
Richard Arlen
Born August 30, 1899 · Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore) was an American film and television actor. He served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps during World War I. After the war, he went to the oilfields of Texas and Oklahoma and found work as a tool boy. He was thereafter a messenger and sporting editor of a newspaper before going to Los Angeles to act in films, but no producer wanted him. He was a delivery boy for a film laboratory when the motorcycle which he was riding landed him a broken leg outside the Paramount Pictures lot. A sympathetic film director gave him his start as an extra. He appeared at first in silent films before making the transition to talkies. His first important film role was in Vengeance of the Deep. He took time out from his Hollywood career to teach as a United States Army Air Forces flight instructor in World War II. Arlen is best known for his role as a pilot in the Academy Award-winning Wings with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Gary Cooper, El Brendel, and his second wife, Jobyna Ralston, whom he married in 1927. He was among the more famous residents of the celebrity enclave, Toluca Lake, California. He married New York socialite, Margaret Kinsella, in 1946. In 1939, Universal teamed him with Andy Devine for a series of 14 B-pictures, mostly action-comedies with heavy reliance on stock footage from larger-scale films. They are informally known as the "Aces of Action" series, which is how the stars were billed in the trailers. When Arlen left the studio in 1941, the series continued with Devine teamed with a variety of other actors. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Arlen was active in television, having guest starred in several anthology series, including Playhouse 90, The Loretta Young Show, The 20th Century Fox Hour, and in three episodes of the series about clergymen, Crossroads. In 1960, Arlen was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star at 6755 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the film industry. In 1968, he appeared on Petticoat Junction playing himself. The episode was called "Wings" and it was in direct reference to the 1927 silent movie Wings. Arlen appeared in westerns, such as Lawman, Branded, Bat Masterson, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, and Yancy Derringer, and in such drama/adventure programs as Ripcord, Whirlybirds, Perry Mason, The New Breed, Coronado 9, and Michael Shayne.
Notable Appearances
Movies
More Movies

The Bounty Killer

Flaming Feather

The Sky's the Limit

Kansas Raiders

Call of The Yukon

The Last Time I Saw Archie

The Human Duplicators

Sex and the College Girl

You'd Be Surprised

The Calling of Dan Matthews

She Made Her Bed

Thunderbolt

Hollywood on Parade No. A-4

Mutiny on the Blackhawk

The Muppets Go to the Movies

Apache Uprising

Straight, Place and Show

Buckskin

Waco

Black Spurs

The Young and the Brave

The Horror Show

Sally in Our Alley

Hollywood on Parade No. A-6

Mutiny in the Arctic

Let 'em Have It

No Time to Marry

Ladies of the Mob

The Lawyer's Secret

That's My Baby!

Fort Utah

Rolled Stockings

Figures Don't Lie

The Man from Montreal

When My Baby Smiles at Me

A Whale of a Tale

Red Tomahawk

The All-American

Silver City

Three Cornered Moon

The Return of Wildfire

In the Name of Love

Hurricane Smith

Song of the Eagle

Men of the Timberland

Rogue's Gallery

The Man I Love

Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess

The Mine with the Iron Door

Wayward

Storm Over Lisbon

A Dangerous Game

Only Saps Work

Legion of Lost Flyers

Wildcat

Hollywood

College Humor

The Virginian

To the Shores of Hell

Hostile Guns

She's a Sheik

Beggars of Life

Raiders of the Desert

Paramount on Parade

The Light of Western Stars

Buffalo Bill Rides Again

Under the Tonto Rim

Artists & Models

Road to Nashville

Power Dive

The Crawling Hand

The Devil's Pipeline

The Coast of Folly

The Phantom Speaks

Submarine Alert

A Letter From Bataan

Old Ironsides

Hot Steel

Dangerous Paradise

The Leather Pushers

The Santa Fe Trail

Hidden Guns

Tiger Shark

The Shepherd of the Hills

The Four Feathers

Devil's Point

Golden Harvest

Alaska Highway

Aerial Gunner

The Great Barrier

Padlocked

Grand Canyon

Helldorado

Ready for Love

Child of Trouble

Sabre Jet

Accomplice

Minesweeper

Danger On Wheels

The Big Bonanza

Identity Unknown

Guilty as Hell

Three Live Ghosts

The Blood Ship

Flying Blind

Blonde Blackmailer

Caught

The French Key

Behind the Front

Sky Bride

Dangerous Curves

Torpedo Boat

Cavalry Command

Forced Landing

Burning Up

The Blazing Forest

The Enchanted Hill

Raymie

Secret Valley

The Sea God

The Secret Call

Black Diamonds

Gun Smoke

Come On, Marines!

Missing Daughters

Feel My Pulse

Lucky Devils

The Conquering Horde

Timber Queen

Quicksands

The Border Legion

Touchdown!

Speed to Spare

Wrecking Crew

































