Edmund Lowe


Edmund Sherbourne Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film.

Biography

Lowe's childhood home was at 314 North 1st Street, San Jose. He attended Santa Clara College and entertained the idea of becoming a priest before starting his acting career. His classmate was William Gaxton.
He died in Woodland Hills, California, of lung cancer and is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.

Quirt and Flagg

Lowe's career included over 100 films, beginning in 1915. He became established as a popular leading man in silent films. He is best remembered for his role as Sergeant Harry Quirt, smart-mouthed buddy of the equally abrasive Captain Jimmy Flagg in the 1926 silent feature What Price Glory? directed by Raoul Walsh.
The popularity of Quirt and Flagg virtually guaranteed Edmund Lowe's success in the new talking pictures: audiences could hardly wait to hear the salty Quirt and Flagg insulting each other in spoken dialogue. During the sound era, a musical comedy remake and two sequels were produced, all starring Lowe and McLaglen, with the first two also directed by Raoul Walsh. Lowe reprised his role from the movies in the radio program Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, broadcast on the Blue Network September 28, 1941 - January 25, 1942, and on NBC February 13, 1942 - April 3, 1942.
Lowe worked steadily as a leading man throughout the 1930s, freelancing at various Hollywood studios. He portrayed the young doctor trying to get out of an affair with Wallace Beery's character's wife, played by Jean Harlow, in Dinner at Eight.

Later career

A look at Edmund Lowe's screen resumé would indicate that he descended to "Poverty Row" productions in 1942 and his career never recovered. In fact, Lowe's career was stalling as early as 1938, when the actor was too mature to play most romantic leads. His last such role was in 1937's Every Day's a Holiday, in which the 48-year-old Lowe played opposite the 44-year-old Mae West. Lowe shifted gears and began playing strong supporting roles in major films and leads in minor films.
Lowe's friend William K. Howard, a top director of the 1920s, was attempting a comeback at the low-budget Monogram Pictures in 1942. As a favor to Howard, Lowe took the leading role in Klondike Fury. Lowe's loyal gesture took a toll on his professional standing: the small, independent Monogram studio was firmly in Hollywood's minor league. As actor Bill Kennedy told author Scott MacGillivray, "If you were an actor on the way up, like Robert Mitchum or Alan Ladd, working at Monogram was okay -- no stigma. But -- if you were already a star at a big studio like Fox or Paramount and then went to Monogram, a la Edmund Lowe, it was the kiss of death."
Lowe's work in Klondike Fury won him an invitation from Columbia Pictures to star in three comedy-mysteries. Lowe also kept working at Monogram, notably in the 1945 crime thriller Dillinger, a surprise hit. Lowe's last starring movie role was in Monogram's The Strange Mr. Gregory.
In 1951-52 Lowe starred in 38 episodes of the television show Front Page Detective and appeared as the elderly lead villain in the first episode of Maverick opposite James Garner in 1957. Lowe appeared occasionally in major motion pictures through 1960.

Marriages

After his first marriage to Esther Miller ended in early 1925. Lowe met Lilyan Tashman while filming Ports of Call. Lowe and Tashman were married on September 21, 1925, before the release of the film. The two had homes, in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California. They were married until Tashman's death from cancer at age 37 in 1934.
Seventy years after Tashman's death, author E.J. Fleming claimed Lowe was a homosexual and Tashman was a lesbian. If the claims were true, fan magazine writers and newspaper columnists made no mention of them during Tashman's lifetime or for 70 years after her death.
Lowe's third wife was costume designer Rita Kaufman, married from 1936 to 1950.

Filmography

  • The Wild Olive as Charles Conquest
  • The Spreading Dawn as Captain Lewis Nugent
  • Vive la France! as Jean Picard
  • Someone Must Pay as Jim Burke
  • Eyes of Youth as Peter Judson
  • The Woman Gives as Robert Milton
  • A Woman's Business as Johnny Lister
  • Someone in the House as Jim Burke
  • Madonnas and Men as Gordon Turner
  • The Devil as Paul de Veaux
  • My Lady's Latchkey as Nelson Smith
  • Living Lies as Dixon Grant
  • Peacock Alley as Phil Garrison
  • The Silent Command as Capt. Richard Decatur
  • In the Palace of the King as Don John
  • Wife in Name Only as Norman Arleigh
  • The White Flower as Bob Rutherford
  • Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model as Jack Carroll
  • Honor Among Men as Prince Kaloney
  • Barbara Frietchie as Captain William Trumbull
  • The Brass Bowl as Dan Maitland
  • East of Suez as George Tevis
  • Greater Than a Crown as Tom Conway
  • Marriage in Transit as Cyril Gordon
  • The Winding Stair as Paul
  • The Kiss Barrier as Richard March
  • Champion of Lost Causes as Loring
  • Ports of Call as Kirk Rainsford
  • East Lynne as Archibald Carlyle
  • The Fool as Daniel Gilchrist
  • Soul Mates as Lord Tancred
  • What Price Glory? as 1st Sergeant Quirt
  • Siberia as Leonid Petroff
  • The Palace of Pleasure as Ricardo Madons
  • Black Paradise as Graham
  • The Wizard as Stanley Gordon
  • Publicity Madness as Pete Clark
  • Is Zat So? as Hap Harley
  • One Increasing Purpose as Sim Paris
  • Dressed to Kill as 'Mile-Away Barry'
  • Outcast as Geoffrey
  • Happiness Ahead as Babe Stewart
  • In Old Arizona as Sgt. Mickey Dunn
  • This Thing Called Love as Robert Collings
  • The Cock-Eyed World as Sgt. Harry Quirt
  • The Painted Angel as Brood
  • Thru Different Eyes as Harvey Manning
  • Making the Grade as Herbert Littell Dodsworth
  • Happy Days as Show Performer
  • Good Intentions as David Cresson
  • The Bad One as Jerry Flanagan
  • Born Reckless as Louis Berretti
  • Part Time Wife as Jim Murdock
  • Scotland Yard as Dakin Barrolles
  • Transatlantic as Monty Greer
  • Don't Bet on Women as Roger Fallon
  • The Spider as Chatrand
  • The Cisco Kid as Sgt. Michael Patrick "Mickey" Dunn
  • Women of All Nations as Sergeant Harry Quirt
  • Men on Call as Chuck Long
  • The Devil Is Driving as Orville "Gabby" Denton
  • Misleading Lady as Jack Craigen
  • Chandu the Magician as Chandu
  • Attorney for the Defense as William J. Burton
  • Guilty as Hell as Russell Kirk
  • Dinner at Eight as Dr. Wayne Talbot
  • Let's Fall in Love as Ken Lane
  • I Love That Man as Brains Stanley
  • Hot Pepper as Harry Quirt
  • Her Bodyguard as Casey McCarthy
  • Gift of Gab as Philip Gabney
  • Bombay Mail as Inspector Dyke
  • No More Women as Three Time
  • The Great Impersonation as Sir Everend Dominey
  • Black Sheep as John Francis Dugan
  • The Great Hotel Murder as Roger Blackwood
  • The Best Man Wins as Toby
  • King Solomon of Broadway as King Solomon
  • Thunder in the Night as Captain Karl Torok
  • Grand Exit as Tom Fletcher
  • Under Pressure as Shocker Dugan
  • Mister Dynamite as "Dynamite" T.N. Thompson
  • Seven Sinners as Harwood
  • Mad Holiday as Philip Trent
  • The Garden Murder Case as Philo Vance
  • The Girl on the Front Page as "Hank" Gilman
  • The Squeaker as Barrabal
  • Espionage as Kenneth
  • Every Day's a Holiday as Capt. Jim McCarey
  • Murder on Diamond Row as Barrabal
  • Under Cover of Night as Christopher Cross
  • Newsboys' Home as Perry Warner
  • Secrets of a Nurse as John Dodge
  • The Witness Vanishes as Mark Peters
  • Our Neighbors – The Carters as Bill Hastings
  • Wolf of New York as Chris Faulkner
  • Honeymoon Deferred as Adam Farradene
  • The Crooked Road as Danny Driscoll / John Vincent / George Atwater
  • I Love You Again as Duke Sheldon
  • Men Against the Sky as Dan McLean
  • Double Date as Roger Baldwin
  • Flying Cadets as Captain Rockcliffe 'Lucky Rocky' Ames
  • Call Out the Marines as Harry Curtis
  • Klondike Fury as Dr. John Mandre
  • Murder in Times Square as Cory Williams
  • Dangerous Blondes as Ralph McCormick
  • The Girl in the Case as William Warner
  • Oh, What a Night as Rand
  • Dillinger as Specs Green
  • The Enchanted Forest as Steven Blaine
  • The Strange Mr. Gregory as Mr. Gregory / Lane Talbot
  • Good Sam as H.C. Borden
  • Intruder in the Dust as Gowrie twin
  • Around the World in 80 Days as the engineer of the SS Henrietta
  • Wings of Eagles as Admiral Moffett
  • The Last Hurrah as Johnny Byrne
  • Plunderers of Painted Flats as Ned East
  • Heller in Pink Tights as Manfred 'Doc' Montague