Ronald Colman
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Ronald Colman (February 9, 1891 – May 19, 1958) was an English actor. Born in Richmond, Surrey, England, Colman discovered acting while at school. He intended to attend Cambridge University to study engineering, but his father's death put an end to that. He served in World War I, where he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Messines. Following the war, he began to appear on the London stage. In 1922, he appeared on Broadway in the hit play La Tendresse.
Director Henry King saw him, and cast him in the 1923 film The White Sister, opposite Lillian Gish. He became a very popular silent film star in both romantic and adventure films. He successfully transitioned to talkies because of his powerful speaking voice.
His first major talkie success was in 1930, when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for two roles — Condemned and Bulldog Drummond. He appeared in The Prisoner of Zenda and Lost Horizon in 1937, and If I Were King in 1938 ,and he also won the Oscar in 1948 for A Double Life.
In the late 1940s, Colman starred in a radio series with his wife, Bonita Hume, The Halls of Ivy, which transitioned to television in 1954. They had one daughter, Juliet.
Academy Awards and Nominations
- 1948 Won A Double Life
- 1943 Nominated Random Harvest
- 1930 Nominated Bulldog Drummond
- 1930 Nominated Condemned
He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. and one for television at 1625 Vine Street.
Ronald Colman died on May 19, 1958 from a lung infection in Santa Barbara, California and was interred in the Santa Barbara Cemetery.