John Loder

A tall (6'3"), handsome, debonair, immaculately-groomed British leading man best known for his pipe-smoking chaps, Londoner 'John Loder' (qv) (né John Muir Lowe), was born on January 3, 1898, the son of a British general. Attending both the Eton and the Royal Military colleges, he followed his distinguished father into the army and fought at Gallipoli during World War I, where he served until the British withdrew its forces.A German prisoner of war in 1918, Loder remained in Germany following his release and was assigned military duties on behalf of the Inter-Allied Commission. Loder eventually went into business establishing a pickle factory in Potsdam with a partner. Loder began to develop an interest in acting at one point and wound up in a few German film dance bits _Dance Fever (1925)_ (qv), _Madame Doesn't Want Children (1926)_ (qv)).Progressing into featured/co-star parts in such films as _The White Spider (1927)_ (qv) and _Die Sünderin (1928)_ (qv) (The Sinner), Loder returned briefly to England in 1927 where he was third-billed as the "veddy English" Lord Harborough in the elegant melodrama _The First Born (1928)_ (qv) starring lovely 'Madeleine Carroll' (qv) and 'Miles Mander' (qv) (who also wrote and directed). Following this the young actor made the transatlantic trip to the United States where talkies had become the new rage. Loder continued in the same fashion as before with third-wheel roles in such female superstar vehicles as Paramount's first talkie _The Doctor's Secret (1929)_ (qv) starring 'Ruth Chatterton' (qv), as well as _Her Private Affair (1929)_ (qv) starring 'Ann Harding' (qv) and _Lilies of the Field (1930)_ (qv) starring 'Corinne Griffith' (qv). While Loder showed much promise, his on-camera persona was a bit too cut and dried for American tastes. Following secondary roles in _The Racketeer (1929)_ (qv), _Sweethearts and Wives (1930)_ (qv), _Parisian Gaities (1931)_ (qv) and having gained no ground pursuing leading man stardom, he returned to England.Back in his homeland, Loder was able to embellish his resumé with more plush, princely leads and co-leads such as in _Money for Speed (1933)_ (qv), co-star 'Ida Lupino' (qv)'s first big film; _You Made Me Love You (1933)_ (qv) starring Ida's father 'Stanley Lupino' (qv) with ice-cream blonde 'Thelma Todd' (qv) as his love interest; the musicals _Love, Life & Laughter (1934)_ (qv) and [0025796] both opposite 'Malena Fierro Mendoza' (qv); the heavy drama _Helsingin kuuluisin liikemies (1934)_ (qv) in a romantic triangle with 'Anna May Wong' (qv) and 'Elizabeth Allan' (qv); the classic romantic adventure _Lorna Doone (1934)_ (qv) starring as John Ridd opposite sweet and lovely _Danger: The Little Woman (1954)_ (qv); the circus adventure drama _This Woman Is Mine (1935)_ (qv); the murder mystery _The Silent Passenger (1935)_ (qv); the romantic comedy _It Happened in Paris (1935)_ (qv); the sparkling comedy _Queen of Hearts (1936)_ (qv) again opposite 'Malena Fierro Mendoza' (qv); in the 'Boris Karloff' (qv) mad doctor horror opus _The Man Who Lived Again (1936)_ (qv) as the clean-cut hero for damsel 'Anna Lee' (qv); in the classic adventure _King Solomon's Mines (1937)_ (qv) and murder mystery _Non-Stop New York (1937)_ (qv) both again with Ms. Lee; the historical costumer _Katja, die ungekrönte Kaiserin (1938)_ (qv) opposite 'Danielle Darrieux' (qv) in the title role; and a trio of crime dramas -- _Anything to Declare? (1938)_ (qv), _Murder Will Out (1939)_ (qv) and the title role in _Maxwell Archer, Detective (1940)_ (qv).When WWII hit Britain, Loder returned to America where he fell immediately into secondary patrician, military and assorted stuffed shirt roles in "A" pictures (_How Green Was My Valley (1941)_ (qv), _One Night in Lisbon (1941)_ (qv), _The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942)_ (qv), _Now, Voyager (1942)_ (qv), _Old Acquaintance (1943)_ (qv), _Passage to Marseille (1944)_ (qv), _The Hairy Ape (1944)_ (qv)) and leads in "B" level programmers (_The Brighton Strangler (1945)_ (qv), _Jealousy (1945)_ (qv), _A Game of Death (1945)_ (qv), _Woman Who Came Back (1945)_ (qv), _The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946)_ (qv)).As his film career declined in the late 1940's, Loder made his Broadway debut in For Love or Money in 1947, the same year he became an American citizen. He subsequently moved to TV work in the 1950's with guest appearances on several anthology series. His last films included _The Story of Esther Costello (1957)_ (qv), _Woman and the Hunter (1957)_ (qv), _Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958)_ (qv), _The Secret Man (1958)_ (qv) and _The Firechasers (1971)_ (qv).Loder had quite a lively private life. Divorced five times, two of his wives were actresses -- his second was French star 'Micheline Cheirel' (qv) and his third was Hollywood goddess 'Hedy Lamarr' (qv) 'Hedy Lamarr' (qv). He co-starred in the film noir _Dishonored Lady (1947)_ (qv) with Lamarr and second-billed _Maniac Mansion: Love: Turner Style (1992)_ (qv). His first son, theatrical/literary agent Robin William Lowe (1925-2002), was born out of wedlock. He had three children (James, Denise and Anthony) by Lamarr.Returning to England in later years, Loder penned his autobiography, Hollywood Hussar, in 1977. His general health declined noticeably and in 1982, entered a Kensington nursing home. He died in London, aged 90, in 1988, the day after Christmas.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net