Sidney Blackmer
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| Sidney Blackmer | |
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 Blackmer in the re-issue trailer for the 1934 film The Count of Monte Cristo |
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| Born | July 13, 1895 Salisbury, North Carolina, USA |
| Died | October 6, 1973 (aged 78) New York City, New York, USA |
| Other names | S.A. Blackmer |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1914–1971 |
| Spouse(s) | Lenore Ulric (m.1928–1939; divorced) Suzanne Kaaren (m.1943–1973; his death) |
| Awards | North Carolina Award, Fine Arts |
Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American actor.
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Biography [edit]
Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina.[1] He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately decided to go into acting. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1] Blackmer went to New York hoping to act on the stage. While in the city, he took jobs and extra work at various film studios at the then motion picture capital, Fort Lee, New Jersey, including a bit part in the highly popular serial, The Perils of Pauline (1914).
He made his Broadway debut in 1917, but his career was interrupted by service in the U.S. military in World War I. After the war, he returned to the theatre and in 1929 returned to motion pictures and went on to be a major character actor in more than 120 films. He won the 1950 Tony Award for Best Actor (Drama) for his role in the Broadway play, Come Back, Little Sheba.
In film, Blackmer is remembered for his more than a dozen portrayals of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and for his role in the Academy Award-winning 1968 Roman Polanski film about urban New York witches, Rosemary's Baby, in which he played an over-solicitous neighbor.
In 1919, Blackmer played a major role in the strike that led to the formation of Actors' Equity Association.
A humanitarian, Blackmer served as the national vice president of the United States Muscular Dystrophy Association. He also helped start up the North Carolina School of the Arts.[2][3] In 1972, he was honored with the North Carolina Award in the Fine Arts category. It is the state of North Carolina's highest civilian award. On his passing in 1973, Blackmer was interred in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina.
Personal life [edit]
Blackmer was married to actress Lenore Ulric from 1928–1939. His second wife was Suzanne Kaaren to whom he was married from 1943 to his death in 1973. He and Kaaren had two sons.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Sidney Blackmer has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1625 Vine Street.
Blackmer House [edit]
John Fulton, for whom nearby Fulton Street was named, built the house now called the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House in Salisbury in 1821. Girls who attended Salisbury Academy lived there, and later the house became a school. Sidney Blackmer bought the house in 1931 and the family lived there. The house at Fulton and Innes Streets has sat vacant since a 1984 fire, after which Suzanne Blackmer could not afford to fully restore the house. In 2008, Jonathan Blackmer, son of Sidney and Suzanne, asked that the house either be torn down or restored for "any public use", such as a museum devoted to his father's career.[3][4] In June 2012, Historic Salisbury Foundation, which had done some work on the house over the years, agreed to buy it.[5] Renovation is planned, and in April 2013, the public was allowed inside the house for the first time in 28 years. Architect Joseph K. Oppermann pointed out its "Federal-style windows and shutters, false wood graining on doors and early wallpaper."[4]
Partial filmography [edit]
- The Perils of Pauline (1914)
- A Most Immoral Lady (1929)
- Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934)
- The Little Colonel (1935)
- False Pretenses (1935)
- The President's Mystery (1936)
- Heidi (1937) with Shirley Temple
- In Old Chicago (1937) with Alice Brady
- The Last Gangster (1937)
- Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)
- Trade Winds (1938)
- Unmarried (1939)
- Fast and Loose (1939)
- Teddy, the Rough Rider (1940)
- Third Finger, Left Hand (1940)
- Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
- Down Mexico Way (1941)
- The Panther's Claw (1942)
- Nazi Agent (1942)
- Obliging Young Lady (1942)
- In Old Oklahoma (1943)
- The Lady and the Monster (1944)
- Duel in the Sun (1946)
- People Will Talk (1951)
- The San Francisco Story (1952)
- The High and the Mighty (1954)
- High Society (1956)
- Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)
- How to Murder Your Wife (1965)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Blackmer also appeared in television roles. He is perhaps best-remembered as Presidential candidate William Lyons Selby in the Outer Limits episode The Hundred Days of the Dragon.
References [edit]
- ^ a b Scarvey, Katie (17 January 2010). "Blackmer a star of stage and screen". Salisbury Post. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ "Residence of W. S. Blackmer". Theo. Buerbaum's Salisbury. Rowan Public Library. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ a b Scarvey, Katie (02 March 2012). "Blackmer home will likely be torn down soon". Salisbury Post.
- ^ a b "Historic Salisbury Foundation’s annual meeting offers look at Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House". Salisbury Post. 19 April 2013.
- ^ "Finally, a 'yes' on Blackmer house". Salisbury Post. 23 June 2012.
External links [edit]
- Sidney Blackmer at the Internet Movie Database
- Sidney Blackmer at the Internet Broadway Database
- Sidney Blackmer at Find a Grave
- Sidney Blackmer at AllRovi
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