Walter Connolly
Nascimento : 1887-04-08, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Morte : 1940-05-28
História
The name may have been forgotten, especially today (seven decades later), but the portly, apoplectic, exasperated figure on the 1930s screen wasn't. While his film career, save a couple of silents, lasted a paltry seven years (1932-1939), character actor Walter Connolly certainly ran the distance. While some film historians complain that a number of his performances were annoying or overbaked, he was for the most part applauded for his zesty contributions to a number of comedy classics. Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933), Broadway Bill (1934) and It Happened One Night (1934), not to mention the Carole Lombard/Fredric March screwball farce Nothing Sacred (1937) as news reporter March's hot-headed editor boss are sure-fire examples.
The Cincinnati, Ohio native was born on April 8, 1887 and schooled there. The son of the head of the Western Union relay office, he attended St. Xavier College and the University of Dublin in Ireland before making his New York debut in 1910 in an outdoor presentation of "As You Like It". For the next year or so he was a member of E.H. Sothern's touring company and played supporting roles in a number of Shakespearean shows on the road. After a few silent pictures left him unimpressed with film-making, he turned to the Broadway stage in the 1920s and scored quite well. Somewhat short and tubby, it was not difficult for the jowly, mustachioed actor to seize laughs and he found his share in such outings as "The Talking Parrot" (1923), "Applesauce" (1925), "The Springboard" (1927), "The Happy Husband" (1928), "Stepping Out" (1929), "Your Uncle Dudley" (1930), "Anatol" (1931), "Six Characters in Search of an Author" (1931), "The Good Fairy" (1932) and "The Late Christopher Bean" (1932).
With his talents as a stage farceur firmly established, it was time to make a second attempt at a film career and Hollywood (specifically, Columbia) wisely opened their doors to him. Interestingly, his debut in a full-length talking picture came at age 45 in the form of a drama, Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932), where he was third-billed as a rather benign senator. For the next seven years Connolly, often playing older than he really was, could be found everywhere giving good fluster to the greatest and glossiest of stars -- Janet Gaynor, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, and Ginger Rogers, among hordes of others.
His hobbies were collecting old books and theatre programmes. Connolly was married to actress Nedda Harrigan from 1923 to his death. They had one daughter, Ann (1924–2006). Connolly suffered a fatal stroke on May 28, 1940, and was buried in New St. Joseph Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Self (archive footage)
Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.
Victor Herbert
In his last film assignment, portly Walter Connolly fills the title role (in more ways than one) in The Great Victor Herbert. Very little of Herbert's life story is incorporated in the screenplay (a closing title actually apologizes for the film's paucity of cold hard facts); instead, the writers allow the famed composer's works to speak for themselves. In the tradition of one of his own operettas, Herbert spends most of his time patching up the shaky marriage between tenor John Ramsey (Allan Jones) and Louise Hall (Mary Martin). Many of Herbert's most famous compositions are well in evidence, including "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", "March of the Toys" and "Kiss Me Again", the latter performed con brio by teenaged coloratura Susanna Foster. Evidently, the producers were able to secure the film rights for the Herbert songs, but not for the stage productions in which they appeared, which may explain such bizarre interpolations as having a song from Naughty Marietta.
Mr. Borden
A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglectful family.
Dr. MacAuley
Dr. MacAuley, a kindly, beloved country doctor, is sent to Fillmore Prison. His crime was for removing a bullet from a young man who was escaping from the police.
Tobias Bliss
Steady, dependable Coast Guard Lieutenant Raymond "Ray" Dower and reckless aviator Thomas "Speed" Bradshaw are the closest of friends. Ray saves the life of Captain Tobias Bliss, tramp steamer skipper, in a daring rescue at sea. Speed flies the injured man back to the base hospital, where the two officers later visit him. There Ray meets Nancy Bliss, Bliss' grand-daughter, and falls in love with her. Speed meets her at a dance and urges Ray to propose before some other guy does. Ray is assigned to flood rescue duty, and Speed and Nancy start going out together and discover they are in love.
Olaf Brand
Jenny Swanson, a waitress on a college campus, is dying to visit Paris. Thanks to English professor Ronald Brooke, she manages to make her dream come true. Besides seeing the sights in the French capital she makes friends with a wealthy family there, the Brands.
Dr. Theodore Grauer
A carefree playboy with an aversion to marriage falls for a lass he meets in the French Alps.
The 'King'
Mais uma das primorosas versões feitas pelo cinema do livro de Mark Twain. Clássico.
Mr. Brown
A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falling in love with him.
Gabby MacArthur
Enquanto estava em Xangai relatando a guerra sino-japonesa, Chris Hunter, um astuto repórter de notícias, encontra a piloto Alma Harding. Ela não confia nele, mas ele consegue contratá-la como sua assistente. Durante uma expedição aventureira através das selvas da América do Sul, sua opinião sobre ele começa a mudar.
John P. Dillingwell
A publicist falls for his most difficult client's daughter.
Sam Lewis
After retiring from movies to get an education, a man discovers his ex-staff is trying to have him expelled.
Carter Hibbard (archive footage) (uncredited)
This was one of the annual "blooper" reels screened by the Warners Club, an organization of Warners actors, crew and executives. It was meant to poke fun at the flubs and bloopers that occurred ont the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.
Dist. Atty. Thomas Mathews
The story of a D.A. who becomes a prison warden and winds up overseeing the sentence of a man he prosecuted.
Carter Hibbard
A politician's wife plots for her husband to become the next U.S. President.
Oliver Stone
Os jornais informam que Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) sofre de uma doença incurável. Wally Cook (Fredric March), um jornalista de Nova York passa a investigar o caso e acaba se apaixonando pela moça.
Uncle
China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe agrees to investigate a series of murders that seem to be tied in with a past Harvard hazing prank that went awry.
Joe Quinn
Let's Get Married is a 1937 American comedy film starring Ida Lupino, who plays the daughter of a political consultant, Joe Quinn. From Wikipedia
Michael Steele
After being in jail for seventeen years a crook is met by the girl he kidnapped as a baby. She now thinks he's her father. When he returns her to her real father there's a job and a reward, but an old prisonmate gets in the way.
James B. Allenbury
When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.
Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria
Princess is destined to marry the Emperor, until her sister steps in.
Humphrey Craig
Tycoon Humphrey Craig is fearful that a "soak the rich" bill will pass in the United States Senate.
John Mitchell
A powerful publisher John Mitchell whose pursuit of sensational headlines at the expense of all else takes a personal toll when his daughter Joan is implicated in a murder.
Malcolm Bedford
During the American Civil War, Valette Bedford waits patiently for her husband Duncan Bedford, to return home, praying that she will not become a widow.
Captain Bourne
A convict marries the warder's daughter after his escape and she eventually persuades him to finish his sentence.
Daniel Van Dyke
The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustration of the patriarch, Dan Van Dyke. His self-centered wife has a fondness for foreign imports, including "pet projects" like dancers and such and his spoiled children Tony and Carol have constant run-ins with the law. When Dan himself ends up in the clink for five years for tax evasion, he becomes bunk-mates with ex-bootlegger Joe "Spots" Ricardi. Ricardi lectures him on being such a push-over for an out-of-control family, so a dying Dan makes Ricardi his estate trustee once he is released from prison. Ricardi is then thrust into high society and must do everything he once nagged Dan to do.
Father Brown
After notorious jewel thief Flambeau meets Evelyn Fischer during a raid on a casino, he falls deeply in love with her. Later Flambeau sends notes to both Leopold Fischer, who unknown to him is Evelyn's uncle, and Father Brown, in which he vows he will steal from them the ten diamonds that comprise the "Flying Star." Flambeau intends to give these diamonds to Evelyn. Father Brown, whose gold cross contains some of the Flying Star diamonds, is determined to meet Flambeau before he is arrested, to reform and redeem his soul.
J.L. Higgins
Tycoon J.L. Higgins controls his whole family, but one of his sons- in-law, Dan Brooks and his daughter Alice are fed up with that. Brooks quits his job as manager of J.L.'s paper box factory and devotes his life to his racing horse Broadway Bill, but his bank- roll is thin and the luck is against him, he is arrested because of $150 he owes somebody for horse food, but suddenly a planed fraud by somebody else seems to offer him a chance...
Captain Helquist
Alcoholic newspaperman Steve Bramley boards the San Capador for a restful cruise, hoping to quit drinking and begin writing a book. Also on board are Steve's friend Schulte, a private detective hoping to nab criminal Danny Checkett with a fortune in stolen bonds. Steve begins drinking, all the while observing the various stories of other passengers on board, several of whom turn out not to be who they seem to be.
Judge Daly
To improve her image, a fan dancer "adopts" an old woman to be her mother.
Viktor Nilsson
Heiress Hedda Nillson certain that her family is about to lose all its money, takes a job as a maid. After the usual trials and tribulations, Hedda falls in love with humble chauffeur Eric Landstrom.
John Forrester aka Eric Jann aka Peter Korotoff
Broadway's most successful producer, John Forrester, is deeply in love with his wife Margaret and dreams of the future when his son Jack will step into his shoes. He sails to England to produce a show but the ship strikes a derelict wreckage and is sinking rapidly. In the ensuing wild panic, Forrester saves many lives, until finally, panic stricken by sudden fear, he dons a woman's clothes and is among the rescued. On the coast of Newfouldland, the villagers, not aware of his true identity, curse him but he is befriended by Alec who helps him conceal his identity. With a planned story of his survival, he returns to New York but cannot face his family or friends after he sees the plaque to his heroism on his New York theatre. Deciding to remain thought of as dead, he becomes a derelict himself, surviving on odd jobs as he watches from afar his now-grown son begin his career as a producer.
Oliver Webb
Produtor da Broadway treina uma ex-modelo de lingerie, para se tornar uma grande atriz, quando ela consegue eles começam um relacionamento. Mas o ciúmes dele acaba por desgastar a relação e ela decide ir embora pra Hollywood. Agora ela se tornou uma grande estrela de Hollywood e ele precisa da ajuda dela para retornar sua carreira em declínio.
Dr. Walter Selby
An able nurse clashes with a new doctor at her hospital.
Short film in which Frankie Darro as a Telegram delivery boy visits various Hollywood locations to make deliveries. He visits the Los Angeles Pier and a Gala Hollywood Premiere.
Alexander Andrews
Peter Warren, um jornalista desempregado, encontra Ellie, a filha de um milionário que fugiu do iate de Alexander Andrews, seu pai, pois este não aprova quem ela escolheu como marido. Peter vê a oportunidade de obter uma boa matéria, mas vários fatos criam uma forte aproximação entre eles.
Storm
In an exclusive Swiss school for young girls, Christa Storm discovers she is going to have a baby, and keeps the secret from everyone but her lover, David Perrin, a young medical student. Having been in the private school most of her life, she can't confide in her father whom she hardly knows and, while he wishes to but can't afford to marry her, David can't get the approval of his father.a
Sam Parker
One of ten films that Fay Wray made in 1993 (including King Kong), Master of Men casts her as Kay Walling, a woman who is being ignored by her husband, Buck (played by Jack Holt). Buck owns a prosperous steel mill and they make a very good living, but he is ambitious and wants more. To this end, he is devoting considerable amounts of time to expanding his finances -- and doing quite well. Not satisfied with his success, he journeys to New York, where his wrangling further increases his bank account. Unfortunately, his stock with his wife is dropping steadily. Jealous and unhappy, she fights back by giving one of Buck's business rivals details about what he is up to.
John Lawton
A kindly, elderly couple who run a New York City boarding house form the steady center around which the lives and loves of their various residents unfold. Borrowed money, a lovelorn chorus girl, and a tragic misunderstanding set in motion the chain of events in East of Fifth Avenue’s tender pageant of life.
Ira
An unemployed man turns to crime when he gets his girlfriend pregnant.
Count Romero
O gangster transforma a Annie das Maçãs, mendiga da Times Square, em Dama por um Dia. A Annie das Maçãs é uma indigente que sempre escreve cartas para sua filha na Espanha e diz nas cartas que é da alta sociedade de Nova York. Com sua filha repentinamente vindo para a América com seu novo noivo e o pai do noivo, um membro da aristocracia espanhola, Annie precisa manter sua encenação de riqueza ou o conde não dará sua bênção ao casamento. Ela recebe ajuda inesperada de Dave the Dude, uma figura bem conhecida no submundo de Nova York, que considera Annie o seu amuleto de boa sorte. Ele lhe oferece um apartamento de luxo para entreter os visitantes - mas esse ato de bondade incomum de um homem com uma reputação vergonhosa desperta suspeitas, levando a complicações que fazem com que as coisas não saiam exatamente como foram planejadas.
Refilmado pelo mesmo diretor em Dama por Um Dia (1961).
Major Adair
This one has Janet Gaynor as Walter Connolly's spunky Irish daughter, whose older sister (nicely played by Margaret Lindsay) is about to marry Baxter for his money and thus retire Connolly's debts, though she loves Harvey Stephens, who is in fact infinitely more appealing than Warner Baxter.
Jones
An American missionary is gradually seduced by a courtly warlord holding her in Shanghai.
Bill Holt
Despite loving another man, a young woman is talked into marrying a wealthy and boorish prince in order to help her financially-strapped father.
Mossie Ennis
Johnny McCloud, a tough police inspector given more to fisticuffs than investigating has the hots for torch-singer Lola Parker, but Miss Parker is much taken with a good-looking crook named George Perry. This does not bother McCloud, as he not only gets his man behind bars but takes the man's woman also.
Senator Wylie
Button Gwinett Brown is a freshman congressman on a mission to rid Washington of corruption. He quickly runs afoul of the powerful Senator Norton...
