Monroe Owsley

{{Short description|American actor (1900-1937)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Monroe Owsley | image = Monroe Owsley in Ex-Lady poster.jpg | caption = Owsley in ''[[Ex-Lady]]'' (1933) | birth_name = Monroe Righter Owsley | birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1900|08|11}} | birth_place = [[Atlanta, Georgia]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1937|06|07|1900|08|11}} | death_place = [[Belmont, California]], U.S. | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1924–1937 }}

'''Monroe Righter Owsley''' (August 11, 1900 – June 7, 1937) was an American stage and film actor.

==Early life== The son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Owsley,<ref name="lat">{{cite news|title=Death Calls Actor Owsley|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380728050/?terms=%22Gertrude%2BOwsley%22%2BMonroe|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=June 9, 1937|location=California, Los Angeles|page=Part II-Page 1|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = March 9, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> he was born in [[Atlanta, Georgia]].<ref name="clac">{{cite book|last1=Ellenberger|first1=Allan R.|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|date=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786409839|pages=65–66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Monroe+Owsley%22&pg=PA66|access-date=10 March 2018|language=en}}</ref> His father was a manufacturing executive, and his mother was a concert singer. Owsley was educated at Loomis Institute in Windsor, Connecticut; Bristol High School in Bristol, Connecticut; and Philadelphia High School.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|date=June 9, 1937|title=Monroe Owsley, Hollywood Actor|page=25|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/06/09/archives/monroe-owsley-hollywood-actor-suave-villain-of-many-films-with-wide.html|access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref> He started taking acting classes when he was a teenager.

Before Owsley became an actor, he worked as a reporter and a drama critic for the ''[[Public Ledger (Philadelphia)|Public Ledger]]'' newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref name="hc">{{cite news|title=Stage Ambitions of Monroe Owsley|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18151744/monroe_owsley/|work=Hartford Courant|date=February 25, 1924|location=Connecticut, Hartford|page=7|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = March 9, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

== Career == Owsley gained acting experience with [[Repertory theatre|stock theater]] troupes<ref name="lat" /> in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Dayton, and in a road company that presented ''The Meanest Man in the World'' playing one-night stands in tents. He made his [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in ''Young Blood'' (1925).<ref>{{cite web|title=Monroe Owsley|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/monroe-owsley-55321|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|access-date=10 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310022435/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/monroe-owsley-55321|archive-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> His film debut was 1928's ''[[The First Kiss (American film)|The First Kiss]]'', starring [[Fay Wray]]. This was followed by the [[Philip Barry]] film ''[[Holiday (1930 film)|Holiday]]'' in 1930, in the role played by [[Lew Ayres]] in the [[Holiday (1938 film)|1938 version]]. Soon after, he was cast opposite actresses such as [[Clara Bow]], [[Bette Davis]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]], [[Joan Crawford]], [[Gloria Swanson]], [[Mae West]], and [[Kay Francis]].

==Death== On June 7, 1937, Owsley died from a [[heart attack]]<ref name=clac/> in [[Belmont, California]]. He was 36 years old.<ref name=lat/>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- | rowspan=2 | 1928 || ''[[The First Kiss (American film)|The First Kiss]]'' || the Other Suitor || '''Lost''' film |- | ''[[Carry on, Sergeant! (1928 film)|Carry on, Sergeant!]]'' || Leonard Sinclair || |- | rowspan=2 | 1930 || ''[[Holiday (1930 film)|Holiday]]'' || Ned Seton || |- | ''[[Free Love (film)|Free Love]]'' || Rush Begelow || |- | rowspan=4 | 1931 || ''[[Ten Cents a Dance (1931 film)|Ten Cents A Dance]]'' || Eddie Miller || |- | ''[[Honor Among Lovers]]'' || Philip Craig || |- | ''[[Indiscreet (1931 film)|Indiscreet]]'' || Jim Woodward || |- | ''[[This Modern Age]]'' || Tony Gerard || |- | rowspan=3 | 1932 || ''[[Unashamed (film)|Unashamed]]'' || Harry Swift || |- | ''[[Hat Check Girl]]'' || Tod Reese || |- | ''[[Call Her Savage]]'' || Lawrence Crosby || |- | rowspan=5 | 1933 || ''[[The Keyhole (1933 film)|The Keyhole]]'' || Maurice Le Brun || |- | ''[[The Woman Who Dared (1933 film)|The Woman Who Dared]]'' || Jack Goodwin, Newspaper Reporter || |- | ''[[Ex-Lady]]'' || Nick Malvyn || |- | ''[[Brief Moment]]'' || Harold Sigrift || |- | ''[[Twin Husbands (1933 film)|Twin Husbands]]'' || Colton Drain || |- | rowspan=5 | 1934 || ''[[Little Man, What Now? (1934 film)|Little Man, What Now?]]'' || Kessler || |- | ''[[Wild Gold]]'' || Walter Jordan || |- | ''[[Shock (1934 film)|Shock]]'' || Bob Hayworth || |- | ''[[She Was a Lady (film)|She Was a Lady]]'' || Jerry Couzins || |- | ''[[Behold My Wife! (1934 film)|Behold My Wife!]]'' || Bob Prentice || |- | rowspan=3 | 1935 || ''[[Rumba (1935 film)|Rumba]]'' || Hobart Fletcher || |- | ''[[Goin' to Town]]'' || Fletcher Colton || |- | ''[[Remember Last Night?]]'' || Billy Arliss || |- | rowspan=4 | 1936 || ''[[Private Number (1936 film)|Private Number]]'' || Coakley || |- | ''[[Yellowstone (film)|Yellowstone]]'' || Marty Ryan / Jenkins || |- | ''[[Mr. Cinderella]]'' || Aloysius P. Merriweather || |- | ''[[Hideaway Girl]]'' || Count de Montaigne || |- | 1937 || ''[[The Hit Parade (film)|The Hit Parade]]'' || Teddy Leeds || |}

==References== {{Portal|Biography|Georgia (U.S. state)|Film|Theater}} {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Monroe Owsley}} *{{IMDb name|0654530}} *{{IBDB name}} *{{Find a Grave|19211}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owsley, Monroe}} [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1937 deaths]] [[Category:American male stage actors]] [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:American vaudeville performers]] [[Category:Male actors from Atlanta]] [[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]]