Raymond Walburn

Raymond Walburn was an American character actor of stage and screen who appeared in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and an occasional dramatic role during the 1930s and 1940s.

Life and career

Born in Plymouth, Indiana, Walburn in the early 1900s moved to Oakland, California, following high school with his mother and began acting on stage, which was also his mother's profession.
There he was placed in an acting school associated with the Liberty Theatre, the principal stock company in Oakland, and made his professional stage debut at the age of 18, playing the Second Witch in "MacBeth." Following extensive touring in stock shows, he took his first Broadway bow in the opening of the most popular and successful "The Greyhound" in 1912.
After a long period of struggle and a number of theater misfires, his career was interrupted by military service in the United States Army in 1917-1918 where he served in a heavy artillery corps in France during World War I. This was shortly after his being cast as a replacement in the juvenile lead role in "Come Out of the Kitchen" starring Ruth Chatterton.
Following his discharge from military service he resumed his Broadway and stock show career and grew in stature throughout the 1920s. In 1924 he made his London, England, debut as Aubrey Piper in "The Show-Off," a role which keenly established his pompous image and brash, phony-baloney facade on stage and in later film. Over the decades Walburn's plus-sized comic vanity would become a repetitive scene-stealing tactic.
He performed in stock theater for only four years before being cast on Broadway, where he made his debut in Cordelia Blossom in 1914. Over a half century later, in 1965, Walburn acted in his final Broadway production, A Very Rich Woman. During his long career, he also toured extensively, performing on stages throughout the United States and in other countries.
Walburn did not make an impact in films until 1934 with the release of The Count of Monte Cristo starring Robert Donat. His filmography includes nearly 100 films, with his best known roles as a stereotypical bumbler and as a pompous snob. He could also be villainous, as he was when he played Baron Danglars in the 1934 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo, and was a favorite of such celebrated comedy directors as Preston Sturges and Frank Capra, with whom he made several appearances.
Outside of a couple of nondescript roles in silent films, Walburn did not take a serious stab at films until 1929, when he was cast supporting a Ruth Chatterton vehicle, this time playing her unfaithful husband in The Laughing Lady. He did not return to films again, however, until five years later following a stage success in The Pursuit of Happiness. From 1934 on he continued to be seen in film and was a main character staple for Columbia. For Frank Capra his highlights included Colonel Pettigrew, the race track tout, in Broadway Bill ; the ostentatious valet of Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town ; and the opportunistic Judge Alexander in the Spencer Tracy / Katharine Hepburn starrer State of the Union. He also performed in Capra's pallid musical remake of Broadway Bill entitled Riding High with Bing Crosby, in which he recreated his Colonel Pettigrew shyster. As a Preston Sturges favorite, Walburn shined as the sarcastic and pompous Dr. Maxford in Christmas in July ; the windbag Mayor Noble in the classic Hail the Conquering Hero ; and as the boss who fires Harold Lloyd in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock .
In post-war years, the by-now chunky-framed Walburn was given a great chance to show off by headlining his own "Henry" series of light comedy films. Playing patriarch Henry Latham in its debut Henry, the Rainmaker, he was able to bounce off the droll antics of Walter Catlett's Mayor Colton character. Barbara Brown as his wife and young Gary Gray as son David were around for the entire series. He cavorted in five features ending with Father Takes the Air. Walburn's last film was the rather uneventful western The Spoilers. Following the death of his first wife Gertrude, he more or less retired, but found happiness again when he married a family friend, Jane Davis.
In 1962, at the age of 74, he came out of his self-imposed retirement at the urging of Harold Prince to join Zero Mostel and company in the burlesque musical farce "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" playing a senile Roman citizen. He appeared in the show for 18 months, then went on to appear with Ruth Gordon in "A Very Rich Woman" in 1965.
Walburn died in New York City at the age of 81 in 1969 following an extended illness.

Complete filmography

The Man Hunt as Captain Steadwell
The Tarantula as Saunders
The Scarlet Runner as John Brown
Our Other Lives
The Laughing Lady as Hector Lee
The Great Flirtation as Henry Morgan
The Defense Rests as Austin
The Count of Monte Cristo as Danglars
Lady by Choice as Front O'Malley
Jealousy as Phil
Broadway Bill as Col. Pettigrew
Mills of the Gods as Willard Hastings
Society Doctor as Dr. Waverly
Death Flies East as Evans
I'll Love You Always as Charlie
It's a Small World as Julius Clummerhorn
Welcome Home as Giltedge
Redheads on Parade as Augustus Twill
She Married Her Boss as Franklin
She Couldn't Take It as Party Guest
Thanks a Million as Judge Culliman
The Lone Wolf Returns as Jenkins
The Great Ziegfeld as Sage
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town as Walter, the butler
Absolute Quiet as Governor Pruden
The King Steps Out as Col. Von Kempen
The Three Wise Guys as Doc Brown
They Met in a Taxi as Mr. Roger Clifton
Craig's Wife as Billy Birkmire
Mr. Cinderella as Peter Randolph
Born to Dance as Captain Dingby
Breezing Home as Clint Evans
Let's Get Married as B.B. Harrington
Thin Ice as Uncle Dornik
It Can't Last Forever as Dr. Fothergill
High, Wide, and Handsome as Doc Watterson
Broadway Melody of 1938 as Herman Whipple
Murder in Greenwich Village as The Senator
Start Cheering as Dean Worthington
Battle of Broadway as Homer C. Bundy
Professor Beware as Judge James G. Parkhouse Marshall
Gateway as Mr. Benjamin McNutt
Sweethearts as Orlando
Let Freedom Ring as Underwood
It Could Happen to You as J. Hadden Quigley
The Under-Pup as Mr. Layton
Eternally Yours as Mr. Harley Bingham
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence as Professor B. Townsend Thayer
Dark Command as Judge Buckner
Millionaires in Prison as Bruce Vander
Flowing Gold as Ellery Q. 'Wildcat' Chalmers
Third Finger, Left Hand as Mr. Sherwood
Christmas in July as Dr. Maxford
The San Francisco Docks as Adm. Andy Tracy
Bachelor Daddy as George Smith
Puddin' Head as Harold Montgomery Sr.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye as Top Rumson
Confirm or Deny as H. Cyrus Stuyvesant
Rise and Shine as Colonel Bacon
Louisiana Purchase as Col. Davis Sr. aka Polar Bear
The Man in the Trunk as Jim Cheevers
Lady Bodyguard as Avery Jamieson
Dixie Dugan as J.J. Lawson
The Desperadoes as Judge Cameron
Dixie as Mr. Cook
Let's Face It as Julian Watson
And the Angels Sing as Pop Angel
Hail the Conquering Hero as Mayor Everett J. Noble
Arsenic and Old Lace as Drummer at baseball game
Music in Manhattan as Professor Carl Roberti
Heavenly Days as Mr. Popham
Honeymoon Abroad as Rollie Mack
I'll Tell the World as H.I. Bailey
The Cheaters as Willie Crawford
Breakfast in Hollywood as Richard Cartwright
Lover Come Back as J.P. 'Joe' Winthrop
Rendezvous with Annie as Everett Thorndyke
Plainsman and the Lady as Judge Winters
Affairs of Geraldine as Amos Hartwell
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock as E.J. Waggleberry
State of the Union as Judge Alexander
Henry, the Rainmaker as Henry Latham
Leave It to Henry as Henry Latham
Red, Hot and Blue as Alex Ryan Creek
Key to the City as Mayor Billy Butler
Riding High as Prof. Pettigrew
Father Makes Good as Henry Latham
Father's Wild Game as Henry Latham
Short Grass as Doctor McKenna
Father Takes the Air as Henry Latham
Excuse My Dust as Mayor Fred Haskell
Golden Girl as Cornelius
She Couldn't Say No as Judge Hobart
The Spoilers as Mr. Skinner