Reginald Owen

Overview

Born August 5th, 1887 in England, Reginald Owen was among Hollywood's busier character actors, making more than 80 films. He was educated in England at Sir Herbert Tree's Academy of Dramatic Arts. Owen excelled and made his professional debut also in England at the age of 18. He came to New York in the early 1920s and started working on Broadway by 1924. He left New York in 1928 and moved to Hollywood, hoping to make it in films. In 1929, he landed his first role in The Letter. In 1932 he played Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes. Although, he didn't get many leading roles, he did get to work with some of Hollywood's most beautiful leading ladies like, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Jeanette MacDonald (Owen's personal favorite), Barbara Stanwyck and Elizabeth Taylor. Owen continued to work into his 70s and 80s making family classics, such as Mary Poppins (1964) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He died in 1972 at the ripe age of 85 of natural causes.
- IMDb mini biography by: Donovan Webber

Was not originally scheduled to play Ebenezer Scrooge in the MGM classic version of A Christmas Carol (1938). Reginald was a last-minute replacement for the ailing Lionel Barrymore.
His Bel-Air mansion at 356 St. Pierre Road was rented out to The Beatles in August 1964, while they were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, after the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles had canceled their reservations.
Known for his vast portrayals of fictional and non-fictional fellows. Played Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes (1932), and then played the super-sleuth himself in A Study in Scarlet (1933), joining Jeremy Brett, Carleton Hobbs, and Patrick Macnee as the only actors to play both roles. Also played King Louis XV in three different films.
Returned to Broadway in 1972, the year he died, in the Phil Silvers-led production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.".
Appeared in seven Best Picture Oscar nominees: The House of Rothschild (1934), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942), National Velvet (1944) and Mary Poppins (1964). The Great Ziegfeld and Mrs. Miniver both won.

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