Robert Warwick(1878-1964)
- Actor
- Producer
A prominent matinée stage and silent-film star with handsome features
offset only slightly by a prominent proboscis, Robert Warwick was born
and raised in Sacramento, California, as Robert Taylor Bien. The gift
of music was instilled at an early age (he sang in his church choir)
and he initially prepared for an operatic career. Studying vocally in
Paris, he abandoned legit singing for acting after being hired in 1903
to understudy in the Broadway play "Glad of It". He grew quickly in
stature in such popular stage roles as "Vronsky" in "Anna Karenina"
(1907), and was a strong presence in the musical operettas "The Kiss
Waltz" (1911) and "The Princess" (1912), the latter featuring his first
wife, actress Josephine Whittell.
With effortless charm, Warwick segued into romantic film roles, playing
dashing leads in
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915),
The Face in the Moonlight (1915),
The Heart of a Hero (1916)--in
which he portrayed Revolutionary War hero Nathan
Hale--The Mad Lover (1917) and
A Girl's Folly (1917). At one
point he even formed his own production company, Robert Warwick Film
Corp. The company produced four films before Warwick temporarily left
Hollywood in 1917 to serve in WWI as an infantry captain.
In the 1920s he shifted between Broadway and film leads. His
well-modulated voice proved ideal for sound pictures, and he
subsequently enjoyed a long career (over 200 films) in grand,
authoritative character parts. Among his plethora of movie roles were
"Neptune" in
Night Life of the Gods (1935),
"Col. Gray" in Shirley Temple's
The Little Colonel (1935),
"Sir Francis Knolly" in
Mary of Scotland (1936) and
"Lord Montague" in the
Norma Shearer/Leslie Howard
starrer Romeo and Juliet (1936).
He also was seen to fine advantage in several of
Errol Flynn's rousing costumers such
as
The Prince and the Pauper (1937),
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938),
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939),
and The Sea Hawk (1940). A grand,
stately gent, he was often seen impersonating high-ranking military
officers, dapper businessmen or stern but benevolent father figure
types. The legendary Preston Sturges
utilized his services, giving him small roles in
The Great McGinty (1940),
Christmas in July (1940) and
The Lady Eve (1941) before handing
him a standout part as an avuncular studio mogul in
Sullivan's Travels (1941).
For the most part, however, Warwick was humbled into playing smaller,
serviceable roles in adventures and crime dramas, with many of these
characters embracing unyielding traditionalist values. Other exceptions
to this rule were his hammy, downtrodden Hollywood actor "Charlie
Waterman" in
In a Lonely Place (1950) and
his dying tycoon in
While the City Sleeps (1956).
Warwick continued performing well into his 80s. Primarily on TV in his
twilight years, he could be spotted frequently on such programs as
The Twilight Zone (1959),
Maverick (1957) and
Dr. Kildare (1961). Divorced from
his first wife, he survived his second, actress Stella Lattimore
(1905-1960), before dying in 1964 following an extended illness. He had
one daughter by his first wife; Rosalind, who bore him two
grandchildren, and with his second wife another daughter, Betsey, who
was a prominent published poet in Los Angeles and was buried next to
her father at Holy Cross Cemetary in Los Angeles in 2007.
offset only slightly by a prominent proboscis, Robert Warwick was born
and raised in Sacramento, California, as Robert Taylor Bien. The gift
of music was instilled at an early age (he sang in his church choir)
and he initially prepared for an operatic career. Studying vocally in
Paris, he abandoned legit singing for acting after being hired in 1903
to understudy in the Broadway play "Glad of It". He grew quickly in
stature in such popular stage roles as "Vronsky" in "Anna Karenina"
(1907), and was a strong presence in the musical operettas "The Kiss
Waltz" (1911) and "The Princess" (1912), the latter featuring his first
wife, actress Josephine Whittell.
With effortless charm, Warwick segued into romantic film roles, playing
dashing leads in
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915),
The Face in the Moonlight (1915),
The Heart of a Hero (1916)--in
which he portrayed Revolutionary War hero Nathan
Hale--The Mad Lover (1917) and
A Girl's Folly (1917). At one
point he even formed his own production company, Robert Warwick Film
Corp. The company produced four films before Warwick temporarily left
Hollywood in 1917 to serve in WWI as an infantry captain.
In the 1920s he shifted between Broadway and film leads. His
well-modulated voice proved ideal for sound pictures, and he
subsequently enjoyed a long career (over 200 films) in grand,
authoritative character parts. Among his plethora of movie roles were
"Neptune" in
Night Life of the Gods (1935),
"Col. Gray" in Shirley Temple's
The Little Colonel (1935),
"Sir Francis Knolly" in
Mary of Scotland (1936) and
"Lord Montague" in the
Norma Shearer/Leslie Howard
starrer Romeo and Juliet (1936).
He also was seen to fine advantage in several of
Errol Flynn's rousing costumers such
as
The Prince and the Pauper (1937),
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938),
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939),
and The Sea Hawk (1940). A grand,
stately gent, he was often seen impersonating high-ranking military
officers, dapper businessmen or stern but benevolent father figure
types. The legendary Preston Sturges
utilized his services, giving him small roles in
The Great McGinty (1940),
Christmas in July (1940) and
The Lady Eve (1941) before handing
him a standout part as an avuncular studio mogul in
Sullivan's Travels (1941).
For the most part, however, Warwick was humbled into playing smaller,
serviceable roles in adventures and crime dramas, with many of these
characters embracing unyielding traditionalist values. Other exceptions
to this rule were his hammy, downtrodden Hollywood actor "Charlie
Waterman" in
In a Lonely Place (1950) and
his dying tycoon in
While the City Sleeps (1956).
Warwick continued performing well into his 80s. Primarily on TV in his
twilight years, he could be spotted frequently on such programs as
The Twilight Zone (1959),
Maverick (1957) and
Dr. Kildare (1961). Divorced from
his first wife, he survived his second, actress Stella Lattimore
(1905-1960), before dying in 1964 following an extended illness. He had
one daughter by his first wife; Rosalind, who bore him two
grandchildren, and with his second wife another daughter, Betsey, who
was a prominent published poet in Los Angeles and was buried next to
her father at Holy Cross Cemetary in Los Angeles in 2007.