| Richard Cromwell (actor) |
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Richard Cromwell ( January 8 , 1910 - October 11 , 1960 ) was an American actor, born '''LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh'''. His family and friends called him Roy, though he was also professionally known and signed autographs as '''Dick Cromwell'''. Cromwell was best known for his work in '' Jezebel '' ( 1938 ) with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda and in '' The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer '' ( 1935 ) where he shared top billing with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone . That film was the first major effort directed by Henry Hathaway and it was based upon the popular novel by Francis Yeats-Brown. '' The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer '' earned Paramount Studios a nomination for Best Picture in 1935, though '' Mutiny On The Bounty '' instead took the top award at '' The Oscars '' that year. Leslie Halliwell in ''The Filmgoer's Companion'', summed up Cromwell's enduring appeal when he described him as "a leading man, {Link without Title} gentle hero of early sound films." Early life Cromwell was born in Long Beach, California on January 8 , 1910 , the oldest in a family of five children. His father Hobart Radabaugh, an inventor, died of a sudden illness, most likely Influenza during the Spanish Flu Pandemic , when Cromwell was still in grade school. While helping his young widowed mother, Faye Stocking Radabaugh, to support the family with odd-jobs, Cromwell enrolled as a teenager in the Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles on a scholarship. As Cromwell developed his talents for lifelike mask-making and oil-painting, he curried friendships in the late 1920s with various then-starlets who posed for him including Tallulah Bankhead , Joan Crawford , Anna Q. Nilsson , Greta Garbo , and even Marie Dressler (whom he would later share top-billing with in 1932's '' Emma ''). Overnight stardom & early film career The young Roy Radabaugh, as he was then known, had dabbled in film extra work on the side, and can be seen in ''King of Jazz'' ( Film Archives today contains one of the few remaining restored prints, donated by the Radabaugh-Putnam family). Radabaugh won the role over thousands of hopefuls, and in storybook fashion, Harry Cohn gave him his screen name and launched his career. Cromwell earned $75 per week for his work on ''Tol'able David''. Noah Beery, Sr. and John Carradine co-starred in the film. Later, Cohn signed Cromwell to a multi-year contract based on the strength of his performance and success in his first venture at the box-office. Amidst the flurry of publicity during this period, Cromwell toured the country, even meeting President Herbert Hoover in Washington, D.C. Cromwell by then had maintained a deep friendship with . However, the part of the oriental prince ultimately went to Ramon Novarro , and Cromwell never again worked at MGM . Cromwell's next role in 1932 was on loan-out to RKO and was as Mike in Gregory La Cava 's, ''The Age of Consent'' co-starring Eric Linden and Dorothy Wilson. Next up, was an early standout performance by Cromwell in the role as the leader of the youth gang in Cecil B. Demille 's now cult-favorite, ''This Day and Age'' ( 1933 ). While again on loan from Columbia, Cromwell's by then salary of $200 per week was paid by Paramount Pictures , Demille's studio. Cromwell is also remembered during this period in ''Hoopla'' (1933), where he is seduced by Clara Bow . This film is considered the swan song of Bow's career. The much in demand Cromwell starred in ''Tom Brown of Culver'' that year, as well. Around this period in his career in the mid-30s, Cromwell also did some print ads and promotional work for Lucky Strike brand cigarettes, though it is doubtful if he was a regular smoker. After a promising start, Cromwell's many early pictures at Columbia Pictures and elsewhere were mostly inconsequential and are largely forgotten today. For example, Cromwell starred with Will Rogers in ''Life Begins at 40'' for Fox Film Corporation in 1935, and while it was one of Rogers' last roles, nary a video directory can be found including it. The same goes for ''Poppy'' from Paramount in 1936 wherein Cromwell played the suitor of W.C. Fields ' daughter, Rochelle Hudson. Later, he performed opposite Lionel Atwill in the rarely-screened but still interesting, ''The Wrong Road'' for RKO . Broadway & Network Radio Performances In 1936 , Cromwell took a detour in his career to Broadway for the chance to star as an evil cadet in an original play by Joseph Viertel, entitled, ''So Proudly We Hail.'' The military drama was directed by future film director Charles Walters, co-starred Eddie Bracken , and opened to much fanfare. The reviews of the play at the time called Cromwell's acting ''"a striking portrayal"''(The Herald Tribune) and his performance an ''"astonishing characterization"''(New York World Telegram). The New York Times said that in the play, Cromwell ''"ran the gamut of emotions."'' Nevertheless, the play only enjoyed a brief run, and it closed after 14 performances at the 46th Street Theater. By now, Cromwell had shed his restrictive until 1942 , Cromwell played opposite Nan Grey who was Kit's twin sister Kathy. Cromwell as Kit was later replaced by Bill Henry. Other members of the drama series ensemble included Helen Wood in the role of Elaine, Kit's girlfriend, and Francis X. Bushman , as John Marshall the father of the twins. Rounding out the cast, long before their own respective film and television stardom, was Robert Cummings of '' Dial M For Murder '' ; and even Gale Gordon , who later became a fixture on '' The Lucy Show ''. Later Film & Theatrical Career In the late 1930s , Cromwell appeared in ''Storm Over Bengal,'' for Republic Pictures, in order to capitalize on the success of '' The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer .'' Aside from the aforementioned standout roles in '' Jezebel '' and '' The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer '', Cromwell did another notable turn as defendant Matt Clay to Henry Fonda 's title-performance in '' Young Mr. Lincoln '' ( 1939 ). During this period, Cromwell was continuing to enjoy the various invitations becoming him as a member of the A-list Hollywood social circuit. According to Bob Thomas, in his biography of Joan Crawford , Cromwell was a regular at the Saturday Night dinner parties of his former co-star Franchot Tone and then-wife Crawford. Other guests whom Cromwell dined with there included Barbara Stanwyck and then-husband Frank Fay , and William Haines and Jimmy Rogers. During the freewheeling heydey of West L.A. nightlife in the late 30s, Cromwell is said by author Charles Higham to have carried on a sometime, though obviously very discreet, affair with aviator and businessman Howard Hughes . In the early '40s, Cromwell again tried his luck on the stage in a regional production of Sutton Vance's '' Outward Bound '' featuring Dorothy Jordan as his co-star. The cast of the production at the Los Angeles Biltmore Theater included Cora Witherspoon and Reginald Denny . U.S. Armed Forces Service Cromwell served admirably during the last two years of WWII with the United States Coast Guard , alongside fellow actor and enlistee Cesar Romero . According to Kim King, of Carlsbad, California, whose Coast Guard-enlisted father (and mother) counted Cromwell as a lifelong friend, another Hollywood luminary, actor Gig Young , was also a member of this branch of the Service during the War. During this period, popular composer/lyricist Cole Porter rented Cromwell's home in the Hollywood Hills, where Porter worked at length on '' Panama Hattie ''. Director George Cukor was a personal friend, as well as director James Whale , for whom Cromwell had starred in '' The Road Back '' ( 1937 ), the ill-fated remake to '' All Quiet On The Western Front ''. Returning to California from the Pacific upon the war's end, Cromwell continued his foray into acting in local theater productions and in Summer Stock back East. Marriage to Angela Lansbury Back in California for good, Mr. Cromwell was married once, briefly from 1945-1946, to the British-born actress Angela Lansbury , when she was 19 and Cromwell was 35. Cromwell and Lansbury eloped and were married in a small civil ceremony in Independence, California . Ms. Lansbury candidly discusses her first marriage to Cromwell, and its demise due to Cromwell's Bisexuality , in her authorized biography, ''Balancing Act''. In the book, Lansbury recounts the couple's friendship with Zachary Scott and his first wife, Elaine. By coincidence, both Lansbury and Cromwell have stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame that are each within walking distance of the other on Vine Street , near the old Huntington Hartford (now "Henry Fonda") Theater. Cromwell made just one statement to the press regarding his wife of nine months and one of her habits: "All over the house, tea bags. In the middle of the night she'd get up and start drinking tea. It nearly drove me crazy." (Source: Liza Wilson, The American Weekly). Some accounts of the couple's union suggest that Cromwell was even more infatuated with Lansbury's theatrical mother, bit-player Moyna MacGill, than he was with his young bride. According to the biography: ''Angela Lansbury, A Life on Stage and Screen,'' (by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg, Birch Lane Press, did a story in the '90s about Lansbury and "the secret of her first husband." Whatever the true circumstances of their union, Cromwell and Lansbury did remain friends until his death at the start of the 1960s. Film Career Ends, Artistic Career Begins Again Prior to , entitled ''Bungalow 13.'' In fact, it was the second feature in which he starred with Margaret Hamilton , though the film did not help her star to re-shine brightly either. All told, Cromwell's film career spanned 39 films. In the 1950s , Cromwell went back to his given name and studied ceramics. He built a pottery studio at his home. The home still stands today and is located in the hills above Sunset Boulevard on North Miller Drive. There, Radabaugh successfully designed coveted decorative tiles for his industry-friends, as well as for noted architectural landmarks, including the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Radabaugh's original tiles as well as his large decorative wall paintings of Adam And Eve can still be seen today in the lobby and mezzanine of the restored theater. As Radabaugh, he also wrote extensively, producing several published stories and an unfinished novel in the 1950s . Cromwell was an early participant and supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Los Angeles Area. Cromwell continued with his ceramics production business, with noted corporate clients during this period including The Beverly Hilton Hotel, where many of his Aztec -styled Objects D'art were displayed. Death & Legacy In July of 1960 , Cromwell planned another comeback of sorts, when he signed on with producer Maury Dexter for 20th Century Fox 's planned production of ''The Little Shepard of Kingdom Come'' co-starring Jimmie Rodgers (and ultimately Neil Hamilton as well whom had to replace Cromwell). Unfortunately, Cromwell took sick and he died on October 11 , 1960 in Hollywood of complications from Liver Cancer . He was just 50 years old. He is interred in Santa Ana, California . Cromwell was survived at the time by his four siblings, including Opal Radabaugh Putnam. Cromwell's legacy is preserved today by his nephew Dan Putnam, and his cousin Bill Keane, both of the Conejo Valley in Southern California . Keane has recently donated materials relating to Cromwell's radio performances to the Thousand Oaks Library's Special Collection, "The American Radio Archive". Selected filmography Trivia
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