Ronald Colman
British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London Scottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France. Seriously wounded at the battle of Messines--he was gassed--he was invalided out of service scarcely two months after shipping out for France. Upon his recovery he tried to enter the consular service, but a chance encounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and concentrated on the theatre, and was rewarded with a succession of increasingly prominent parts. He made extra money appearing in a few minor films, and in 1920 set out for New York in hopes of finding greater fortune there than in war-depressed England. After two years of impoverishment he was cast in a Broadway hit, "La Tendresse". Director Henry King spotted him in the show and cast him as Lillian Gish's leading man in The White Sister (1923). His success in the film led to a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, and his career as a Hollywood leading man was underway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as well as adventure films. The coming of sound made his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice even more important to the film industry. He played sophisticated, thoughtful characters of integrity with enormous aplomb, and swashbuckled expertly when called to do so in films like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). A decade later he received an Academy Award for his splendid portrayal of a tormented actor in A Double Life (1947). Much of his later career was devoted to "The Halls of Ivy", a radio show that later was transferred to television "The Halls of Ivy" (1954). He continued to work until nearly the end of his life, which came in 1958 after a brief lung illness. He was survived by his second wife, actress Benita Hume, and their daughter Juliet Benita Colman.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 15.316 |
Birthday | 1891-02-08 |
Place of Birth | Richmond, Surrey, England, UK |
Also Known As | Ronald Charles Colman , |
1956
Around the World in Eighty Days
6.638/486
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a ve...
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Around the World in Eighty Days
1937
Lost Horizon
7.025/200
British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like...
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Lost Horizon
1942
Random Harvest
7.3/97
An amnesiac World War I vet falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-...
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Random Harvest
1942
The Talk of the Town
7.2/96
Wrongfully jailed for arson, political activist Leopold Dilg escapes and takes refuge at the house of his childhood friend, Nora, unaware that she has...
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The Talk of the Town
1947
A Double Life
6.246/65
A Shakespearian actor starring as Othello opposite his wife finds the character's jealous rage taking over his mind off-stage.
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A Double Life
1950
Champagne for Caesar
7.1/21
When jobless genius Beauregard Bottomley interviews with Burnbridge Waters for a position at Waters' soap company, the owner rudely turns Bottomley do...
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Champagne for Caesar
1957
The Story of Mankind
4.476/21
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.
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The Story of Mankind
1944
Kismet
4.9/12
Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the c...
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Kismet
1937
The Prisoner of Zenda
7.556/45
An Englishman who resembles the king of a small European nation gets mixed up in palace intrigue when his look-alike is kidnapped.
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The Prisoner of Zenda
1935
A Tale of Two Cities
6.8/61
The exciting story of Dr. Manette, who escapes the horrors of the infamous Bastille prison in Paris. The action switches between London and Paris on t...
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A Tale of Two Cities
1941
My Life with Caroline
5.7/3
A man thinks his high-spirited wife is cheating on him.
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My Life with Caroline
1923
The White Sister
7/11
Angela Chiaromonte is the daughter of a wealthy Italian prince who is killed in a fall from his horse. Though Angela stands to inherit half of a large...
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The White Sister
1929
Bulldog Drummond
6.3/18
Bulldog Drummond is a British WWI veteran who longs for some excitement after he returns to the humdrum existence of civilian life. He gets what he's...
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Bulldog Drummond
1924
Romola
6/2
In Renaissance Florence, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces himself as Tito Melema, a young Italianate-Greek scholar. Ti...
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Romola
1931
Arrowsmith
6.6/23
A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.
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Arrowsmith
1936
Under Two Flags
6/2
Sergeant Victor comes to the French Foreign Legion after taking the blame for his brother's crime. Cigarette falls in love with him though Major Doyle...
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Under Two Flags
1931
The Unholy Garden
6/2
At a hotel in the middle of the Sahara, an old man and his daughter try to keep the location of a hidden treasure from a collection of thieves and cri...
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The Unholy Garden
1926
The Winning of Barbara Worth
6.6/19
While building an irrigation system for a Southwestern desert community, an engineer vies with a local cowboy for the affections of a rancher's daught...
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The Winning of Barbara Worth
1935
Clive of India
4.6/10
Fort St. David, Cuddalore, southern India, 1748. While colonial empires battle to seize an enormous territory, rich in spices and precious metals beyo...
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Clive of India
1929
Condemned
6.2/12
Suave thief Colman is sent to Devil's Island, where he becomes romantically involved with the wife of sadistic warden Digges.
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Condemned
1930
Raffles
5.8/11
A distinguished English gentleman has a secret life--he is the notorious jewel thief the press has dubbed "The Amateur Cracksman". When he meets a wom...
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Raffles
1930
The Devil to Pay!
6/17
Spendthrift Willie Hale again returns penniless to the family home in London. His father is none too pleased, but Willie smooth-talks him into letting...
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The Devil to Pay!
1925
Lady Windermere's Fan
7/31
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
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Lady Windermere's Fan
1925
Stella Dallas
7.1/12
An eccentric lower class woman struggles to gain respect in high society after marrying a wealthy man, and the problem gets worse when their daughter...
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Stella Dallas
1938
If I Were King
6.8/9
King Louis XI masquerades as a commoner in Paris, seeking out the treachery he is sure lurks in his kingdom. At a local tavern, he overhears the brash...
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If I Were King
1940
Lucky Partners
6.1/8
Two strangers split a sweepstake prize to go on a fake honeymoon with predictable results.
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Lucky Partners
1947
The Late George Apley
6.8/15
George and Catherine Apley of Boston lead a proper life in the proper social circle, as did the Apleys before them. When grown daughter Eleanor falls...
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The Late George Apley
1932
Cynara
4.8/10
A London barrister's marriage is under strain after his affair with a shopgirl who is out to have him. The story is told in flashback.
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Cynara
1934
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
5.3/9
Bulldog Drummond finds himself immersed in another adventure when he stumbles upon a corpse in the mysterious London mansion of Prince Achmed. Enlisti...
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Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1925
Her Sister from Paris
5.8/6
Helen has a twin sister, who is a famous actress named "La Perry". Helen and her sister decide to trick Helen's husband to prove his love.
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Her Sister from Paris
1924
Her Night of Romance
6.5/8
An impoverished British lord (Paul Menford) impersonates a doctor in order to woo an ailing American heiress (Dorothy Adams). The lord is in it for lo...
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Her Night of Romance
1935
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
6.3/3
A Russian prince goes to Monte Carlo just after World War I with money supplied to him by Parisian Russians. He wins but the casino operators want him...
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The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
1926
Beau Geste
5.9/11
Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, wh...
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Beau Geste
1939
The Light That Failed
6/5
A London artist struggles to complete one last painting before going blind.
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The Light That Failed
1929
The Rescue
0/0
The English adventurer Tom Lingard gets involved with islanders on a South Seas island, and he also gets involved with Lady Edith and Mr. Travers, a s...
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The Rescue
1928
Two Lovers
0/0
Set during the 16th-century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the story concentrates on the fiercely patriotic Mark Van Ryke (Colman). Donning the guise...
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Two Lovers
1933
The Masquerader
4.8/4
A drug-addicted member of Parliament needs to take time off and secretly pull his life together, so he gets his lookalike cousin to agree to temporari...
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The Masquerader
1926
Kiki
7/2
Kiki, a poor young woman who sells newspapers on the street corners of Paris, is able to land a job singing and dancing at a nearby theater. While she...
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Kiki
1927
The Magic Flame
5/1
The Magic Flame (1927) is a feature film directed by Henry King, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and based on the play Konig Harlekin by Rudolph Lothar. G...
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The Magic Flame
1925
A Thief in Paradise
6/1
Years of failure and bad luck have made Maurice Blake a beachcomber on an island in the Samoas, earning a precarious living by diving for pearls with...
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A Thief in Paradise
1927
The Night of Love
5/1
Montero, son of a Gypsy leader, is about to take a bride according to primitive ritual, when the Duke de la Garda demands his right as feudal lord--to...
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The Night of Love
2001
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
8/1
The life and work of Samuel Goldwyn, a Polish-born glove salesman who became one of Hollywood's greatest independent producers, is remembered in this...
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Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
1920
Anna the Adventuress
0/0
Two identical sisters are able to switch places, leading to a series of unfortunate incidents.
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Anna the Adventuress
1925
The Sporting Venus
6.5/2
Familiar story of spoiled heiress, Blanche Sweet, who dabbles in romance with commoner Ronald Colman. They roam the highlands together hunting since t...
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The Sporting Venus
1925
The Dark Angel
0/0
Alan Trent (Ronald Colman), his cousin Gerald Shannon (Wyndham Standing) and neighbor Kitty Vane (Vilma Bánky) have grown up together, as close playma...
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The Dark Angel
1925
His Supreme Moment
0/0
John Douglas, a down-on-his-luck engineer, takes his sweetheart, Sara Deeping, to a play starring Carla King, and he falls in love with the actress.
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His Supreme Moment
1976
That's Entertainment, Part II
6.8/33
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical num...
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That's Entertainment, Part II
1988
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
8/3
This documentary revisits the making of Gone with the Wind via archival footage, screen tests, insightful interviews and rare film footage.
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The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1949
The Art Director
0/0
A film's art director is in charge of the set, from conception to construction to furnishing. This short film walks the viewer through art directors'...
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The Art Director
1924
Twenty Dollars a Week
0/0
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Twenty Dollars a Week
1924
Tarnish
0/0
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Tarnish
1919
The Toilers
0/0
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The Toilers
1961
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
3.3/3
Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in t...
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Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1930
Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
0/0
Ronald Colman introduces the governor of California, who urges moviegoers to attend the cleaner, wholesome talkie films, rather than those that show t...
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Governor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season
1930
Terra Melophon Magazin Nr. 1
0/0
Film in the style of a magazine. Various topics, e.g. reading from the book "Ich lasse Dich nicht"; explanation of how a telephone conversation betwee...
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