Name
Stanley Ridges
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1890-07-17
Deathday
1951-04-22 (61 years old)
Place of Birth
Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanley Ridges (17 July 1890 – 22 April 1951) was a British-born actor who made his mark in films by playing a wide assortment of character parts.
Born 17 July 1890 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK, Stanley Ridges became a protégé of Beatrice Lillie, a star of musical stage comedies, and spent many years learning and honing his craft on the stage. Eventually making his way to America, Ridges began as a song-and-dance man on Broadway, but later turned to dramatic roles onstage, appearing in such plays as Maxwell Anderson's Mary of Scotland (as Lord Morton) and Valley Forge (as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench), becoming a romantic leading man.
Ridges' silent film debut was in Success (1923). With his excellent diction and rich speaking voice, he easily made the transition into sound films, with his career taking off at age 43, in Crime Without Passion (1934), with Claude Rains. Ridges found himself cast in character roles, as his greying hair put his romantic leading man days at an end. His most best known roles were probably two different characters in one film, one of them the kindly Professor Kingsley and the other the murderous Red Cannon in the thriller Black Friday (1940). The Jekyll and Hyde transformations gave Ridges a chance to display his acting ability.
Ridges was often cast in supporting roles in many classic films, and played the lead only once, in the B-picture False Faces (1943).
Among Ridges's other film roles were as the Scotland Yard inspector who is shadowing Charles Laughton in the film The Suspect (1944), as Major Buxton (Gary Cooper's commanding officer) in Sergeant York (1942), as Professor Siletsky in To Be or Not to Be (also 1942), and as Cary Travers Grayson, the official White House physician in Wilson (1944).
By 1950, he had just begun appearing in television anthologies such as Studio One and Philco Television Playhouse. His last feature film, the Ginger Rogers comedy The Groom Wore Spurs, in which he played a mobster, was released a month before he died.
Stanley Ridges died 22 April 1951, in Westbrook, Connecticut, aged 60.
Known For
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- 1942 To Be or Not to Be as Professor Alexander Siletsky
- 1930 For Two Cents
- 1947 Possessed as Dr. Harvey Willard
- 1939 Dust Be My Destiny as Charles 'Charlie' Garreth
- 1941 The Sea Wolf as Johnson
- 1934 Crime Without Passion as Eddie White
- 1949 The File on Thelma Jordon as Kingsley Willis
- 1950 No Way Out as Sam Moreland
- 1940 Black Friday as Prof. George Kingsley / Red Cannon
- 1939 Each Dawn I Die as Mueller
- 1935 The Scoundrel as Paul Decker
- 1946 Canyon Passage as Jonas Overmire
- 1948 An Act of Murder as Doctor Walter Morrison
- 1943 This Is the Army as John Davidson
- 1943 Air Force as Maj. Mallory - Clark Field
- 1941 Sergeant York as Major Buxton
- 1950 Paid in Full as Dr. P.J. 'Phil' Winston
- 1941 They Died with Their Boots On as Maj. Romulus Taipe
- 1939 Nick Carter, Master Detective as Doctor Frankton (as Stanley C. Ridges)
- 1939 Let Us Live as District Attorney
- 1942 The Big Shot as Martin T. Fleming, Attorney
- 1939 Silver on the Sage as Earl Brennan / Dave Talbot
- 1942 The Lady Is Willing as Kenneth Hanline
- 1949 You're My Everything as Mr. Henry Mercer
- 1943 Tarzan Triumphs as Colonel Von Reichart
- 1942 Eyes in the Night as Hansen
- 1951 The Groom Wore Spurs as Harry Kallen
- 1938 If I Were King as Rene de Montigny
- 1936 Sinner Take All as MacKelvey
- 1949 Streets of Laredo as Major Bailey
- 1938 They're Always Caught as Dr. John Pritchard
- 1941 Mr. District Attorney as District Attorney Tom F. Winton
- 1944 The Master Race as Phil Carson
- 1939 Union Pacific as Gen. Casement
- 1938 The Mad Miss Manton as Edward Norris
- 1945 The Suspect as Inspector Huxley
- 1945 The Phantom Speaks as Dr. Paul Renwick
- 1944 Wilson as Dr. Cary Grayson
- 1938 There's That Woman Again as Tony Croy
- 1946 Mr. Ace as Toomey
- 1939 Espionage Agent as Hamilton Peyton
- 1936 Winterset as Shadow
- 1949 Task Force as Sen. Bentley
- 1946 Because of Him as Charles Gilbert
- 1937 Internes Can't Take Money as Dan Innes
- 1945 Captain Eddie as Col. Hans Adamson
- 1942 Eagle Squadron as Air Minister
- 1944 The Story of Dr. Wassell as Cmdr. William B. 'Bill' Goggins
- 1930 The Poor Fish as George
- 1939 I Stole a Million as Downs (uncredited)
- 1943 False Faces as District Attorney Stanley S. Harding
- 1938 Yellow Jack as Dr. James Carroll
- 1923 Success as Gilbert Gordon
- 1943 The Voice That Thrilled the World as Self (segment 'Sergeant York') (archive footage)
- 1950 The Man Who Had Influence as J. C. Grant
- 1945 God Is My Co-Pilot as Col. Merian 'Steve' Cooper
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as Police Chief Scott Anderson
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as J.C. Grant
