Name
George Montgomery
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1916-08-29
Deathday
2000-12-12 (84 years old)
Place of Birth
Brady, Montana, USA
Biography
George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana, where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later, he decided to take up boxing more seriously, and moved to California, where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in Hollywood, he came to the attention of the studios (not least, because he was an expert rider) and was hired as a stuntman in 1935. After doing this for four years, George was offered a contract at 20th Century Fox in 1939, but found himself largely confined to leads in B-westerns. He did not secure a part in anything even remotely like a prestige picture, until his co-starring role in Roxie Hart (1942), opposite Ginger Rogers. Next, in Orchestra Wives (1942), he played the perfunctory love interest for Ann Rutherford -- though both, inevitably, ended up playing second trombone to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
In 1947, George got his first serious break, being cast as Raymond Chandler's private eye Philip Marlowe, in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Reviewers, however, compared his performance unfavourably with that of Humphrey Bogart and found the film 'pallid' overall. So it was back to the saddle for George. Unable to shake his image as a cowboy actor, he starred in scores of films with titles like Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), Dakota Lil (1950), Jack McCall Desperado (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954) at Columbia, and for producer Edward Small at United Artists. When not cleaning up the Wild West with his six-shooter, he branched out into adventure films set in exotic locales (notably as Harry Quartermain in Watusi (1959)). During the 60's, he also wrote, directed and starred in several long-forgotten, low-budget wartime potboilers made in the Philippines.
At the height of his popularity, George attracted as much publicity for his acting, as for his liaisons with glamorous stars, like Ginger Rogers, Hedy Lamarr (to whom he was briefly engaged) and singer Dinah Shore (whom he married in 1943). After his retirement from the film business, he devoted himself to his love of painting, furniture-making and sculpting bronze busts, including one of his close friend Ronald Reagan.
Known For
6.904
In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a ...
5.4
Two-fisted newsreel photographer Johnny Williams is stationed in Burma and China in the ea...
7
A café in Chicago, 1942. On a rainy night, veteran reporter Homer Howard tells an increas...
6
It's 1893 and gold is being smuggled out of the country. Instead of stealing gold bars, th...
5
An angry Seminole chief wages war after his tribe is relocated from Florida to the America...
5.1
The daughter of famous outlaw Belle Starr arrives at the town where her mother was murdere...
5.6
Cruze arrives in town and when he stands up to the three Moran brothers, he gets appointed...
6.1
Western lawman Bat Masterson sets out to prove a man standing trial for murder is innocent...
- 1947 The Brasher Doubloon as Philip Marlowe
- 1970 Satan's Harvest as Cutter Murdock
- 1965 Battle of the Bulge as Sgt. Duquesne
- 1942 Orchestra Wives as Bill Abbot
- 1951 The Sword of Monte Cristo as Captain Renault
- 1950 Davy Crockett, Indian Scout as Davy Crockett
- 1937 Springtime in the Rockies as Cowhand at Dance (uncredited)
- 1972 The Daredevil as Paul Tunney
- 1943 Coney Island as Eddie Johnson
- 1942 China Girl as Johnny Williams
- 1979 When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion as Self
- 1942 Roxie Hart as Homer Howard
- 1940 Young People as Mike Shea
- 1969 Strangers at Sunrise as Grant Merrick
- 1961 The Steel Claw as Capt. John Larsen
- 1953 Gun Belt as Billy Ringo
- 1957 Pawnee as Paul 'Pale Arrow' Fletcher
- 1957 Street of Sinners as John Dean
- 1957 Gun Duel in Durango as Will Sabre
- 1948 The Girl from Manhattan as Rev. Tom Walker
- 1959 Watusi as Harry Quartermain
- 1941 Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1 as Self
- 1953 Fort Ti as Capt. Jed Horn
- 1953 Jack McCall, Desperado as Jack McCall
- 1956 Canyon River as Steve Patrick
- 1955 Seminole Uprising as Cam Elliott
- 1954 The Lone Gun as Cruze
- 1941 Accent on Love as John Worth Hyndman
- 1954 Masterson of Kansas as Bat Masterson
- 1954 Battle of Rogue River as Maj. Frank Archer
- 1967 Hostile Guns as Gid McCool
- 1952 Cripple Creek as Bret Ivers / Iverson
- 1939 The Cisco Kid and the Lady as Tommy Bates
- 1964 Hell of Borneo as John Dirkson
- 1942 Ten Gentlemen from West Point as Joe Dawson
- 1952 The Pathfinder as Pathfinder
- 1946 Three Little Girls in Blue as Van Damm Smith
- 1950 Dakota Lil as Tom Horn / Steve Garrett
- 1958 The Toughest Gun in Tombstone as Capt. Matt Sloane
- 1955 Robbers' Roost as Jim 'Tex' Wall
- 1962 Samar as Dr. John David Saunders
- 1938 The Lone Ranger as Jim Clark
- 1952 Indian Uprising as Capt. Chase McCloud
- 1959 King of the Wild Stallions as Randy Burke
- 1951 The Texas Rangers as Johnny Carver
- 1957 Last of the Badmen as Dan Barton
- 1965 Django the Condemned as Pat O'Brien
- 1941 The Cowboy and the Blonde as Lank Garrett
- 1956 Huk! as Greg Dickson
- 1940 Star Dust as Ronnie
- 1950 The Iroquois Trail as Nat Cutler / Hawkeye
- 1948 Belle Starr's Daughter as Marshal Tom Jackson
- 1939 Saga of Death Valley as Henchman
- 1939 Wall Street Cowboy as Cowhand
- 1941 Last of the Duanes as Buck Duane
- 1939 The Mysterious Miss X as Policeman
- 1939 Rough Riders' Round-up as Patrolman Joe
- 1939 Southward Ho!
- 1939 Frontier Pony Express as Lieutenant Harris
- 1939 The Night Riders as Mob Member
- 1939 In Old Caliente as Henchman
- 1939 The Arizona Kid as Soldier
- 1939 South of the Border as Bandit
- 1988 Ransom as Inspector Marks
- 1957 Black Patch as Clay Morgan
- 1943 Bomber's Moon as Capt. Jeffrey Dakin
- 1958 Man from God's Country as Dan Beattie
- 1968 Warkill as Col. John Hannegan
- 1940 Charter Pilot as Charlie Crane
- 1939 In Old Monterey as Soldier
- 1948 Lulu Belle as George Davis
- 1941 Riders of the Purple Sage as Lassiter
- 1940 Hi-Yo Silver as Jim Clark
- 1966 Hallucination Generation as Eric
- 1938 Army Girl as Soldier
- 1985 Wild Wind as Major Nestorovic
- 1958 Badman's Country as Pat Garrett
- 1967 Bomb at 10:10 as Steve Corbett / Stiv Korbet
- 1939 S.O.S Tidal Wave
- 1941 Cadet Girl as Tex Mallory
- 1944 Take It or Leave It as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1944 Troop Carrier Airplanes: Cockpit Procedure as Lt. Warren
- 1970 Ride the Tiger
- 1964 Guerillas in Pink Lace as Murphy
- 1956 Claire as Dr. Stanley Wayne
- 1940 Jennie as Franz Schermer
- 1970 The Odd Couple ( 1 episode ) as Griff
- 1971 Alias Smith and Jones ( 1 episode )
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as Bakeland
- 1953 General Electric Theater ( 1 episode ) as Jim Corbett
- 1952 This Is Your Life ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1956 The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ( 5 episodes ) as Self
- 1958 Cimarron City ( 26 episodes ) as Mayor Matt Rockford
- 1956 The Steve Allen Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1961 The Mike Douglas Show ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1953 General Electric Theater ( 1 episode ) as Buchanan Smith
- 1985 Children's Island ( 1 episode ) as The President
- 1974 The Six Million Dollar Man ( 1 episode ) as Christopher Bell / Garth
- 1950 What's My Line? ( 1 episode ) as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1974 Dinah! ( 1 episode ) as Self
