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Suggest pagesLionel Atwill
| Lionel Atwill | |
|---|---|
 with his second wife Elsie Mackay in 1922, in a Vanity Fair publicity photo for The White-Faced Fool |
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| Born | 1 March 1885 Croydon, London, England, UK |
| Died | 22 April 1946 (aged 61) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1905–1946 |
| Spouse | Phyllis Relph (1913-1919) (divorced) 1 child Elsie Mackay (1919-1928) (divorced) Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brook MacArthur (1930-1943) (divorced) Mary Paula Pruter (1944-1946) (his death) 1 child |
Lionel Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.
He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918,[1] and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most famous for his U.S. horror roles in the 1930s. His two most memorable parts were as the crazed, disfigured sculptor in Mystery of the Wax Museum (Warner Brothers, 1933), and as Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939), memorably sent up by Kenneth Mars in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein (1974).
When he was not cast in macabre roles, Atwill often appeared in the 1930s as righteous-minded authority figures. For example, in 1937's less memorable The Wrong Road for RKO, investigator Atwill persuades a young, bank-robbing ingenue played by Helen Mack and her boyfriend Richard Cromwell to return their ill-gotten $100,000 and give up a life of crime. Two of Atwill's other notable non-horror roles were opposite his contemporary Basil Rathbone in films featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, including a role as Dr. James Mortimer in 20th Century Fox's 1939 film rendition of the Conan Doyle novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, and the 1943 Universal Studios film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, in which he played Holmes' archenemy and super-villain, Professor Moriarty.[2]
Atwill remained a stalwart of the Universal horror films until his career flagged in the 1940s because of a widely publicized sex scandal in 1941, during the investigation of which he was charged in 1942 with perjury at a trial in which Atwill had been accused of staging a sex orgy at his home.[3]
He died while working on the 1946 film serial Lost City of the Jungle. His ashes were once inurned in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.
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[edit] Private life
He married four times:
- Phyllis Ralph in 1913 and divorced in 1919. In 1941 their son, John Arthur Atwill, was killed in action aged 26.[4]
- American actress Elsie Mackay in 1919 (with whom one source claims he had a son, John[5]). In 1925 Atwill had detectives raid an apartment on Manhattan's 68th Street, where Mackay was found with actor Max Montesole. A divorce was finally granted in March 1928.[6][7]
- Louise Cromwell Brooks in 1930 and divorced in 1943, who had previously been married to Douglas MacArthur.
- Mary Paula Shilstone in 1944 to his death in 1946[8] who carried his only surviving child, Lionel Anthony Atwill. His son Tony is a retired writer.
[edit] Partial filmography
- Doctor X (1932)
- The Vampire Bat (1933)
- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
- The Sphinx (1933)
- The Song of Songs (1933)
- Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
- Murders in the Zoo (1933)
- Stamboul Quest (1934)
- Beggars in Ermine (1934)
- Nana (1934)
- The Age of Innocence (1934)
- The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
- Mark of the Vampire (1935)
- The Murder Man (1935)
- Rendezvous (1935)
- Captain Blood (1935)
- Till We Meet Again (1936)
- The Wrong Road (1937)
- The High Command (1937)
- Lancer Spy (1937)
- The Great Garrick (1937)
- Three Comrades (1938)
- The Great Waltz (1938)
- Son of Frankenstein (1939)
- The Three Musketeers (1939)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
- The Gorilla (1939)
- Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)
- Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
- Johnny Apollo (1940)
- Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
- Boom Town (1940)
- Man Made Monster (1941) re-released as The Atomic Monster
- To Be or Not to Be (1942)
- The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
- Junior G-Men of the Air (1942 serial)
- Pardon My Sarong (1942)
- Night Monster (1942)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
- Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
- Captain America (1944 serial)
- Raiders of Ghost City (1944 serial)
- House of Frankenstein (1944)
- Lady in the Death House (1944)
- Crime, Inc. (1945)
- Fog Island (1945)
- House of Dracula (1945)
- Lost City of the Jungle (1946 serial)
[edit] References
- ^ "The Rise of Lionel Atwill", The New York Times, April 14, 1918, p. X6.
- ^ Official Lionel Atwill - Web Site & Fan Club
- ^ "Lionel Atwill Indicted", The New York Times, July 1, 1942, p. 28.Stage and screen actor indicted
- ^ "Actor Lionel Atwill's Son Killed in British Air Action". Chicago Tribune. 29/04/1941. Commonwealth War Graves Commission - CWGC record.
- ^ Doug Macauley, Great Character Actors - Lionel Atwill
- ^ Barry Brown, of The Horrors - Profile of Lionel Atwill
- ^ There were two actresses by the name of Elsie Mackay in the 1920s, but the English actress and aviator was known on stage (London and Broadway) and film as Poppy Wyndham. Poppy Wyndham at 'Find a Grave' Many sources conflate the careers of these two actresses, but IMDB makes clear the distinction as Atwill's (ex)wife Elsie Mackay was still performing in 1935, whilst 'Poppy Wyndham' died in an air accident in 1928. IMDB - Disambiguation page for Elsie Mackay
- ^ Official Lionel Atwill - Web Site & Fan Club
[edit] External links
- Lionel Atwill at the Internet Movie Database
- Lionel Atwill at the Internet Broadway Database
- Lionel Atwill at Find a Grave
- Official Lionel Atwill - Web Site & Fan Club at lionelatwillfanclub.tripod.com
- Literature on Lionel Atwill
