FURTHER READING: The Freddie Prinze Story – Maria Pruetzel And John A. Barbour (Kalamazoo: Master’s Press, 1978).
Q
Sir Anthony Quayle
Born September 7, 1913
Died October 20, 1989
Stiff upper-lipped Englishman. John Anthony Quayle was born at 2 Delamere Road, Ainsdale, Sefton, an only child. 6́ 1˝ Quayle’s childhood was rather solitary until he went to Rugby and then RADA. During a holiday from RADA he made his first stage appearance – albeit unpaid – in 1931 in The Ghost Train. The following year he worked as a comic’s stooge before moving to more traditional theatre. He was much influenced by Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Sir John Gielgud. He made his film début just before the outbreak of war in Pygmalion (1938) as Eliza’s Hairdresser. During the Second World War Quayle served as a major in the Royal Artillery and then worked with Albanian patriots behind German lines. Quayle would not appear on film again until 1948 with roles in Saraband For Dead Lovers (1948) as Durer and Hamlet (1948) as Marcellus. It would be eight more years before Quayle made another film. He spent much of his career in the theatre but he made some memorable films including: The Battle Of The River Plate (1956) as Commodore Harwood, No Time For Tears (1957) as Dr Seagrave, Ice Cold In Alex (1958) as Captain van der Poel, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959) as Slade, The Guns Of Navarone (1961) as Major Roy Franklin, Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) as Colonel Harry Brighton, The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964) as Verulus, A Study In Terror (1965) as Dr Murray, Anne Of The Thousand Days (1969) as Cardinal Wolsey for which he was nominated for an Oscar, The Eagle Has Landed (1976) as Admiral Canaris and Murder By Decree (1979) as Sir Charles Warren. He was married twice, firstly on March 3, 1935 to the actress Hermione Hannen (b. London, January 26, 1913, d. Shrewsbury, October 1, 1983), the daughter of the actor Nicholas James Hannen (b. London, May 1, 1881, d. London, June 25, 1972) and stepdaughter of Athene Seyler, but they divorced in 1943. On June 3, 1947 he was married to another actress Dorothy Wardell Finlayson (b. Chicago, Illinois, December 24, 1914 as Dorothy Wardell Hyson; m. firstly 1935 the actor Robert Douglas Finlayson; d. London, May 23, 1996 of a stroke), the daughter of yet another actress, Dorothy Dickson (b. Kansas City, Missouri, July 25, 1893, d. London, September 25, 1995, aged 102) who was a friend of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Carl Constantine Hyson. By her, Quayle had a son and two daughters, one of whom, Jenny, followed in her parents’ footsteps. A dazzling beauty, her “perfect heart-shaped face, vivid cornflower blue eyes and translucent halo of blonde hair” inspired the Rodgers & Hart song, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’. Quayle was appointed CBE in 1952 and knighted in 1985.
CAUSE: Quayle died of cancer at his home, 49B Elystan Place, Chelsea, south west London. He was 76.
Anthony Quinn
(ANTONIO RUDOLFO OAXACA QUINN)
Born April 21, 1915
Died June 3, 2001
Irish-Latin heartthrob. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Quinn was told by his father that he had been adopted after being discovered in a pigsty. After dropping out of high school Quinn became an actor and after a few stage appearances he made his début in Parole (1936) as Zingo Browning. Despite marrying the daughter of Cecil B. DeMille Quinn continued to play supporting roles because his father-in-law did not approve of him. In the Fifties he gave his career a boost playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. On March 19, 1953, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Eufemio in Viva Zapata! (1952). Four years later, on March 27, 1957, he picked up another Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Paul Gauguin in Lust For Life (1956). He was also nominated for Wild Is The Wind (1957) as Gino and Zorba The Greek (1964). His other films included: The Plainsman (1936) as Northern Cheyenne Warrior, Swing High, Swing Low (1937) as The Don, Waikiki Wedding (1937) as Kimo, The Last Train From Madrid (1937) as Captain Ricardo Alvarez, Partners In Crime (1937) as Nicholas Mazaney, Daughter Of Shanghai (1937) as Harry Morgan, The Buccaneer (1938) as Beluche, Dangerous To Know (1938) as Nicholas ‘Nicki’ Kusnoff, Tip-Off Girls (1938) as Marty, Hunted Men (1938) as Legs, Bulldog Drummond In Africa (1938) as Fordine, King Of Alcatraz (1938) as Lou Gedney, Union Pacific (1939) as Jack Cordray, Television Spy (1939) as Forbes, King Of Chinatown (1939) as Mike Gordon, Island Of Lost Men as Chang Tai, Emergency Squad as Nick Buller, Road To Singapore (1940) as Caesar, The Ghost Breakers (1940) as Ramon/Francisco Mederos, Parole Fixer (1940) as Francis ‘Big Boy’ Bradmore, City For Conquest as Murray Burns, The Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940) as Joe Yuma, The Perfect Snob (1941) as Alex Moreno, Bullets For O’Hara (1941) as Tony Van Dyne aka Millard, Knockout as Mr Harry Trego, Thieves Fall Out (1941) as Chic Collins, Blood And Sand (1941) as Manola de Palma, They Died With Their Boots On (1941) as Chief Crazy Horse, Larceny, Inc. as Leo Dexter, Road To Morocco (1942) as Mullay Kassim, The Black Swan (1942) as Wogan, Guadalcanal Diary (1943) as Private Jesus ‘Soose’ Alvarez, The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) as Juan Martinez/Francisco Morez, Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) as George Carroll, Ladies Of Washington (1944) as Michael Romanescue, Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) as Al Jackson, Buffalo Bill (1944) as Yellow Hand, Where Do We Go From Here? (1945) as Chief Badger, China Sky (1945) as Chen-Ta, Back To Bataan (1945) as Captain Andres Bonifacio, California (1946) as Don Luis Rivera y Hernandez, Sinbad The Sailor (1947) as Emir, The Imperfect Lady (1947) as Jose Martinez, Black Gold (1947) as Charley Eagle, Tycoon (1947) as Enrique ‘Ricky’ Vargas, Mask Of The Avenger (1951) as Viovanni Larocca, The Brave Bulls as Raul Fuentes, The Brigand as Prince Ramon, Against All Flags (1952) as Captain Roc Brasiliano, The World In His Arms (1952) as Portugee, Seminole (1953) as Osceola/John Powell, Donne proibite as Francesco Caserto, Cavalleria Rusticana (1953) as Alfio, Blowing Wild (1953) as Ward ‘Paco’ Conway, City Beneath The Sea (1953) as Tony Bartlett, Ride, Vaquero! (1953) as Jose Esqueda, East Of Sumatra (1953) as Kiang, Ulisse (1954) as Antinoos, La Strada (1954) as Zampanò, Attila (1954) as Attila, The Long Wait (1954) as Johnny McBride, Seven Cities Of Gold (1955) as Captain Gaspar de Portola, The Magnificent Matador (1955) as Luis Santos, The Naked Street (1955) as Phil Regal, The Wild Party (1956) as Tom Kupfen, Man From Del Rio (1956) as Dave Robles, Notre Dame De Paris (1956) as Quasimodo, The River’s Edge (1957) as Ben Cameron, The Ride Back (1957) as Bob Kallen, Hot Spell (1958) as John Henry ‘Jack’ Duval, The Black Orchid (1958) as Frank Valente, The Savage Innocents (1959) as Inuk, Last Train From Gun Hill (1959) as Craig Belden, Warlock (1959) as Tom Morgan, Portrait In Black (1960) as Dr David Rivera, Heller In Pink Tights (1960) as Tom Healy, The Guns Of Navarone (1961) as Colonel Andrea Stavros, Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) as Auda abu Tayi, Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962) as Mountain Rivera, Barabbas (1962) as Barabbas, Behold A Pale Horse (1964) as Vinolas, The Visit (1964) as Serge Miller, Marco The Magnificent (1965) as Kublai Khan, A High Wind In Jamaica (1965) as Captain Chavez, Lost Command (1966) as Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Raspeguy, L’Avventuriero (1967) as Peyrol, La Vingt-Cinquième Heure (1967) as Johann Moritz, The Happening (1967) as Roc Delmonico, La Bataille De San Sebastian (1968) as Leon Alastray, The Shoes Of The Fisherman (1968) as Kiril Lakota, The Magus (1968) as Maurice Conchis, The Secret Of Santa Vittoria as Italo Bombolini, A Dream Of Kings (1969) as Matsoukas, R.P.M. as Professor F.W.J. ‘Paco’ Perez, Walk In The Spring Rain (1970) as Will Cade, Flap (1970) as Flapping Eagle, Los Amigos (1972) as Erastus ‘Deaf’ Smith, Across 110th Street (1972) as Captain Mattelli, The Don Is Dead as Don Angelo, The Destructors as Steve Ventura, Target Of An Assassin (1976) as Ernest Hobday, The Message (1976) as Hamza, L’Eredità Ferramonti (1976) as Gregorio Ferramonti, Bluff Storia Di Truffe E Di Imbroglioni (1976) as Philip Bang, The Children Of Sanchez (1978) as Jesus Sanchez, The Greek Tycoon (1978) as Theo Tomasis, Caravans (1978) as Zulffiqar, The Passage (1979) as The Basque, Lion Of The Desert (1980) as Omar Mukhtar, High Risk (1981) as Mariano, Crosscurrent (1981), Regina Roma (1982), Valentina (1982) as Mosen Joaquin, Stradivari (1989) as Antonio Stradivari, Revenge (1990) as Tiburon ‘Tibby’ Mendez, Ghosts Can’t Do It (
1990) as Scott, A Star For Two (1991), Only The Lonely (1991) as Nick, Jungle Fever (1991) as Lou Carbone, Mobsters (1991) as Don Giuseppe ‘Joe the Boss’ Masseria, Last Action Hero (1993) as Tony Vivaldi, Somebody To Love (1994) as Emillio, A Walk In The Clouds (1995) as Don Pedro Aragón, Il Sindaco (1996), Seven Servants (1996) as Archie, Oriundi (1999) as Giuseppe Padovani, and Avenging Angelo (2002) as Angelo. On October 5, 1937, Quinn married Katherine DeMille, the daughter of Cecil, at All Saints Church in Los Angeles. Quinn had a shock on his wedding night. He discovered she wasn’t a virgin so he punched her in the face. Despite this ignominious start they had five children: Christopher (b. 1939, d. 1941); Christina (b. 1941); Kathleen (b. 1942); Duncan (b. 1945) and Valentina (b. 1952). They divorced in Juarez, Mexico, on January 21, 1965. On January 2, 1966, he married Yolande Addolari. They had two sons born prior to the marriage and one more four months after. In 1977 Quinn had a son by Ferdel Dunbar. In 1993 Quinn fathered a daughter by Kathy Benvin, his former secretary, at which time his eldest daughter was 52.
CAUSE: Anthony Quinn died in Boston, Massachusetts, of pneumonia and respiratory complications during his battle with throat cancer.
R
George Raft
(GEORGE RANFT)
Born September 26, 1895
Died November 24, 1980
Screen tough-guy. Born in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, bisexual Raft, whose most celebrated role was in Scarface (1932), began working as a boxer before becoming a dancer in nightclubs. He won a tango contest in the Twenties and was labelled ‘the fastest dancer in the world’. He made his film début in 1932 in Taxi but, according to respected film critic Leonard Maltin, there was one problem that stopped Raft becoming a major star – “he couldn’t act”. He also was an extremely bad judge of material. He turned down the leading parts in both High Sierra (1941) and The Maltese Falcon (1941) the film that made Humphrey Bogart a star. Sometimes he took his ‘acting’ too far, assuming the role of a tough guy off screen and associating with known villains. Home Secretary Roy Jenkins refused him admittance to Britain on February 24, 1967, on the grounds that he was an undesirable. His wife, Grayce Mulroney, whom he married in 1932, no doubt found him undesirable as well, but put up with him. Although he romanced many women (including Betty Grable) she refused to give him a divorce and they stayed ‘married’ until her death in 1969. Asked who was the greatest lover in Hollywood, Carole Lombard said: “George Raft … or did you just mean on the screen?”
CAUSE: Raft died in Hollywood from leukaemia and emphysema. He was 85.
Claude Rains
Born November 10, 1889
Died May 30, 1967
Ironic Englishman. Born in Camberwell, London, William Claude Rains made his stage début aged ten, on August 31, 1900, in Sweet Nell Of Old Drury at the Haymarket Theatre, but it was not until he was in his forties that he made his film début as Jack Griffin in The Invisible Man (1933). (Trivia note: in the film, when the naked but invisible hero runs through the snow, the footprints he leaves are of shoes, not of feet.) Oddly, he became a star wrapped in bandages for the role, the very reason Boris Karloff, who had starred in The Mummy the previous year, turned down the part. Rains rose to the rank of captain during World War I and after demob he taught at RADA. Among his pupils was Sir John Gielgud, who said, “He was a great influence on me. I don’t know what happened to him. I think he failed and went to America,” and Charles Laughton. A small man who wore lifts in his shoes, Rains also overcame a lisp and an appalling Cockney accent (Beerbohm Tree paid for his elocution lessons) to pursue a career in acting. He excelled in Anthony Adverse (1936), The Prince And The Pauper (1937), Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938) as Prince John, Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939) as Senator Joseph Paine, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, The Sea Hawk (1940) as Don Jose, Kings Row (1942) as Dr Alexander Tower, Now Voyager (1942) as Dr Jaquity, The Phantom Of The Opera (1943), Mr Skeffington (1944) as Job Skeffington, for which he was again nominated for an Oscar, Cleopatra (1945), Alfred Hitchock’s Notorious (1946) as Alexander Sebastian, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for the third time, David Lean’s Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) as Dryden and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) but it was for his Oscar-nominated role as the wily Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca (1942) that he is probably best remembered. Modestly, Rains once said of his craft: “I learn my lines and pray to God.” He was married six times. He said of Hollywood: “God felt sorry for actors, so he gave them a place in the sun and lots of money. All they had to sacrifice was their talent.”
CAUSE: He died of an intestinal haemorrhage in Laconia, New Hampshire, aged 77.
J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank of Sutton Scotney
Born December 22, 1888
Died March 29, 1972
British film mogul. The money made by the Rank family didn’t originate in films. Their wealth came from a successful flour business. It is ironic that Hull-born Joseph Arthur Rank’s name has become rhyming slang for self-abuse, since he was a devout Methodist and it was religious films that got Rank interested in the cinema in the Thirties. In 1933 he founded the Religious Film Society. In 1936 he built Pinewood Film Studios, bought the chain of Odeon cinemas, established a film magazine and opened the Rank Charm School to breed young actresses for the screen. He wanted to rival Hollywood, and for a time it looked as if he would succeed. Films such as Henry V (1944), Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946) were world beaters and the symbol of a semi-naked man bashing a large gong that heralded the start of each Rank film became famous. However, the company expanded too quickly and was only saved from extinction by tight fiscal management. In October 1962 Rank was ‘promoted’ and became life president. He married Laura Ellen Brooks Marshall on October 18, 1917 (she predeceased him by a year), and had two daughters by her.
CAUSE: He died, aged 83, of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at Royal Hampshire County Hospital, when his barony became extinct. He left £5,993,323.
Basil Rathbone, MC
Born June 13, 1892
Died July 21, 1967
Forever Sherlock Holmes. To millions of viewers the world over, there was only one man who could have ever played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal, quintessentially English detective – and that man, the acquiline-featured Philip St John Basil Rathbone, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa! The son of a mining engineer, the family travelled to England in 1896 and Rathbone was educated at Repton. He worked for the Liverpool, London, and Globe Insurance Company before getting an audition with his cousin Sir Frank Benson’s No 2 Company. On April 22, 1911, he made his stage début as Hortensio in The Taming Of The Shrew at the Theatre Royal, Ipswich. After gaining experience in a succession of small parts, Benson took Rathbone to America with him in October 1913. Rathbone’s London début came on July 9, 1914 playing Finch in The Sin Of David at the Savoy Theatre. During the First World War Rathbone served with the London Scottish regiment as a private before becoming a lieutenant in the Liverpool Scottish. His brother, John, was killed in action. Following demobilisation, he joined the New Shakespeare Company in 1919. After a number of stage successes he went to America in 1923, having made his film début two years earlier in The Fruitful Vine (1921). He was a tremendous success on Broadway in both modern and Shakespearean roles and also built up a reputation as a baddie on the screen. His films included: The Loves Of Mary, Queen Of Scots (1923), The Great Deception (1926) as Rizzio, The Last Of Mrs Cheyney (1929) as Lord Arthur Dilling, The Bishop Murder Case (1930) as Philo Vance, A Notorious Affair (1930) as Paul Gherardi, The Lady Of Scandal (1930) as Edward, Duke of Warrington, One Precious Year (1933) as Derek Nagel, After The Ball (1933) as Jack Harrowby, Anna Karenina (1935) as Alexei Karenin, David Copperfield (1935) as Mr Murdstone, The Last Days Of Pompeii (1935) as Pontius Pilate, A Tale Of Two Cities (1935) as Marquis St Evremonde, Captain Blood (1935) as Captain Levasseur, The Garden Of Allah (1936) as Count Anteoni, Love From A Stranger (1937) as Gerald Lovell, The Adventures Of Robin Hood as Sir Guy of Gisbourne
, The Adventures Of Marco Polo (1938) as Ahmed, The Dawn Patrol (1938) as Major Brand, Son Of Frankenstein as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, Tower Of London (1939) as Duke of Gloucester, The Mark Of Zorro (1940) as Captain Esteban Pasquale, Fingers At The Window (1942) as Cesar Ferrari, alias Dr Santelle, Frenchman’s Creek (1944) as Lord Rockingham, Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet (1965) as Professor Hartman, Hillbillies In A Haunted House (1967) as Gregor and Autopsia De Un Fantasma (1967) as Canuto Perez. Twice Rathbone was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and twice lost to the same actor. The first was for playing Tybalt in Romeo And Juliet (1936) which was also the only film in which he won a screen duel. He did not repeat his triumph, losing to Walter Brennan for Come And Get It (1936) on March 4, 1937. His second nomination was two years later in If I Were King (1938) playing King Louis XI. Coincidentally, he lost again to Walter Brennan who won for Kentucky (1938) on February 23, 1939 and must by then have been Rathbone’s least favourite actor. It was as Holmes, whom he also played on radio (from October 1939–1946), that Rathbone will be forever associated. The role came to him after meeting either Darryl F. Zanuck or the writer Gene Markey at a party and one of them suggesting his perfection for the part. He played the consulting detective in 14 films. They were The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939) in which he received second billing to Richard Greene and The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (1939), both of which were filmed with a Victorian setting. 20th Century Fox decided not to proceed with the series and it was taken up by Universal who brought it up to date so that Holmes could fight the German menace and simultaneously provide a propaganda boost. John Rawlins’ Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror (1942), originally called Sherlock Holmes Saves London, was based loosely on Lord Haw-Haw who had begun broadcasting his anti-British rants on September 18, 1939. Look out for Rathbone’s bizarre haircut. In Roy William Neill’s Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon (1942), initially entitled Sherlock Holmes Fights Back, the great detective faces his nemesis Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) and fights to save a stolen bombsight. Dennis Hoey gives minimal aid as Inspector Lestrade. In Sherlock Holmes In Washington (1943) he chases spies in the American capital. It was the third and last time he would fight the Germans. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) was based on Conan Doyle’s story The Musgrave Ritual (published in Strand in May 1893 and in The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes) although liberties were taken with the source material. In The Scarlet Claw (1944) Holmes and Watson travel to the Canadian village of La Morte Rouge to solve a series of murders. If the moor looks familiar, it is because it was the same set that was used for The Hound Of The Baskervilles. In Sherlock Holmes And The Spider Woman (1944) he survives attempts on his life from Adrea Spedding, the arachnid female of the title, played by Gale Sondergaard. Oddly, Sondergaard returned in The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1947) but she did not play a character called Adrea Spedding nor did she battle Sherlock Holmes. The Pearl Of Death (1944) sees Holmes fighting a trio of villains. The House Of Fear (1945) is said to be based on The Five Orange Pips (published in Strand in November 1891 and in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes the following year) but seems more related to Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Niggers (1939). Ever keen to save money, the set used in this film was the same one utilised in Sherlock Holmes Faces Death. By this time interest in the series was flagging so for The Woman In Green (1945) Universal reintroduced Professor Moriarty, this time in the guise of Henry Daniell. (It did not seem to matter that Moriarty had already been killed off in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon.) Holmes is called upon to solve the “Finger Murders”. In Pursuit To Algiers (1945), generally regarded as the worst of Rathbone’s Holmes films, the detective and the doctor protect the heir to the throne of Rovenia. The penultimate outing of Rathbone and Bruce is Terror By Night (1946) and is set aboard a London to Edinburgh train. Dressed To Kill (1946) also known as Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Code is a rather good story concerning counterfeiting. It even pays homage to Conan Doyle with Watson seen reading a copy of Strand where the stories were originally published. Rathbone tired of playing Holmes – especially when people requested the detective’s autograph rather than the actor’s. When his Holmes radio and film contracts came up for renewal almost simultaneously Rathbone renewed neither. He relocated to New York hoping for stage success that never really materialised. Rathbone married twice. In October 1914, he married actress Ethel Marion Foreman and their son, Rodion, was born in July 1915. He died in 1994. The Rathbones divorced in 1926 and on April 18 of the same year, he married Ouida Bergére (d. 1974). In September 1939, they adopted an 8-month-old girl, Cynthia (b. January 1939, d. 1969).
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 144