in a scandal. Plot In France, United States ...

'' (1933) - Tracey (uncredited) * ''

The Mayor of Hell ''The Mayor of Hell'' is a 1933 American pre-Code Warner Brothers film starring James Cagney. The film was remade in 1938 as ''Crime School'' with Humphrey Bogart taking over James Cagney's role and ''Hell's Kitchen'' with Ronald Reagan in 1939. ...

'' (1933) - Judge Gilbert * ''

College Coach ''College Coach'' (UK title ''Football Coach'') is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Dick Powell and Ann Dvorak. The film features John Wayne in his last bit-part role. Plot Calvert College begins taking football more seriously, over ...

'' (1933) - Dr. Phillip Sargent * ''

Two Alone 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

'' (1934) - Slag * ''

The House of Rothschild ''The House of Rothschild'' is a 1934 American pre-Code historical drama film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring George Arliss, Loretta Young and Boris Karloff. It was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the play by George Hembert Westley, ...

'' (1934) - Baring * ''

Stand Up and Cheer! ''Stand Up and Cheer!'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Hamilton MacFadden. The screenplay by Lew Brown and Ralph Spence was based upon a story idea by Will Rogers and Philip Klein. The film is about efforts undertaken du ...

'' (1934) - John Harly * ''

Fog Over Frisco ''Fog Over Frisco'' is a 1934 United States, American Pre-Code drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Robert N. Lee and Eugene Solow was based on the short story ''The Five Fragments'' by George Dyer. Plot Arlene Bradford (Be ...

'' (1934) - Everett Bradford * ''

The Notorious Sophie Lang ''The Notorious Sophie Lang'' is a 1934 American crime drama film directed by Ralph Murphy and starring Gertrude Michael, Paul Cavanagh and Alison Skipworth.The Man with Two Faces'' (1934) - Dr. Kendall * ''That's Gratitude'' (1934) - Thomas Maxwell * ''

Marie Galante Marie-Galante ( gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Mawigalant) is one of the islands that form Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. Marie-Galante has a land area of . It had 11,528 inhabitants at the start of 2013, but by the start of 2018 th ...

'' (1934) - Gen. Gerald Phillips * ''

The President Vanishes ''The President Vanishes'' is a political novel by Rex Stout that was published in 1934. It was written after, but published before, ''Fer-de-Lance (novel), Fer-de-Lance'', the first Nero Wolfe novel. "''The President Vanishes'' was published Ano ...

'' (1934) - President Craig Stanley * ''

The Secret Bride ''The Secret Bride'' is a 1934 American drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Warren William. Based on the play ''Concealment'' by Leonard Ide, the film is about governor's daughter and a state attorney general ...

'' (1934) - Governor W.H. Vincent * '' Shadow of Doubt'' (1935) - Morgan Bellwood * ''

The Whole Town's Talking ''The Whole Town's Talking'' (released in the UK as ''Passport to Fame'') is a 1935 American comedy film starring Edward G. Robinson as a law-abiding man who bears a striking resemblance to a killer, with Jean Arthur as his love interest. It w ...

'' (1935) - Spencer * ''

The Casino Murder Case ''The Casino Murder Case'' is a 1934 novel written by S. S. Van Dine in the series about fictional detective Philo Vance. In this outing, a murder investigation is connected with a private casino on New York's Upper West Side, and the wealthy a ...

'' (1935) - Richard Kinkaid * ''

Murder in the Fleet ''Murder In the Fleet'' is a 1935 American murder mystery/comedy-drama film set aboard . Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was directed by Edward Sedgwick and stars Robert Taylor and Jean Parker. Plot Captain John Winslow (Arthur Byron ...

'' (1935) - Capt. John Winslow * '' Oil for the Lamps of China'' (1935) - No. 1 Boss * ''

The Prisoner of Shark Island ''The Prisoner of Shark Island'' is a 1936 American drama film loosely based on the life of Maryland physician Samuel Mudd, who treated the injured presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth and later spent time in prison after his controversial co ...

'' (1936) - Mr. Erickson * ''

The Prisoner of Zenda ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order ...

'' (1937) - (scenes deleted) (final film role)

References

External links

* *
Arthur Byron
portrait gallery at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Broadway Photographs
Univ. of S. Carolina) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, Arthur 1872 births 1943 deaths American male film actors Male actors from New York City People from Brooklyn 20th-century American male actors Presidents of the Actors' Equity Association