{{short description|American actor}} {{use mdy dates|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox person | image = Bowkie.01.JPG | name = Aldrich Bowker | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|1|1}} | birth_place = [[Ashby, Massachusetts]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1947|3|21|1875|1|1}} | death_place = [[San Bernardino, California]] | occupation = Actor | years_active = ? – 1942 }}

'''Aldrich Bowker''' (January 1, 1875 &ndash; March 21, 1947) was an American stage and film actor.<ref name="fs1"/>

==Biography== Bowker was born in [[Ashby, Massachusetts]].<ref name="fs1">{{cite news |title=Aldrich Bowker, Actor, Dies, 72; Native of Ashby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23848634/aldrich_bowker/ |work=Fitchburg Sentinel |date=March 25, 1947 |location=Massachusetts, Fitchburg |page=1,6|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He graduated from Fitchburg High School.<ref name="fs1"/> His debut came in Boston in a stage adaptation of ''The Christian'', by [[Hall Caine]].<ref name="slpd">{{cite news |last1=Irwin |first1=Virginia |title=Bachelor in a Grandpa Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23847908/aldrich_bowker/ |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=January 24, 1938 |location=Missouri, St. Louis |page=2 D|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = September 18, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

He was a long-time stage performer in [[Chicago]] and [[Cincinnati]], and in summer stock at [[amusement park]] [[Whalom Park]] in [[Lunenburg, Massachusetts]]. Bowker was a pioneer in "open air" theatre at Whalom Park and at his [[Cambridge Grant Historic District#Twentieth century|summer home]] in [[Ashburnham, Massachusetts|Ashburnham]], where other performers were frequent guests, including Ainsworth Arnold and [[Bette Davis]].{{Citation needed |date=July 2021}}

Between 1912 and 1938 he was active on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. Notable stage plays he performed in were ''The High Road'' (1912), ''A Night in Avignon'' (1919), ''[[You Can't Take It With You (play)|You Can't Take It With You]]'' (1936) and ''200 Were Chosen'' (1936).<ref>{{cite web |title=Aldrich Bowker |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/aldrich-bowker-32673 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=18 September 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918190631/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/aldrich-bowker-32673 |archivedate=18 September 2018}}</ref>

Between 1939 and 1942 he appeared in about 25 films,{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}} including ''[[Ball of Fire]]'' (1941).<ref>{{cite news |title=Goldwyn Signs Aldrich Bowker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23848234/aldrich_bowker/ |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=October 3, 1941 |location=New York, Brooklyn |page=27|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = September 18, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Bowker died at [[Patton State Hospital]] in San Bernardino, California, from [[arteriosclerosis]] and [[Dementia|senility]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=S. |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |isbn=9781476625997 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ |accessdate=24 August 2018}}</ref>

==Partial filmography== {{Div col|colwidth=40em}} * ''[[Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter]]'' (1939) as Matt Brandon * ''[[Waterfront (1939 film)|Waterfront]]'' (1939) as Father Dunn * ''[[Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite]]'' (1939) as Judge Hershey * ''[[These Glamour Girls]]'' (1939) as Charlie, the Counterman (uncredited) * ''[[Everybody's Hobby]]'' (1939) as Uncle Bert Leslie * ''[[Angels Wash Their Faces]]'' (1939) as Turnkey * ''[[No Place to Go (1939 film)|No Place to Go]]'' (1939) as Heffernan * ''[[Pride of the Blue Grass (1939 film)|Pride of the Blue Grass]]'' (1939) as Judge * ''[[On Dress Parade]]'' (1939) as Father Ryan * ''[[Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President]]'' (1939) as Mike O'Brien * ''[[Abe Lincoln in Illinois (film)|Abe Lincoln in Illinois]]'' (1940) as Judge Bowling Green * ''[[It All Came True]]'' (1940) as Father McDuffy (uncredited) * ''[[Those Were the Days!]]'' (1940) as Judge Squire Jennings * ''[[Susan and God]]'' (1940) as Patrick * ''[[Jennie (film)|Jennie]]'' (1940) as Dr. Hildebrand * ''[[Romance of the Rio Grande (1941 film)|Romance of the Rio Grande]]'' (1940) as Padre Martinez * ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' (1941) as Pop Dwyer (uncredited) * ''[[Pot o' Gold (film)|Pot o' Gold]]'' (1941) as Judge Mike Murray (uncredited) * ''[[The Wagons Roll at Night]]'' (1941) as Mr. Williams * ''[[Love Crazy (1941 film)|Love Crazy]]'' (1941) as Jimmy, the Doorman (uncredited) * ''[[Ball of Fire]]'' (1941) as Justice of the Peace * ''[[I Was Framed]]'' (1942) as Dr. Phillip Black * ''[[Mississippi Gambler (film)|Mississippi Gambler]]'' (1942) as Judd Higgins, Mississippi Newspaper Editor * ''[[The Major and the Minor]]'' (1942) as Reverend Doyle * ''[[I Married a Witch]]'' (1942) as Justice of the Peace (final film role) {{Div col end}}

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0101172|Aldrich Bowker}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowker, Aldrich}} [[Category:1875 births]] [[Category:1947 deaths]] [[Category:American male stage actors]] [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:Male actors from Massachusetts]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:People from Ashby, Massachusetts]]