Ronald Colman: Hollywood’s Gentleman Hero (hardback)

Ronald Colman: Hollywood’s Gentleman Hero

by Carl Rollyson

490 pages

6x9 size, hardback

ISBN 9798887714370

Ronald Colman, the silent film star, who showed a generation of actors how to perform for the talkies, remained Hollywood’s gentleman hero for more than two decades. He appeared with many of the screen’s leading ladies, including Lillian Gish, Joan Bennett, Kay Francis, Loretta Young, Ida Lupino, Greer Garson, Jean Arthur, and Ginger Rogers. As the epitome of the Hollywood gentleman, he immortalized the self-sacrificing hero in his signature role of Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. Not as well known are Colman’s major contributions to radio comedy and drama with appearances on Jack Benny’s show in company with his wife, actress Benita Hume, who co-starred with him in The Halls of Ivy, the Peabody award winning radio series about a college president and his enchanting wife. An Academy Award winner for A Double Life, the story of an actor playing Othello, who confuses his life with his role, Colman achieved a sublime performance. Then in the early days of television Colman created several characters who express an eloquent testament of a man and actor whose legacy is finally and fully recognized in this biography.