- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGranville Gustavus Withers
- Height6′ 3″ (1.91 m)
- Appeared in over 200 films. He had worked as a salesman and newspaper reporter before breaking into movies near the end of the silent era. Tall and tough, his starring roles in major pictures soon gave way to supporting parts, mainly as a villain, in B movies and serials. His elopement to Yuma, Arizona, in 1930 with a 17-year-old Loretta Young was widely reported. From 1940 on, he took numerous supporting roles, working until his suicide in 1959.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- SpousesEstelita Rodriguez(January 31, 1953 - November 9, 1955) (divorced)Alys Geraldine Walsh(December 11, 1933 - January 30, 1953) (divorced)Loretta Young(January 26, 1930 - September 15, 1931) (divorced)Inez Emerita Ellis(June 18, 1923 - December 13, 1925) (annulled, 1 child)
- A noticeable weight gain and failing health (back problems) triggered his suicide in 1959, at the age of 54, dying from an overdose of barbiturates. He left behind a note in which he apologized to all the people he'd purportedly let down during his Hollywood days.
- He eloped with Loretta Young in 1930 when he was 25 and she was just 17, shortly after appearing together in The Second Floor Mystery (1930). He was not Catholic, and they were not married by a priest. The scandal caused a sensation. Loretta was able to obtain an annulment since the marriage was invalid in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
- John Wayne was best man at his marriage to Estelita Rodriguez.
- Married and divorced five times, including an annulment from Loretta Young, his first.
- Worked with Buster Keaton and W.C. Fields in his early silent films.
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