HOME INDEX
SILENT MOVIE
THE INTERNATIONAL SILENT MOVIE MAIL English Version

 
Richard Arlen

1898 - 1976

.
.
The actor Richard Arlen was born as Cornelius Richard Van Mattimore Height.
Before he began his film career he served as a pilot of the Royal Canadian Flying Corps in World War I, but wasn't involved into fighting.

After the war he went to Los Angeles and got in contact with the film business as a motorcycle messenger for a film lab. When he had an accident at the gate of Paramount Pictures and broke a leg he was treated on the spot and was spotted by the studio.

He made his first appearances in movies as an extra but his roles became soon bigger. To his first movies belong "Ladies Must Live" (21), "The Ghost Breaker" (22), "Quicksands" (23), "Sally" (25), Padlocked" (26) and "The Blood Ship" (27).

With his appearance in the movie "Wings" (27) he had his breakthrough as a cynical hero. In the next years followed similar characters and Richard Arlen became a popular actor.
To his other well-known movies of the 20's belong "Sally In Our Alley" (27), "Ladies of the Mob" (28), "Beggars of Life" (28), "Thunderbolt" (29), "The Four Feathers" (29) and "The Virginian" (29) with Gary Cooper.

The transition to the talkies was no problem and he took part in countless productions. But the real great successes failed to come and his career went down in the direction of B movies when he fought his way through as a freelancer at that time.
To his early successes of the 30's belong "The Sea God" (30), "The Santa Fe Trail" (30), "Touchdown" (31), "Tiger Shark" (32), "Island of Lost Souls" (33), "Alice in Wonderland" (33) and "Ready for Love" (34).

In the second part of the 30's came numerous movies into being like "Three Live Ghosts" (36), "The Great Barrier" (37), "Murder in Greenwich Village" (37) and "Mutiny on the Blackhawk" (39).

When he went to Universal in 1939 he took especially part in action movies, among them "Legion of Lost Flyers" (39), "Danger on Wheels" (40), "Hot Steel" (40), "The Devil's Pipeline" (40) and "Raiders of the Desert" (41).
He changed to the Pine-Thomas studios in 1941 and acted in many adventure movies.
He played in movies like "Power Dive" (41), "Wildcat" (42), "Alaska Highway" (43), "Timber Queen" (44), "The Lady and the Monster" (44), "Identity Unknown" (45), "Speed to Spare" (48) and "Grand Canyon" (49).

An imminent deafness seemed to finish his career prematurely at the end of the 40's but an operation could avert this danger and Richard Arlen continued his career till the end of the 60's.

The number of movies he took part in those years was still enormous, most of them were for television.
To his well-known movies of the 50's and 60's belong "Silver City" (51), "Hurricane Smith" (52), "Stolen Time" (55), "The Mountain" (56), "Warlock" (59), "The Young and the Brave" (63), "The Best Man" (64), "The Bounty Killer" (65), "Johnny Reno" (66), "Waco" (66) and "Anzio" (68).

To his last movies belong "The Sky's the Limit" (75) and "A Whale of a Tale" (76).

Richard Arlen was among others married with the actress Jobyna Ralston.
 

Other movies with Richard Arlen:
The Green Temptation (22) Vengeance of the Deep (23) The Fighting Coward (24) In the Name of Love (25) The Coast of Folly (25) The Enchanted Hill (26) Behind the Front (26) You'd Be Surprised (26) Old Ironsides (26) Rolles Stockings (27) Figures Don't Lie (27) She's a Sheik (27) Under the Tonto Rim (28) Fell My Pulse (28) Manhattan Cocktail (28) The Man I Love (29) Dangerous Curves (29) Burning Up (30) Dangerous Paradise (30) The Light of Western Stars (30) Paramount on Parade (30) The Border Legion (30) Only Saps Work (30) Gun Smoke (31) The Conquering Horde (31) The Lawyer's Secret (31) The Secret Call (31) Caught (31) Wayward (32) Sky Bride (32) Guilty as Hell (32) The All-American (32) Song of the Eagle (33) College Humor (33) Three-Cornered Moon (33) Golden Harvest (33) Hell and High Water (33) Come on Marines (34) She Made Her Bed (34) Helldorado (35) Let 'em Have It (35) The Calling of Dan Matthews (35) The Mine with the Iron Door (36) Secret Valley (37) Artists & Models (37) No Time to Marry (38) Call of the Yukon (38) Straight, Place and Show (38) Missing Daughters (39)  Tropic Fury (39) The Man from Montreal (40) Black Diamonds (40) The Leather Pushers (40) Lucky Devils (41) Mutiny in the Arctic (41) Men of the Timberland (41) Forced Landing (41) Flying Blind (41) A Dangerous Game (41) Torpedo Boat (42) WreckingCrew (42) Aerial Gunner (43) Submarine Alert (43) Minesweeper (43) That's My Baby (44) Storm Over Lisbon (44) The Big Bonanza (44) The Phantom Speaks (45) Accomplice (46) Buffalo Bill Rides Again (47) The Return of Wildfire (48) When My Baby Smiles at Me (48) Kansas Raiders (50) Serie "Nash Airflyte Theatre: Pot o' Gold" (51) Flaming Feather (52) The Blazing Forest (52) Sabre Jet (53) Devil's Point (54) Serie "Letter to Loretta: He Always Comes Home" (55) Serie "Science Fiction Theater: Out of Nowhere" (55) Serie "Crossroads: St. Geroge and the Dragon" (56) Serie "TV Reader' Digest: In the Eye of the Hurricane" (56) Serie "Climax!: Flight to Tomorrow" (56) Hidden Guns (56) Serie "The 20th Century-Fox-Hour: Deep Water" (57) Serie "Crossroads: 9:30 Action (57) Serie "Wanted: Dead or Alive: Rope Law" (59) Serie "Yancy Derringer: A State of Crisis" (59) Serie "Lawman: The Gunman" (59) Serie "Bat Masterson: Death and Taxes" (59) Raymie (60) Serie "Lawman: Last Stop" (60) Serie "Coronado 9: Doomtown" (60) Serie "Bat Masterson: The Price of Paradise" (61) Serie "Lock Up: A French Affair" (61) Serie "Perry Mason: The Case of the Misguided Missile" (61) The Last Time I Saw Archie (61) The Crawling Hand (63) Cavalry Command (63) Law of the Lawless (64) The Shepherd of the Hills (64) Sex and the College Girl (64) Young Fury (65) The Human Duplicators (65) Black Spurs (65) Town Tamer (65) Serie"Branded: Coward Step Aside" (65) Apache Uprising (66) To the Shores of Hell (66) Red Tomahawk (67) Hostile Guns (67) Fort Utah (67) The Road to Nashville (67) Buckskin (68) Rogues' Gallery (68) Serie "Cade's County: Delegate at Large" (71) Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (76)


 
Back