Reginald Owen

Reginald Owen
Owen in the trailer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Born	John Reginald Owen (1887-08-05)5 August 1887 Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died	5 November 1972(1972-11-05) (aged 85) Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Resting place	Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1911–1972
Spouse(s)	Lydia Bilbrook ​ ​ (m. 1909; div. 1923)​ [1] Billie Austin ​ ​ (m. 1934; died 1956)​ Barbara Haveman ​ ​ (m. 1956)​ (died 1998)
Children	2

John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor, known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.

Owen was born to Joseph and Frances Owen in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1905.

Sometime prior to 1911 Owen met the author Mrs. Clifford Mills. On hearing her idea of a rainbow story, persuaded her to turn it into a play, which became Where the Rainbow Ends.^[2] He co-authored the work with Mills using the pseudonym John Ramsey. That December he starred as Saint George in its first production, which opened to very good reviews.^{[citation needed]}

He went to the United States in 1920 and performed on Broadway. He later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career, becoming 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 on the radio for years.^[3]

Owen was one of several actors to play both Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson,^[4] assaying Watson in the film Sherlock Holmes (1932) starring Clive Brook as Holmes, and then Holmes in A Study in Scarlet (1933).

Later in his career, Owen appeared with James Garner in the television series Maverick in the episodes "The Belcastle Brand" (1957) and "Gun-Shy" (1958) and guest starred in episodes of the series One Step Beyond, Kentucky Jones, 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 mansion in Bel Air was rented to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.^[5]

Owen died from a heart attack at age 85 in Boise, Idaho, and buried at the Morris Hill Cemetery there.

• Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Reginald Owen". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 204–207. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reginald Owen.

• Reginald Owen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Reginald Owen at IMDb
• Reginald Owen at Find a Grave