Henry O'Neill

Suave, well-mannered, silvery-haired character actor Henry (Joseph) O'Neill played top supports in hundreds of films, often as a benign, wise, sensible father, judge, doctor, minister, general, executive or lawyer. Much of his patrician career was split between two studios: Warner Bros in the 1930s and MGM in the 1940s.O'Neill was born in Orange, New Jersey on August 10, 1891, and dropped out of college to join a traveling theatre troupe. World War I military service intervened but he quickly returned to acting in 1919 upon his discharge and joined, at different times, the Provincetown Players and the Celtic Players acting companies. Making his Broadway debut at age 30 with "The Spring," he continued on Broadway for over a decade in such plays as Mr. Faust (as the Holy One) 22, "The Hairy Ape" (1922), "The Ancient Mariner" (1924), "The Fountain" (1925), "The Squall" (1926), "Jarnegan" (1928), "The Last Mile" (1930), "Old Man Murphy" (1931), "I Loved You Wednesday (1932) and, his last, "Shooting Star" (1933). His prematurely gray hair lent an air of pride and confidence in his many distinctive stage roles, particularly the works of playwright 'Eugene O'Neill' (qv).In 1933, O'Neill made a solid, unerring switch to feature films and settled in for the duration of his career as a minor character. Although he was typically cast in agreeable roles, he certainly had it in him to be an urbane villain when the call came in. Films on both sides of the fence included his debut, the romantic drama _I Loved a Woman (1933)_ (qv) starring 'Kay Francis' (qv) and 'Edward G. Robinson' (qv), as well as many others, the more popular being. -- _Fog Over Frisco (1934)_ (qv), _Madame Du Barry (1934)_ (qv), _The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934)_ (qv), _Oil for the Lamps of China (1935)_ (qv), _The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)_ (qv), _Anthony Adverse (1936)_ (qv), _The Great O'Malley (1937)_ (qv), _The Life of Emile Zola (1937)_ (qv), _The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)_ (qv), _Brother Rat (1938)_ (qv), _Dodge City (1939)_ (qv), _Juarez (1939)_ (qv), _Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)_ (qv), _Four Wives (1939)_ (qv), _Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)_ (qv), _Billy the Kid (1941)_ (qv), _Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)_ (qv), _Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)_ (qv), _Anchors Aweigh (1945)_ (qv), _The Beginning or the End (1947)_ (qv) and _Alias Nick Beal (1949)_ (qv)In the 1950's due to failing health, Henry spaced out his feature work with sporadic filming in such movies as _The People Against O'Hara (1951)_ (qv), _Scarlet Angel (1952)_ (qv), _The Wings of Eagles (1957)_ (qv) and, his last, an uncredited bit in 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv)'s _North by Northwest (1959)_ (qv). A one-time member of the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild, he later earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.He died on May 18, 1961, and was survived by his longtime wife (since 1924) Anna and one child, Patricia He was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net