
Reginald Owen
Born August 4, 1887 · Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was an English character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and later in television programmes. The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert Tree's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905. In 1911, he starred in the original production of Where the Rainbow Ends as Saint George which opened to very good reviews on 21 December 1911. Reginald Owen had a few years earlier met the author Mrs. Clifford Mills as a young actor, and it was he who on hearing her idea of a Rainbow Story persuaded her to turn it into a play, and thus "Where the Rainbow Ends" was born. He went to the United States in 1920 and worked originally on Broadway in New York, but later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career. He was always a familiar face in many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions. Owen is perhaps best known today for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a role he inherited from Lionel Barrymore, who had played the part of Scrooge on the radio every Christmas for years until Barrymore broke his hip in an accident. Owen was one of only five actors to play both Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr Watson (Jeremy Brett played Watson on stage in the United States prior to adopting the mantle of Holmes on British television, Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television films). Howard Marion-Crawford played Holmes in a radio adaptation of "The Speckled Band" and later played Watson to Ronald Howard’s Holmes in the 1954-55 television series. Owen first played Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932), and then Holmes himself in A Study in Scarlet (1933). Having played Ebenezer Scrooge, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Owen has the odd distinction of playing three classic characters of Victorian fiction only to live to see those characters be taken over and personified by other actors, namely Alastair Sim as Scrooge, Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Later in his career, Owen appeared opposite James Garner in the television series Maverick in the episodes "The Belcastle Brand" (1957) and "Gun-Shy" (1958) and also guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond and Bewitched. He was featured in the Walt Disney films Mary Poppins (1964) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He had a small role in the 1962 Irwin Allen production of the Jules Verne novel Five Weeks in a Balloon. In August 1964, his Bel-Air mansion was rented out to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.
Notable Appearances
More Movies

Woman of the Year

The Great Ziegfeld

The Thrill of It All

Queen Christina

The Pirate

Call of the Wild

That's Entertainment!

A Woman's Face

National Velvet

Tarzan's Secret Treasure

Anna Karenina

A Christmas Carol

Random Harvest

A Tale of Two Cities

Captain Kidd

Forever and a Day

Five Weeks in a Balloon

The House of Rothschild

Tammy and the Doctor

Of Human Bondage

The Secret Garden

They Met in Bombay

The Bride Wore Red

The Earl of Chicago

Somewhere I'll Find You

Yours for the Asking

Three Loves Has Nancy

The Real Glory

The Diary of a Chambermaid

The Great Diamond Robbery

A Study in Scarlet

Love on the Run

Madame Curie

Cluny Brown

I Married an Angel

Rosalie

The Ghost Comes Home

Salute to the Marines

The Canterville Ghost

Platinum Blonde

Three Hearts for Julia

Music in the Air

If Winter Comes

Rose Marie

Pierre of the Plains

Above Suspicion

Thunder in the Valley

Lady Be Good

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

Kim

Fashions of 1934

Reunion in France

The Good Fairy

Hotel Imperial

The Imperfect Lady

She Went to the Races

The Miniver Story

Fast and Loose

Green Dolphin Street

Moochie of the Little League

Madame X

The Man in Possession

The Sailor Takes a Wife

Monsieur Beaucaire

Here Is My Heart

The Girl on the Front Page

Conquest

Moochie of Pop Warner Football

Hills of Home

White Cargo

Kidnapped

Phroso

The Countess of Monte Cristo

Julia Misbehaves

Double Harness

Trouble for Two

Sherlock Holmes

The Man Called Back

Personal Property

The Narrow Corner

Challenge to Lassie

Stingaree

Rosie!

Blonde Inspiration

Florian

Cairo

Assignment in Brittany

Dangerous Number

Charley's Aunt

Kitty

Grounds for Marriage

The Girl Downstairs

Mandalay

Nana

Downstairs

Vacation from Love

Voltaire

Enchanted April

Free and Easy

Lovers Courageous

Escapade

Bridal Suite

We Were Dancing

The Bishop Misbehaves

Red Garters

Everybody Sing

Adventure in Manhattan

Madame du Barry

Paradise for Three

A Woman Commands

Piccadilly Incident

The Big Brain

The Human Side

Remember?

Hullabaloo

Where Sinners Meet

Robbers' Roost

Voice of the Hurricane

The Letter

Bad Little Angel














