Günther Edward Arnold Schneider (February 18, 1890 – April 26, 1956) was an American actor of the stage and screen.
Early life
Arnold was born on February 18, 1890, in
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the son of German immigrants Elizabeth (Ohse) and Carl Schneider. His schooling came at the East Side Settlement House.
[
]
Acting career
Stage
Arnold was interested in acting ever since he appeared on stage as Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice at age 12. He made his professional stage debut in 1907 and had important roles in several plays on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s. Among them is the 1927 revival of ''The Jazz Singer'', with Arnold as the second lead to the star, George Jessel.
Film
He found work as an extra for Essanay Studios
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago, and later developed an additional film lot in Niles Canyon, California. Its various stars included Francis X. Bushma ...
and World Studios, before landing his first significant role in 1916's '' The Misleading Lady''. He returned to the stage in 1919, and did not appear in movies again until his talkie debut in ''Okay America!
''Okay, America!'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code film, about a gossip columnist's rise to fame, based closely on the real life of Walter Winchell.
Cast
* Lew Ayres as Larry Wayne
* Maureen O'Sullivan as Sheila Barton
* Louis Calhern as Mileaway ...
'' (1932). He recreated one of his stage roles in one of his early films, '' Whistling in the Dark'' (1933). His role in the 1935 film ''Diamond Jim
''Diamond Jim'' is a 1935 biographical film based on the published biography ''Diamond Jim Brady'' by Parker Morell. It follows the life of legendary entrepreneur James Buchanan Brady, including his romance with entertainer Lillian Russell, and s ...
'' boosted him to stardom. He reprised the role of Diamond Jim Brady in the 1940 film '' Lillian Russell''. He played a similar role in '' The Toast of New York'' (1937), another fictionalized version of real-life business chicanery, for which he was billed above Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...
on posters, with his name in much larger letters.
Arnold appeared in over 150 movies. Although he was labeled "box office poison" in 1938 by an exhibitor publication (he shared this dubious distinction with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
, Mae West, Fred Astaire and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
), he never lacked work. Rather than continue in leading man roles, he gave up losing weight and went after character parts instead. He said, "The bigger I got, the better character roles I received." He was so sought-after, he often worked on two pictures at once.
Arnold was expert as rogues and authority figures, and superb at combining the two as powerful villains quietly pulling strings. He was best known for his roles in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), '' Sutter's Gold'' (1936), the aforementioned '' The Toast of New York'' (1937), '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938), '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939), '' Meet John Doe'' (1941), and a larger than life star turn as Daniel Webster in ''The Devil and Daniel Webster
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-c ...
'' (1941). He was the first to portray Rex Stout's famous detective Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in ...
, starring in '' Meet Nero Wolfe'' (1936), based on the first novel in the series.
He played blind detective Duncan Maclain in two movies based on the novels by Baynard Kendrick
Baynard Hardwick Kendrick (April 8, 1894 – March 22, 1977) was an American mystery novelist. He wrote whodunit novels about Duncan Maclain, a blind private investigator who worked with his two German shepherds and his household of assistants t ...
, '' Eyes in the Night'' (1942) and '' The Hidden Eye'' (1945).
An image of Arnold made a posthumous appearance in the 1984 film '' Gremlins'' as the deceased husband (visible in a large framed photograph) of Mrs. Deagle, a character much like the rich, heartless characters Arnold was known for. Director Joe Dante mentioned that they received permission from Arnold's family to use his image.
Radio
From 1947 to 1953, Arnold starred in the ABC radio program '' Mr. President''. He also played a lawyer, Mr. Reynolds, on '' The Charlotte Greenwood Show''. In 1953, he hosted ''Spotlight Story'' on the Mutual network.
Television
Arnold hosted ''Your Star Showcase'', "a series of 52 half-hour television dramas ... released by Television Programs of America
Television Programs of America, Inc (TPA) was a New York-based US television production company in the 1950s. TPA had a Canadian subsidiary, Normandie Productions.
This television production and distribution company was best known for '' Fury, K ...
." It was launched January 1, 1954, and ran in 1950 cities.[ He co-starred in "Ever Since the Day", an episode of '' Ford Theatre'' on NBC.
]
Personal life
Arnold was married three times: to Harriet Marshall (1917–1927), with whom he had three children—Elizabeth, Jane and William (who had a short movie career as Edward Arnold Jr.); to Olive Emerson (1929–1948), and to Cleo McLain (1951 until his death)
Arnold was president of the Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...
from 1940 to 1942. In 1940, his autobiography ''Lorenzo Goes to Hollywood'' was published. He was the co-founder of the I Am an American Foundation.
Starting in the 1940s, Arnold became involved in Republican politics and was mentioned as a possible candidate for the United States Senate. He lost a closely contested election for Los Angeles County Supervisor and said at the time that perhaps actors were not suited to run for political office.
Arnold supported Thomas Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election.
Arnold died at his home in Encino, California, at age 66, from a cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
associated with atrial fibrillation. He was interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The property adjoins the San Fernando Mission and Bishop Alemany Catholic High School.
ThSan Fernando Mi ...
.
Recognition
Midwestern University
Midwestern University (MWU) is a private medical and professional school with campuses in Downers Grove, Illinois and Glendale, Arizona. As of the 2020-21 academic year, a total of 2,987 students were enrolled at the Downers Grove campus and ...
awarded Arnold the honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad h ...
of Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...
(D.Litt) on May 24, 1951. He receied a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 6225 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
in the recording category on February 8th 1960.
Filmography
Radio appearances
References
Further reading
*
* Arnold, Edward (1940). ''Lorenzo Goes to Hollywood: The Autobiography of Edward Arnold''. New York: Liveright.
External links
*
*
*
*
Edward Arnold
at Virtual History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Edward
1890 births
1956 deaths
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American male stage actors
American male radio actors
Male actors from New York City
American people of German descent
Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild
American autobiographers
People from the Lower East Side
People from Greater Los Angeles
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
20th-century American male actors
Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
California Republicans
Activists from New York (state)
Activists from California