Reginald Denny (actor)

Reginald Leigh Dugmore, known professionally as Reginald Denny, was an English actor, aviator, and UAV pioneer.

Acting career

Born Reginald Leigh Dugmore on 20 November 1891 in Richmond, Surrey, England, he came from a theatrical family; his father was actor and opera singer W.H. Denny.
In 1899, he began his stage career in A Royal Family and starred in several London productions from age seven to twelve. He attended St. Francis Xavier College in Mayfield, Sussex, later known as Mayfield College, but, at 16, he ran away from school to train as a pugilist with Sir Harry Preston at the National Sporting Club. He also appeared in several British stage productions touring the music halls of England of The Merry Widow.
In 1911, he went to the United States to appear in Henry B. Harris's stage production of The Quaker Girl, then joined the Bandmann Opera Company as a baritone touring India and the Far East India where he performed for Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV.
Although he worked in "flickers" during 1911 and 1912, Reginald officially began his film career in 1915 with the World Film Company and made films both in the United States and Britain until the 1960s. Among the numerous stage productions in which he starred, Reginald appeared in John Barrymore's 1920 Broadway production of Richard III; the two actors became friends and starred in several films together including Sherlock Holmes (1922), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet (1936), and Paramount's Bulldog Drummond series.
Denny was a well-known actor in silent films, and with the advent of talkies he became a character actor. He played the lead role in a number of his earlier films, generally as a comedic Englishman in such works as Private Lives and later had reasonably steady work as a supporting actor in dozens of films, including The Little Minister with Katharine Hepburn, Anna Karenina with Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and the Frank Sinatra crime caper film Assault on a Queen. He made frequent appearances in television during the 1950s and 1960s. His last role was in Batman as Commodore Schmidlapp. In 2020, Kino Lorber released 4K restorations on DVD and Blu-ray of three of Denny's silent comedies: The Reckless Age, Skinner's Dress Suit, and What Happened to Jones? in ''The Reginald Denny Collection.''

Aviation career

Denny served as an observer/gunner during the First World War in the new wartime Royal Air Force.
In the 1920s he performed as a stunt pilot with the 13 Black Cats aerial stunt team and loaned his World War I Sopwith Snipe biplane to Howard Hughes for use in Hell's Angels. In the early 1930s, Denny became interested in free-flight model airplanes. In 1934, he and oil tycoon Max Whittier's son, Paul Whittier, formed Reginald Denny Industries and opened a model plane shop, which became a chain known as the Reginald Denny Hobby Shop, now California Hobby Distributors.
He designed his "Dennyplane" with its signature model engine "Dennymite" developed by engineer Walter Righter, in addition to the "Denny Jr." which child actors would enter in model plane competitions at Mines Field, which later became Los Angeles International Airport.
Denny had a great deal in common with Robert Loraine, an older actor/airman. They had been in a West End production together in 1902 in London, they were both veterans of the RFC and were both flying and making films in Hollywood in the 1930s. Each of them visited their close relatives in the same area of London. At Loraine's wedding in 1921, his best man was an Air-Commodore who had been in charge of the RFC radio control weapons and developed the first powered drone aircraft. Denny became interested in radio controlled aircraft and started the first US military drone work at the start of WWII.
In 1935, Denny began developing his remote controlled "radioplane" for military use. In 1939, he and his partners won the first military United States Army Air Corps contract for their radio-controlled target drone, the Radioplane OQ-2. In July 1940, they formed the Radioplane Company and manufactured nearly fifteen thousand drones for the U.S. Army during the Second World War. It was here that he employed a teenage girl by the name of Norma Jeane Mortensen who is recorded as having said it was "the hardest work I ever had to do". The company was purchased by Northrop in 1952.
Reginald Denny's Hobby Shop, began selling his models, in 1935, on Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal life

Denny married actress Irene Hilda Haismann on 28 January 1913 in Calcutta; both were with the Bandmann Opera Company. They had one daughter but were divorced in 1928. Denny married actress Isabelle "Bubbles" Stiefel in 1928 and they had two children.

Death

Denny died on 16 June 1967, aged 75, after suffering a stroke whilst visiting his sister in his home town of Richmond, England. He was interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. His three children and wife Isabelle survived him.

Partial filmography

Silent

Niobe as Cornelius GriffinThe Melting Pot in an undetermined role The Red Lantern Bringing Up Betty as Tom WaringThe Oakdale Affair as Arthur StockbridgeA Dark Lantern as Prince Anton39 East as Napoleon Gibbs Jr.Paying the Piper as Keith LarneThe Price of Possession as Robert DawnayExperience Disraeli as Charles, Viscount DeefordFootlights as Brett PageThe Beggar Maid as the Earl of Winston / King CophetuaTropical Love as the DrifterThe Iron Trail as Dan AppletonLet's Go as Kane Halliday / "Kid" RobertsRound Two as Kane 'Kid Roberts' HallidaySherlock Holmes as Prince AlexisPayment Through the Nose as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Leather Pushers as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsA Fool and His Money as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Taming of the Shrewd as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsWhipsawed as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsNever Let Go as Campbell - the MountieThe Jaws of Steel as Cpl. Haldene, N.W.M.P.Plain Grit The Kentucky Derby as Donald GordonYoung King Cole as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsHe Raised Kane as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Chickasha Bone Crusher as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsWhen Kane Met Abel as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsStrike Father, Strike Son as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsJoan of Newark as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Abysmal Brute as Pat Glendon, JrThe Wandering Two as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Widower's Mite as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsDon Coyote as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsSomething for Nothing as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsColumbia, the Gem, and the Ocean as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsBarnaby's Grudge as Kane Halliday / Kid RobertsThe Thrill Chaser in a cameo appearanceSporting Youth as Jimmy WoodThe Reckless Age as Dick MinotThe Fast Worker as Terry BrockOh Doctor! as Rufus Billings Jr.I'll Show You the Town as Alec DupreeWhere Was I? as Thomas S. BerfordCalifornia Straight Ahead as Tom HaydenWhat Happened to Jones as Tom JonesSkinner's Dress Suit as SkinnerRolling Home as Nat AldenTake It from Me as Tom EggettThe Cheerful Fraud as Sir Michael FairlieFast and Furious as Tom BrownOut All Night as John GrahamOn Your Toes as Elliott BeresfordThat's My Daddy as James "Jimmy" NortonGood Morning, Judge as Freddie GreyThe Night Bird as Kid Davis

Sound

Red Hot Speed as DarrowClear the Decks as Jack ArmitageHis Lucky Day as Charles BlaydonOne Hysterical Night as William "Napoleon" JuddEmbarrassing Moments as Thaddeus CruikshankWhat a Man! as Wade RawlinsMadam Satan as Bob BrooksThose Three French Girls as LarryA Lady's Morals as Paul BrandtOh, for a Man! as Barney McGannParlor, Bedroom and Bath as Jeffrey HaywoodKiki as Victor RandallStepping Out as Tom MartinPrivate Lives as VictorStrange Justice as JudsonThe Iron Master as Steve MasonThe Barbarian as Gerald Hume - Diana's FiancéeThe Big Bluff Only Yesterday as BobFog as Dr. WinstayThe Lost Patrol as BrownDancing Man as Paul DrexelThe World Moves On as Erik von GerhardtOf Human Bondage as Harry GriffithsWe're Rich Again as Bookington "Bookie" WellsOne More River as David DornfordThe Richest Girl in the World as Phillip LockwoodThe Little Minister as Captain HalliwellLottery Lover as Capt. PayneWithout Children as Phil GrahamVagabond Lady as John "Johnny" SpearNo More Ladies as OliverHere's to Romance as Emery GerardAnna Karenina as YashvinThe Lady in Scarlet as Oliver KeithRemember Last Night? as Jake WhitridgeMidnight Phantom as Prof. David GrahamThe Preview Murder Mystery as Johnny MorganIt Couldn't Have Happened - But It Did as Greg StoneRomeo and Juliet as Benvolio - Nephew to Montgue and Friend to RomeoTwo in a Crowd as James Stewart AnthonyMore Than a Secretary as Bill HoustonWe're in the Legion Now! as Dan LintonBulldog Drummond Escapes as Algy LongworthJoin the Marines as Steve LodgeWomen of Glamour as Fritz "Frederick" EaganLet's Get Married as George WilloughbyThe Great Gambini as William RandallJungle Menace as Ralph Marshall Bulldog Drummond Comes Back as Algy LongworthBeg, Borrow or Steal as Clifton SummittBulldog Drummond's Revenge as Algy LongworthBulldog Drummond's Peril as Algy LongworthFour Men and a Prayer as Capt. Douglas LovelandBlockade as Edward GrantBulldog Drummond in Africa as Algy LongworthArrest Bulldog Drummond as Algy LongworthBulldog Drummond's Secret Police as Algy LongworthEverybody's Baby as Dr. PilcoffBulldog Drummond's Bride as Algy LongworthRebecca as Frank CrawleySpring Parade as the MajorSeven Sinners as Captain ChurchOne Night in Lisbon as Erich StrasserInternational Squadron as Wing Commander SevernAppointment for Love as Michael DaileyCaptains of the Clouds as Commanding OfficerSherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror as Sir Evan BarhamEyes in the Night as Stephen LawryThunder Birds as BarrettOver My Dead Body as Richard "Dick" BrennerThe Crime Doctor's Strangest Case as Paul AshleySong of the Open Road as Director CurtisLove Letters as Defense Counsel PhillipsTangier as FernandezThe Locket as Mr. WendellMy Favorite Brunette as James CollinsThe Macomber Affair as Police InspectorThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty as ColonelChristmas Eve as Phillip HastingsEscape Me Never as Mr. MacLeanMr. Blandings Builds His Dream House as SimmsThe Iroquois Trail as Capt. Edward BrownellFort Vengeance as Inspector TrevettAbbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as InspectorWorld for Ransom as Maj. Ian BoneSabaka as Sir CedricEscape to Burma as CommissionerThe Donald O'Connor Show as HimselfG.E. Summer Originals, episode "Alias Mike Hercules"Around the World in 80 Days as Bombay Police InspectorCat Ballou as Sir Harry PercivalBatman Series TV as King BorisAssault on a Queen as Master-at-ArmsBatman as Commodore Schmidlapp