Ross Alexander

Ross Alexander
Born	Alexander Ross Smith July 27, 1907(1907-07-27) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	January 2, 1937(1937-01-02) (aged 29) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1920–1937
Spouse	Aleta Freel (1934-1935) Anne Nagel (1936-1937)

Ross Alexander (July 27, 1907 – January 2, 1937) was an American stage and film actor.

Early life

Born Alexander Ross Smith in Brooklyn, New York, Alexander began his acting career in Broadway productions during the 1920s. By 1926 he was regarded as a promising leading man, with good looks and an easy and charming style and began appearing in more substantial roles. He was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures but his film debut in The Wiser Sex (1932) was not a success, so he returned to Broadway. In 1934 he was signed to another film contract, this time by Warner Bros.

Career

Alexander was better suited to the Warner Bros. style of film, and the studio persevered with him, gradually increasing the stature of his roles commensurate with his growing popularity with film audiences. His biggest successes of the period were A Midsummer Night's Dream and Captain Blood (both 1935). He married actress Aleta Freel in 1934. The marriage ended the following year when Freel committed suicide on December 7, 1935.

Alexander soon after married another actress, Anne Nagel with whom he had appeared in the films China Clipper and Here Comes Carter (both 1936). In 1936 he starred in an under-rated Warner comedy that was well written as a business venture type of film, Hot Money. It was a defining role in his persona as a glamorous, wore-clothes-well leading man, not in the usual Warner gangster mold of rough hewn stars like Edward G. Robinson or Paul Muni. Warner Bros. had decided by this time that Alexander's potential as an actor was limited, and that his personal problems did not allow him to focus completely on his career. Although they continued casting him in films, the importance of his roles was greatly diminished.

Death

With his professional and personal lives in disarray, and deeply in debt, Alexander shot himself in the head in the barn behind his home. Alexander used the same gun his wife Aleta Freel shot herself with two years earlier. His final film, Ready, Willing and Able, was released posthumously.

Lou Cannon wrote in his book Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power that a young Ronald Reagan, then working as a radio broadcaster in Iowa, was hired in part by Warner Brothers to replace the recently deceased Alexander.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	The Wiser Sex	Jimmy O'Neill
1934	Social Register	Lester Trout
1934	Gentlemen Are Born	Tom Martin
1934	Flirtation Walk	Oskie
1935	Maybe It's Love	Rims O'Neil
1935	Going Highbrow	Harley Marsh
1935	We're in the Money	C. Richard Courtney, aka Carter
1935	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Demetrius - In love with Hermia
1935	Shipmates Forever	Lafayette "Sparks" Brown
1935	Captain Blood	Jeremy Pitt
1936	Boulder Dam	Rusty Noonan
1936	Brides Are Like That	Bill McAllister
1936	I Married a Doctor	Erik Valborg
1936	Hot Money	Chick Randall
1936	China Clipper	Tom Collins
1936	Here Comes Carter	Kent Carter	Alternative title: The Voice of Scandal
1937	Ready, Willing, and Able	Barry Granville	Released posthumously

References

• Appleton, Wisconsin Post Crescent, Anne Nagel's Death Revives Old Mystery, August 29, 1966, Page 11.

External links

• Ross Alexander at the Internet Movie Database
• Ross Alexander at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ross Alexander at AllRovi
• Ross Alexander at Find a Grave