Lewis Lord Russell (born George Lewis Lord, September 10, 1889 – November 12, 1961) was an American actor of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s who starred in a number of
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
shows,
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
dramas and
Hollywood film
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
s, including the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winning ''
The Lost Weekend'' (1945) and the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
film, ''
A Night in Casablanca
''A Night in Casablanca'' is a 1946 film starring the Marx Brothers: (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx). The picture was directed by Archie Mayo, and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee.
...
'' (1946).
Early life and work
Russell was born in
Farmington, Illinois
Farmington is a city in Fulton County & Peoria County, Illinois, United States. It is north of Canton, west of Peoria, southeast of Galesburg, and northeast of Macomb. The population was 2,448 at the 2010 census, down from 2,601 at the 2000 c ...
to British immigrants Samuel and Martha Jane (Wood) Lord, he was the only child of nine born in the United States and, curiously, the only one who developed an English accent.
[Interview with Mrs. Frances Lord Robinson, niece. January 18, 2009.] His father was an Illinois coal miner. After running away from home as a teenager, he began his life in the restaurant business, becoming an avid cook and eventually owning two restaurants.
[Lord, James L. ''The Lord Family History''. St. Louis: unpublished, 1976. Private Collection.] He also designed rugs and tapestries
and worked as a tailor in New York, creating elaborate costumes for the stage.
Career
As a vaudeville actor, Russell toured the U.S. and played at the Palace Theater in
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...
, at a time when the phrase "
Will it play in Peoria?
''Will it play in Peoria?'' is an American English figure of speech that is traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme, or event will appeal to mainstream United States audiences or across a broad range of demo ...
" was well-known to vaudevillians who tested out their routines and sketches in front of the demanding and often difficult-to-please Peoria crowds.
Billing himself as an actor from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
[. Accessed January 31, 2009.] Russell broke into the Broadway scene in the mid 1930s and starred as "The Squire" in the Broadway revival production of
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor.
Early life
Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flintsh ...
's ''
The Corn is Green
''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...
'' (1943) with leading lady
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 ...
at the
Martin Beck Theatre
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish and ...
in New York.
He also toured with actress
Glenda Farrell
Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American actress. Farrell personified the smart and sassy, wisecracking blonde of the Classical Hollywood films. Farrell's career spanned more than 50 years, appearing in numerous Broadwa ...
for several years in the New Rochelle Circuit.
According to legend, he declined the starring role in ''
The Man who Came to Dinner
''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' is a comedy play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of N ...
'' (1942) with
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
, and created the role of the janitor in ''
My Sister Eileen
''My Sister Eileen'' is a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney, originally published in ''The New Yorker'', which eventually inspired many other works: her 1938 book ''My Sister Eileen'', a play, a musical, a radio play (a ...
'' (1942/1955).
He played
and had several starring roles in silent pictures, acting at least once opposite
Pola Negri
Pola Negri (; born Apolonia Chalupec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme ...
.
He also played
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)["Actress, P ...](_blank)
’s concerned father, Charles St. James, in ''
The Lost Weekend'',
Ray Milland
Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985. He is remembered for his Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning ...
’s most popular film.
The playbill for the opening night of ''Bright Rebel'' (1938), a drama about the British
Romantic-Era poet
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
, features the following biographical note, which not only confirms Russell's adoption of an English identity but also suggests that he starred in many more plays than currently on record: "LEWIS L. RUSSELL (''Lord Melbourne'') is both an Englishman and an actor by birth. He was born in Leeds, England, shortly after his mother, a well-known English actress, gave one of those 'the show must go on' performances. With as dramatic a beginning as that he could hardly help getting back on the stage and there has been for some fifty years. A few scattered plays among the innumerable he has appeared in are 'The Rosary,' 'Lombardy, Ltd.,' 'The Bad Man,' 'Within the Law,' 'Madame X,' 'Accent on Youth,' and 'Yes My Darling Daughter.'"
[Lewis L. Russell at th]
Playbill Vault
. Accessed September 1, 2014.
Later life
He designed his own home in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
, where he kept house,
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
-style, with his two-dozen cats. He died in
Reseda, California
Reseda is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1912, and its central business district started developing in 1915. The neighborhood was devoted to agriculture for many years. Earthquakes ...
at the age of 72.
Roles
Broadway
![BrightRebel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/BrightRebel.jpg)
* ''Dead End'' (October 28, 1935 – June 12, 1937) as Medical Examiner
* ''
London Assurance
''London Assurance'' (originally titled ''Out of Town'') is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote but his first to be produced. Its first production was by Charles Matthews and Madame Vestris's company and ...
'' (February 18, 1937 – February 1937) as Max Harkaway
* ''
Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (October 15, 1938 – December 1939) as Judge Bowling Green
* ''Bright Rebel'' (December 27, 1938 – January 1939) as Lord Melbourne
* ''Return Engagement'' (November 1, 1940 – November 7, 1940) as Baldy Bemis
* ''Cuckoos on the Hearth'' (September 16, 1941 – January 3, 1942) as Zadoc Grimes
* ''
The Corn Is Green
''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...
'' (May 3, 1943 – June 19, 1943) as The Squire
Films
* ''
The Affairs of Susan
''The Affairs of Susan'' is a 1945 American romantic comedy drama film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Joan Fontaine, Walter Abel, George Brent, Dennis O'Keefe and Don DeFore. It is also known as ''Chameleon''.
Plot
Susan Darel ...
'' (1945) as Mr. Cusp
* ''
Molly and Me
''Molly and Me'' is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Lewis Seiler and starring Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields, Reginald Gardiner and Roddy McDowall and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the novel written by Frances ...
'' (1945) as Sir Arthur Burroughs
* ''
You Came Along
''You Came Along'' (working title ''Don't Ever Grieve Me'') is a 1945 romantic comedy-drama film set in World War II, directed by John Farrow. The original Robert Smith screenplay was rewritten by Ayn Rand. ''You Came Along'' stars Robert Cumming ...
'' (1945) as Chairman
* ''
The Lost Weekend'' (1945) as Charles St. James
* ''
Hold That Blonde!'' (1945) as Henry Carteret
* ''
She Wouldn't Say Yes
''She Wouldn't Say Yes'' is a 1945 screwball comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rosalind Russell and Lee Bowman.
Plot
A psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lane, is leaving a military hospital after spending two weeks working with patients ...
'' (1945) as Colonel Brady
* ''
One Way to Love
''One Way to Love'' is a 1946 American comedy film starring Willard Parker and Chester Morris. It was directed by Ray Enright
Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927 ...
'' (1946) as Roger Winthrop
* ''
A Night in Casablanca
''A Night in Casablanca'' is a 1946 film starring the Marx Brothers: (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx). The picture was directed by Archie Mayo, and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee.
...
'' (1946, a Marx Bros. film) as Governor Galoux
* ''
She Wrote the Book
''She Wrote the Book'' is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Joan Davis, Jack Oakie, and Mischa Auer.Stephens p.261 The screenplay concerns a shy midwestern professor who travels to New York City to visit a pub ...
'' (1946) as George Dixon
* ''
If I'm Lucky'' (1946) as P.H. Gillingwater (uncredited)
* ''
Monsieur Beaucaire'' (1946) as Chief Justice (uncredited)
* ''
Cross My Heart'' (1946) as Judge
* ''
Ladies Man
A ladies' man or lady's man is a man who enjoys spending time socially with women, who strives to please them and that women find attractive.
Ladies' man or lady's man may also refer to:
Literature
* ''Ladies' Man'' (novel), a 1978 novel by R ...
'' (1947) as David Harmon
* ''
Jewels of Brandenburg
''Jewels of Brandenburg'' is a 1947 American crime film directed by Eugene Forde and written by Irving Cummings Jr. and Robert G. North. The film stars Richard Travis (actor), Richard Travis, Micheline Cheirel, Leonard Strong (actor), Leonard Str ...
'' (1947) as Roger Hamilton
* ''
The Trouble with Women'' (1947) as Dr. Wilmer Dawson
* ''
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now
"I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" is a popular song. The music was written by Harold Orlob, the lyrics by Will M. Hough and Frank R. Adams. Orlob worked for Joseph E. Howard generating songs for Howard's productions and Howard presented the song a ...
'' (1947) as T.J. Milford (uncredited)
* ''
The Prince of Thieves
''The Prince of Thieves'' is a 1948 American adventure film nominally inspired by Alexandre Dumas' 1872 novel ''Le Prince des voleurs''. Produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures and starring Jon Hall as Robin Hood with stuntwork by Jock ...
'' (1948) as Sir Fitz-Alwin (uncredited)
* ''
My Dog Rusty
''My Dog Rusty'' is a 1948 American drama film directed by Lew Landers and starring Ted Donaldson, John Litel and Ann Doran. It was part of the eight-film Rusty series of films produced by Columbia Pictures, about a boy and his valiant German Sh ...
'' (1948) as Mayor Fulderwilder
* ''
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
''Kiss the Blood Off My Hands'' is a 1948 American noir-thriller film directed by Norman Foster. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Gerald Butler, it stars Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster and Robert Newton. The film faced minor ...
'' (1948) as Tom Widgery
* ''
When the Redskins Rode
''When the Redskins Rode'' is a 1951 American historical Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Jon Hall, Mary Castle and James Seay. The film is loosely based on the events leading up to the outbreak of the French and Indian War.
I ...
'' (1951) as Gov. Dinwiddie
* ''
The Underworld Story
''The Underworld Story'' is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea. Da Silva plays the loud-mouthed gangster Carl Durham, one of hi ...
'' (1950) as Calvin
* ''
Corky of Gasoline Alley
''Corky of Gasoline Alley'' is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Edward Bernds and starring Scotty Beckett, Jimmy Lydon, and Susan Morrow.Dick p.260 It is a sequel to ''Gasoline Alley''.
Plot
Elwood Martin (Gordon Jones), a brash extrover ...
'' (1951) as Hull (uncredited)
* ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...
'' (1952) as Waiter (uncredited)
* ''
Against All Flags
''Against All Flags'' is a 1952 American pirate film directed by George Sherman and Douglas Sirk and starring Errol Flynn as Brian Hawke, Maureen O'Hara as Prudence "Spitfire" Stevens and Anthony Quinn as Roc Brasiliano. The film's plot is set in ...
'' (1952) as Oxford (uncredited)
* ''
Sangaree'' (1953) as Capt. Bronson
* ''
The King's Thief
''The King's Thief'' is a 1955 swashbuckling CinemaScope adventure film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who replaced Hugo Fregonese during filming. Released on August 5, 1955, the film takes place in London at the time of Charles II and stars A ...
'' (1955) as Gentleman (uncredited)
* ''
The Naked Hills
''The Naked Hills'' is a 1956 American Western film directed by Josef Shaftel, starring David Wayne, Keenan Wynn, and James Barton.
Plot summary
Tracy Powell, an Indiana farmer, gets the gold fever and heads for Stockton, California in 1849 ...
'' (1956) as Baxter (uncredited) (final film role)
Television
* ''
Public Prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
'', episode "The Case of the Missing Hour" (1947) as Jerome O. Kendrick
* ''The Life of Riley'', "Egbert's Chemistry Set" (1949) as Doctor
* ''
China Smith
''China Smith'' is a 30-minute American syndicated television adventure series starring Dan Duryea. It is set in Singapore. It was released in the fall of 1952. The program's alternate title was ''The Affairs of China Smith'', and the last 26 epis ...
'', "Shanghai Clipper" (1952) as Lord Ratcliffe
* ''
Front Page Detective
''Front Page Detective'' is an American crime drama series which aired on the DuMont Television Network on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET from July 6, 1951, to September 19, 1952, and in October and November 1953. The program was then in broadcast ...
'', "Seven Seas to Danger" (1952) as Dr. Oscar Grandell
* ''
Adventures of Superman'', "Five Minutes to Doom" (1953) as W. T. Wayne
* ''
I Married Joan
''I Married Joan'' is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1952 to 1955. It starred actress Joan Davis as the manic, scatterbrained wife of a mild-mannered community judge (Jim Backus).
Synopsis
The show, whose syndicated open ...
'', "Brad's Moustache" (1953) as a Member of the Nominating Committee
References
External links
*
*
*
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Lewis
1889 births
1961 deaths
American people of British descent
People from Farmington, Illinois
Male actors from Illinois
American male film actors
American male stage actors
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American male actors
People from Pasadena, California