Brian Donlevy
(1901 - 1972)He was a steady actor but came into his own with one performance, that of a sadistic sergeant in the film "Beau Geste." He was of medium height, stocky with a barrel-chest, slick black hair, a neat mustache, sparkling eyes and a flat but resonant voice. He was cast as the good tough guy most often but could play nasty, arrogant types and comedy as well. His own life was more interesting than most of the characters he portrayed. He was born Waldo Brian Donlevy on February 9, 1901 in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland (now Portadown, Craigavon District, Northern Ireland) the son of a whiskey distiller. He was christened Grosson Brian Boru Donlevy. His family moved to America when he was but 10 months old. He grew up in Wisconsin and Ohio, attended school in Cleveland and a military academy in Maryland where he gained interests in poetry and fighting. At age 14 he ran away from the military academy and joined Gen. John Pershing's unit in Mexico, against Pancho Villa, as a bugler. During World War I he joined the famed French aviation force Lafayette Escadrille. After the war he joined the Naval Academy for two years but quit when he decided to try something different. He went to New York where he became a model for shirts in magazines. This led to a walk-on in a Broadway play plus a bit part in a New York filmed movie and he was off on an acting career. He was soon off to Hollywood for larger parts in bigger films. His film credits include: bit parts in silent films of the 1920s including "Jamestown" (1923); "Damaged Hearts" (1924) as Jim Porter; "Eve of the Revolution" (1924) as Paul Revere; "School for Wives" (1925) as Ralph and "Gentlemen of the Press" (1929); "A Modern Cinderella" (1932) as Charlie the Chauffeur, his sound film debut; "Barbary Coast" (1935) as Knuckles Jacoby; "Mary Burns, Fugitive" (1935) as Spike; "Another Face" (1935) as Broken Nose Dawson aka Spencer Dutro III; "Strike Me Pink" (1936) as Vance; "Thirteen Hours by Air" (1936) as Doctor Evarts; "Half Angel" (1936) as Duffy Giles; "Human Cargo" (1936) as Packy Campbell; "Crack-Up" (1936) as Ace Martin; "High Tension" (1936) as Steve Reardon; "36 Hours to Kill" (1936) as Frank Evers; "Midnight Taxi" (1937) as Chick Gardner; "This Is My Affair" (1937) as Batiste Duryea; "In Old Chicago" (1937) as Gil Warren; "Born Reckless" (1937) as Bob 'Hurry' Kane; "Battle of Broadway" (1938) as Chesty Webb; "We're Going to Be Rich" (1938) as Yankee Gordon; "Sharpshooters" (1938) as Steve Mitchell; "Allegheny Uprising" (1939) as Callendar; "Behind Prison Gates" (1939) as Det. Norman Craig; "Jesse James" (1939) with Tyrone Power & Henry Fonda, as Mr. Barshee; DeMille's "Union Pacific" (1939) as Sid Campeau; his finest role in "Beau Geste" (1939) as Sgt. Markoff, which earned him a well deserved Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor; "Destry Rides Again" (1939) as Kent; "Brigham Young - Frontiersman" (1940) as Angus Duncan; "The Great McGinty" (1940) as Dan McGinty; "When the Daltons Rode" (1940) as Grat Dalton; "I Wanted Wings" (1941) as Capt. Mercer; "Billy the Kid" (1941) as Jim 'Holy' Sherwood; "South of Tahiti" (1940) as Bob; "Birth of the Blues" (1941) as Memphis; "The Remarkable Andrew" (1942) as Gen. Andrew Jackson; "A Gentleman After Dark" (1942) as Harry Melton; "The Glass Key" (1942) as Paul Madvig; "Wake Island" (1942) as Maj. Geoffrey Caton, one of his more popular roles; "Nightmare" (1942) as Daniel Shane; "The Great Man's Lady" (1942) as Steely Edwards; "Two Yanks in Trinidad" (1942) as Vince Barrows; "Stand by for Action" (1943) as Hangmen Also Die" (1943) as Dr. Franticek Svoboda aka Karel Vanaky; "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944) as Gov. McGinty; King Vidor's "An American Romance" (1944) as Stefan Dangos, a nifty role; "Duffy's Tavern" (1945) as Himself; "The Virginian" (1946) as Trampas; "Canyon Passage" (1946) as George Camrose; "Two Years Before the Mast" (1946) as Richard Henry Dana; "Our Hearts Were Growing Up" (1946) as Tony Minneti; "Song of Scheherazade" (1947) as Capt. Gregorovitch; "Killer McCoy" (1947) as Jim Caighn; "The Beginning of the End" (1947) as Maj. Gen. Leslie R. Groves; "Heaven Only Knows" (1947) as Adam 'Duke' Byron; "Kiss of Death" (1947) with Victor Mature, as Asst. D.A. Louie DeAngelo; "A Southern Yankee" (1948) as Kurt Devlynn; "Command Decision" (1948) as Gen. Clifton Garnet; "The Lucky Stiff" (1949) as John J. Malone; "Impact" (1949) as Walter Williams; "Shakedown" (1950) As Nick Palmer; "Kansas Raiders" (1950) as William Quantrill; "Fighting Coast Guard" (1951) as Commander McFarland; "Slaughter Trail" (1951) as Capt. Dempster; "Hoodlum Empire" (1952) as Sen. Bill Stephens; "Ride the Man Down" (1952) as Bide Marriner; "The Woman They Almost Lynched" (1953) as Quantrill; "The Quatermass Xperiment" (1955) as Prof. Bernard Quatermass; "A Cry in the Night" (1956) as Capt. Ed Bates; "Escape from Red Rock" (1958) as Bronc Grierson; "Quatermass 2" (1957) again as Quatermass; "Cowboy" (1958) as Doc Bender; "Juke Box Rhythm" (1959) as George Manton; "Never So Few" (1959) as Gen. Sloan; "The Errand Boy" (1961) with Jerry Lewis, as Mr. T.P.; "Girl in Room 13" (1961) as Steve Marshall; "The Pigeon That Shook Rome" (1962) as Col. Sherman Harrington; "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" (1965) as B.D. (Big Daddy); "The Curse of the Fly" (1965) as Henri Delambre, probably the low point of his career; "The Fat Spy" (1965) as Wellington; "Waco" (1966) as Ace Ross; "Hostile Guns" (1967) as Marshal Willett; "Arizona Bushwhackers" (1968) as Mayor Joe Smith; "Rogue's Gallery" (1968) as Det. Lee and "Pit Stop" (1969) as Grant Willard, his final film. On TV he was a regular on the series "Dangerous Assignment" (1952) as Steve Mitchell. He guested on such TV series as: "Rawhide"; "Wagon Train"; "Zane Grey Theater"; "Saints and Sinners"; "Perry Mason" and "Family Affair." He was married to Yvonne Grey from 1928-36 and divorced, married Marjorie Lane from 1936-47 and divorced, married Lillian Lugosi from 1966 to his death. He died of throat cancer on April 5, 1972 in Woodland Hills, California at age 71.
From Great Character Actors, Page 6.
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