Sidney Blackmer

Sidney Blackmer
Blackmer in the re-issue trailer for the 1934 film The Count of Monte Cristo
Born	July 13, 1895(1895-07-13) Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	October 6, 1973(1973-10-06) (aged 78) New York City, New York, U.S.
Other names	S.A. Blackmer
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1914–71
Spouse	Lenore Ulric (1928-1939) Suzanne Kaaren (1943-1973) (his death)
Awards	North Carolina Award, Fine Arts

Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July, 13 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American actor.

Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. 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. 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.

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. 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

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.

Partial filmography

Blackmer in The High and the Mighty

• 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) Shirley Temple
• In Old Chicago (1937) Alice Brady
• The Last Gangster (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)
• 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)

External links

• Sidney Blackmer at the Internet Movie Database
• Sidney Blackmer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sidney Blackmer at Find a Grave
• Sidney Blackmer at AllRovi