Gene Lockhart


Edwin Eugene Lockhart was a Canadian-American character actor, playwright, singer, and lyricist. He appeared in over 300 films, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Regis in Algiers, the American remake of Pépé le Moko.

Early life

Lockhart was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and made his professional debut at the age of six when he appeared with the Kilties Band of Canada. He later appeared in sketches with Beatrice Lillie.
Lockhart was raised Catholic and educated in Canadian schools and at the London Oratory School in London, England. He played football for the Toronto Argonauts.

Stage

Lockhart had a long stage career; he also wrote professionally and taught acting and stage technique at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He also wrote theatrical sketches, radio shows, special stage material, song lyrics and articles for stage and radio magazines.
He made his Broadway debut in 1916, in the musical The Riviera Girl.
He was a member of the traveling play The Pierrot Players. This play introduced the song, The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise, for which Lockhart wrote the lyrics along with Canadian composer Ernest Seitz. He wrote and directed the Broadway musical revue Bunk of 1926. He sang in Die Fledermaus for the San Francisco Opera Association. On Broadway, Lockhart originated the roles of Uncle Sid in Eugene O'Neill's only comedy, Ah, Wilderness!, and Fortesque in Arthur Schwartz's Virginia.
In 1949, he took over from Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, during the original run of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

Film

Lockhart made his film debut in Smilin' Through as the Rector, but he made few additional appearances during the silent era. His sound debut was in the film By Your Leave, where he played the playboy "Skeets". Lockhart subsequently appeared in more than 300 motion pictures. He often played villains, including a role as the treacherous informant Regis in Algiers, the American remake of Pépé le Moko, which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He played the suspicious Georges de la Trémouille, the Dauphin's chief counselor, in Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman.
He also had a great succession of "good guy" supporting roles including Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol and Judge Harper in Miracle on 34th Street.
Upon the arrival of Orson Welles in Hollywood in 1940, Lockhart wrote a short poem satirizing Welles entitled "Little Orson Annie". The poem was a parody of the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley.
Lockhart played a bumbling sheriff in His Girl Friday, opposite Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. He appeared in the movie The Sea Wolf, adapted from the novel by Jack London, as a ship's doctor. He played the Starkeeper in Carousel. His last film role was that of the Equity Board President in the film Jeanne Eagels.

Personal life

Lockhart was married to actress Kathleen Lockhart from June 12, 1924, until his death. They had one child together, actress June Lockhart, through whom he is the grandfather of actress Anne Lockhart.
Lockhart became an American citizen in 1939.

Death

Lockhart died March 31, 1957, from a coronary thrombosis at the age of 65 in St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica, California.

Legacy

Lockhart has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for motion pictures, at 6307 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for television at 6681 Hollywood Boulevard. Both were dedicated February 8, 1960.

Filmography

  • Smilin' Through as Village Rector
  • The No Man
  • Paul Revere, Jr. as Miles Standish
  • By Your Leave as Skeets
  • The Gay Bride as Jim Smiley
  • Captain Hurricane as Capt. Jeremiah Taylor
  • I've Been Around as Sammy Ames
  • Storm Over the Andes as Cracker
  • Star of Midnight as Horatio Swayne
  • Thunder in the Night as Police Lt. Gabor
  • Crime and Punishment as Lushin
  • The Garden Murder Case as Lowe Hammle
  • Brides Are Like That as John Robinson
  • The First Baby as Mr. Ellis
  • Times Square Playboy as P.H. "Ben"/"Pig Head" Bancroft
  • Earthworm Tractors as George Healey
  • The Gorgeous Hussy as Maj. William O'Neal
  • The Devil Is a Sissy as Mr. Murphy
  • Wedding Present as Archduke Gustav Ernest
  • Come Closer, Folks as Elmer Woods
  • Career Woman as Uncle Billy Burly
  • Mind Your Own Business as Bottles
  • Mama Steps Out as Mr. Sims
  • Too Many Wives as Winfield Jackson
  • The Sheik Steps Out as Samuel P. Murdock
  • Something to Sing About as Bennett O. "B.O." Regan
  • Algiers as Regis
  • Of Human Hearts as Quid
  • Sinners in Paradise as Senator Corey
  • Stock and Blondes
  • Men Are Such Fools as Bill Dalton
  • Penrod's Double Trouble as Mr. Frank Schofield
  • Meet the Girls as Homer Watson
  • Listen, Darling as Mr. Drubbs
  • Blondie as C.P. Hazlip
  • A Christmas Carol as Bob Cratchit
  • Sweethearts as Augustus
  • I'm from Missouri as Porgie Rowe
  • The Story of Alexander Graham Bell as Thomas Sanders
  • Hotel Imperial as Elias
  • Tell No Tales as Arno
  • Bridal Suite as Cornelius McGill
  • Our Leading Citizen as J.T. Tapley
  • Blackmail as William Ramey
  • Geronimo as Gillespie
  • His Girl Friday as Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell
  • Abe Lincoln in Illinois as Stephen Douglas
  • Edison, the Man as Mr. Taggart
  • We Who Are Young as C.B. Beamis
  • South of Pago Pago as Lindsay
  • Dr. Kildare Goes Home as George Winslow
  • A Dispatch from Reuter's as Otto Bauer
  • Keeping Company as Mr. Hellman
  • Meet John Doe as Mayor Lovett
  • The Sea Wolf as Dr. Prescott
  • Billy the Kid as Dan Hickey
  • One Foot in Heaven as Preston Thurston
  • International Lady as Sidney Grenner
  • The Devil and Daniel Webster as Squire Slossum
  • They Died with Their Boots On as Samuel Bacon, Esq.
  • Steel Against the Sky as John Powers
  • Juke Girl as Henry Madden
  • The Gay Sisters as Herschell Gibbon
  • You Can't Escape Forever as Carl Robelink
  • Forever and a Day as Cobblewick
  • Hangmen Also Die as Emil Czaka
  • Mission to Moscow as Premier Molotov
  • Find the Blackmailer as John M. Rhodes
  • Northern Pursuit as Ernst
  • Madame Curie
  • The Desert Song as Pere FanFan
  • Action in Arabia as Josef Danesco
  • Going My Way as Ted Haines Sr.
  • Man from Frisco as Joel Kennedy
  • That's the Spirit as Jasper Cawthorne
  • The House on 92nd Street as Charles Ogden Roper
  • Leave Her to Heaven as Dr. Saunders
  • Meet Me on Broadway as John Whittaker
  • A Scandal in Paris as Prefect of Police Richet
  • The Strange Woman as Isaiah Poster
  • The Shocking Miss Pilgrim as Saxon
  • Honeymoon as Consul Prescott
  • Miracle on 34th Street as Judge Henry X. Harper
  • Cynthia as Dr. Fred I. Jannings
  • The Foxes of Harrow as Viscount Henri D'Arceneaux
  • Her Husband's Affairs as Peter Winterbottom
  • The Inside Story as Horace Taylor
  • I, Jane Doe as Arnold Matson
  • Apartment for Peggy as Prof. Edward Bell
  • Joan of Arc as Georges de la Trémoille
  • That Wonderful Urge as Judge Parker
  • Down to the Sea in Ships as Andrew L. Bush
  • The Sickle or the Cross as James John
  • Madame Bovary as J. Homais
  • Red Light as Warni Hazard
  • The Inspector General as The Mayor
  • Riding High as J.P. Chase
  • The Big Hangover as Charles Parkford
  • I'd Climb the Highest Mountain as Jeff Brock
  • Rhubarb as Thaddeus J. Banner
  • Texas Lady as Judge George Jeffers
  • A Girl in Every Port as Garvey
  • Hoodlum Empire as Senator Tower
  • Down Among the Sheltering Palms as Rev. Paul Edgett
  • Bonzo Goes to College as Clarence B. Gateson
  • Apache War Smoke as Cyril R. Snowden
  • Face to Face as Capt. Archbold
  • Tales of Tomorrow as Prof. Vanya
  • Androcles and the Lion as Menagerie Keeper
  • Confidentially Connie as Dean Edward E. Magruder
  • The Lady Wants Mink as Mr. Heggie
  • Francis Covers the Big Town as Tom Henderson
  • World for Ransom as Alexis Pederas
  • The Father Who Had No Sons as Milton Hershey
  • The Vanishing American as Blucher
  • Carousel as Starkeeper/Dr. Selden
  • The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit as Bill Hawthorne
  • Science Fiction Theatre as Dr. Richard Hewitt/Dr. Elwood Dove
  • Telephone Time as Louis P. Cashman
  • Jeanne Eagels as Equity Board President