Patric Knowles

Patric Knowles
Born	Reginald Lawrence Knowles 11 November 1911(1911-11-11) Horsforth, Yorkshire, England, UK
Died	23 December 1995(1995-12-23) (aged 84) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1932–1973
Spouse	Enid Percival (1935–1995; his death) 2 children

Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995) was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s. He made his film debut in 1933, and played either first or second film leads throughout his career. In his first American film, Give Me Your Heart (1936), released in Great Britain as Sweet Aloes, Knowles was cast as a titled Englishman of means.

While making The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) at Lone Pine, California, he befriended Errol Flynn, whose acquaintance he had made when both were under contract to Warner Bros. in England. Since that film, in which Knowles played the part of Capt. Perry Vickers, the brother of Flynn's Maj. Geoffrey Vickers, he was cast more frequently as straitlaced characters alongside Flynn's flamboyant ones, notably as Will Scarlet in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Both actors starred as well in Four's A Crowd, also in 1938. More than two decades after Flynn's death, biographer Charles Higham sullied Flynn's memory by accusing him of having been a fascist sympathizer and Nazi spy. Knowles, who had served in World War II as a flying instructor in the RCAF, came to Flynn's defense, writing Rebuttal for a Friend as an epilogue to Tony Thomas' Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was (Citadel Press, 1990) ISBN 080651180X.

He was a freelance film actor from 1939 until his last film appearance in 1973. In the 1940s, he was known for playing protagonists in a number of horror films, including The Wolf Man (1941) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943). He was also cast as comic foils in a number of comedies such as Abbott and Costello's Who Done It? (1942) and Hit The Ice (1943). He also appeared opposite Jack Kelly in a 1957 episode of the television series Maverick called "The Wrecker", which was based on a Robert Louis Stevenson adventure and co-starred James Garner.

Knowles was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Writing

Knowles wrote a novel, Even Steven (Vantage Press, 1960) ASIN B0006RMC2G.

Partial filmography

• The Guv'nor (1935)
• The Girl in the Crowd (1935)
• Honours Easy (1935)
• The Brown Wallet (1936)
• Crown v. Stevens (1936)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
• It's Love I'm After (1937)
• The Sisters (1938)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Four's a Crowd (1938)
• Beauty for the Asking (1939)
• Five Came Back (1939)
• Another Thin Man (1939)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• The Wolf Man (1941)
• Who Done It? (1942)
• Forever and a Day (1943)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
• Hit the Ice (1943)
• Crazy House (1943)
• Pardon My Rhythm (1944)
• Chip Off the Old Block (1944)
• This Is the Life (1944)
• Kitty (1945)
• Of Human Bondage (1946)
• Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
• Ivy (1947)
• The Big Steal (1949)
• Three Came Home (1950)
• Quebec (1951)
• Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952)
• World for Ransom (1954)
• Band of Angels (1957)
• Auntie Mame (1958)
• The Devil's Brigade (1968)
• Chisum (1970)
• The Man (1972)

External links

• Patric Knowles at the Internet Movie Database
• Patric Knowles at Find a Grave