Charles Coburn
(1877 - 1961)He was a Southern gentleman born Charles Douville Coburn in Savannah, Georgia on June 17, 1877. He worked his way up from program boy to manager in a local theatre and eventually switched to acting himself. In 1901 he made his Broadway debut and in later years became a film star. He had a pudgy, jolly face, wore a monocle better than anyone else and had a sort of blustery, but smooth voice. He played sophisticated gents, businessmen and grandfatherly types mostly. Among his film credits are: "Boss Tweed" (1933) his film debut; "The People's Enemy" (1935) as Judge; "Of Human Hearts" (1938) as Dr. Charles Shingle; "Vivacious Lady" (1938) as Peter Morgan; "Yellow Jack" (1938) as Dr. Finlay; "Lord Jeff" (1938) as Captain Briggs; "Idiot’s Delight" (1939) as Dr. Hugo Waldersee; "Made for Each Other" (1939) as Judge Joseph M. Doolittle; "Bachelor Mother" (1939) as John B. Merlin; "Stanley and Livingstone" (1939) as Lord Tyce; "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" (1939) as Gardner Hubbard; "In Name Only" (1939) as Richard Walker; "The Road to Singapore" (1940) with Bob Hope & "Bing Crosby, as Joshua Mallon IV; Edison the Man" (1940) as Gen. Powell; "Florian" (1940) as Hofer; "The Captain Is a Lady" (1940) as Capt. Abe Peabody; "Three Faces West" (1940) as Dr. Karl Braun; "The Lady Eve" (1941) as Col. Harrington; "Our Wife" (1941) as Professor Drake; "Unexpected Uncle" (1941) as Seton Manley aka Alfred Crane; "H.M. Pulham, Esq." (1941) as John Pulham; "The Devil and Miss Jones" (1941) as John P. Merrick; Kings Row" (1942) in a rare evil role as a despicable surgeon Dr. Henry Gordon; "In This Our Life" (1942) as William Fitzroy; "George Washington Slept Here" (1942) as Uncle Stanley J. Menninger; "Forever and a Day" (1943) uncredited as Sir William; "Heaven Can Wait" (1943) as Hugo Van Cleve; "The More the Merrier" (1943) as Benjamin Dingle, for which he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor; "The Constant Nymph" (1943) as Charles Churchill; "Princess O'Rourke" (1943) as Holman, Maria's Uncle; "My Kingdom for a Cook" (1943) as Rudyard Morley; "Wilson" (1944) as Prof. Henry Holmes; "Knickerbocker Holiday" (1944) as Peter Stuyvesant; "The Impatient Years" (1944) as William Smith; "Together Again" (1944) as Jonathan Crandall Sr.; "A Royal Scandal" (1945) as Chancellor Nikolai Ilyitch; "Over 21" (1945) as Robert Gow; "Shady Lady" (1945) as Col. Appleby; "Rhapsody in Blue" (1945) as Max Dreyfus; "Colonel Effingham's Raid" (1946) as Col. Will Seaborn Effingham; "The Green Years" (1946) as Alexander 'Dandy' Gow; "Lured" (1947) as Inspector Harley Temple; "The Paradine Case" (1947) as Sir Simon Flaquer; "B.F.'s Daughter" (1948) as Burton F. 'B.F.' Fulton; "Green Grass of Wyoming" (1948) as Beaver Greenway; "Impact" (1949) as Lt. Tom Quincy; "The Doctor and the Girl" (1949) as Dr. John Corday; "Yes Sir That's My Baby" (1949) as Prof. Jason Hartley; "The Gal Who Took the West" (1949) as Gen. Michael O'Hara; "Everybody Does It" (1949) as Major Blair; "Peggy" (1950) as Prof. 'Brooks' Brookfield; "Louisa" (1950) as Abel Burnside; Mr. Music" (1950) as Alex Conway; "Oh Money, Money" (1951); "The Highwayman" (1951) as Lord Walters; "Monkey Business" (1952) with Cary Grant, as Mr. Oliver Oxley; "Trouble Along the Way" (1953) as Father Burke; "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" (1953) as Samuel Fulton; "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953) as Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman; "The Rocket Man" (1954) as Mayor Ed Johnson; "The Long Wait" (1954) as Gardiner; "How to Be Very, Very Popular" (1955) as Dr. Tweed; "The Power and the Prize" (1956) as Guy Eliot; "Town on Trial" (1957) as Dr. John Fenner; "How to Murder a Rich Uncle" (1957) as Uncle George; "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" (1959) as Grampa; "A Stranger In My Arms" (1959) as Vance Beasley; "John Paul Jones" (1959) as Benjamin Franklin and "Pepe" (1960) as a Guest Star, his final film. He was married to Ivah Wills from 1906 to her death in 1937, he married Winifred Natzka in 1959. He was one the few Hollywood actors to actually live on the famed Hollywood Boulevard. He died on August 30, 1961 of a heart attack in New York City.
From Great Character Actors, Page 1.
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