{{short description|American actor}} {{Infobox person | birth_name = Richard Maximilian Ney | image = Richard Ney.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|11|12}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|7|18|1916|11|12}} | death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S. | alma_mater = Columbia University | occupation = Actor, investment counselor | years_active = 1942–1967 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Marjorie Simons|1937|1939|end=div}} * {{marriage|Greer Garson|1943|1947|end=div}} * {{marriage|Pauline McMartin|1949|1970|end=div}} * {{marriage|Mei Lee|1987}} }} }}
'''Richard Maximilian Ney''' (November 12, 1916 – July 18, 2004) was an American actor, author, and investment counselor.
==Life and career== Ney was born in New York City, the son of Erwin Maximilian Ney (1893–1968), an insurance salesman, and Charlotte Marie Donaldson (1895–1966), who served in World War I as yeoman, first class, USNRF.<ref>New York Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919, accessed on ancestry.com; February 18, 2017.</ref> Later she was a stenographer<ref>1925 New York Census, accessed at ancestry.com; February 18, 2017</ref> and a secretary at a lumberyard.<ref>1930 United States Census, accessed on ancestry.com; February 18, 2017.</ref>
His parents' marriage ended in divorce and he grew up with his mother in humble circumstances. His father remarried twice.<ref>1925 New York Census, accessed on ancestry.com; February 18, 2017.</ref> His father's third wife was Rebie Margaret Flood, a daughter of Rev. Theodore L. Flood, editor of ''The Chautauquan'', and his wife, Ruth Crosley Pardington, daughter of A. R. Pardington.
A graduate in economics from Columbia University, Ney is best remembered for his role in the Oscar-winning World War II film ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), and for his short-lived (1943–47) marriage to co-star Greer Garson. He also appeared in ''Ivy'' (1947) and ''The Fan'' (1949). He was commissioned in the United States Navy serving in the Aleutians and the Pacific during World War II.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/oct/09/guardianobituaries.film| title=Obituary: Richard Ney| date=October 8, 2004| first=Christopher| last=Reed| newspaper=The Guardian| location=London}}</ref>
Ney's one Broadway venture was the 1958 musical ''Portofino'', which he produced and for which he wrote the book and lyrics. It closed after three performances.<ref>{{cite news| title='Portofino' Is Not Very Goodo| first=John| last=Chapman| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98680400/daily-news/| newspaper=New York Daily News| date=February 22, 1958| page=21| access-date=February 10, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Portofino| url=https://www.playbill.com/production/portofino-adelphi-theatre-vault-0000003743| website=Playbill| access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref>
Ney performed mostly in television with occasional film roles until the mid-1960s. In "The Hunt" (January 27, 1962) of the NBC western television series, ''The Tall Man'', Ney plays the wealthy Edward Van Doren, who hires Billy the Kid (Clu Gulager) to guide him into the wilderness to kill a mountain lion. However, Van Doren's real target is Billy himself.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717616|title=The Hunt|date=January 27, 1962| website=IMDb| accessdate=February 19, 2018}}</ref>
==Investment career== {{more citations needed|section|date=February 2018}} By the middle 1960s, Ney had successfully transitioned himself into a career as an investment counselor. Initially he joined a Beverly Hills brokerage firm, prior to launching a newsletter, ''The Ney Report'', whose subscribers included J. Paul Getty.
Ney wrote three highly critical books about Wall Street, asserting that the market was manipulated by market makers to the detriment of the average investor. The first of these, ''The Wall Street Jungle'', was a ''New York Times'' bestseller in 1970.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Wall Street Jungle| url=https://archive.org/details/wallstreetjungle00neyr| year=1970| publisher=Grove Press| location=New York}}</ref> The second and third were ''The Wall Street Gang'' and ''Making It in the Market''.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Wall Street Gang| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfIQuAAACAAJ&q=the+wall+street+gang| publisher=Praeger| year=1974| isbn=978-0-2753-3390-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Making it in the Market: Richard Ney's Low Risk System for Stock Market Investors| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fmQPAQAAMAAJ&q=making+it+in+the+market| publisher=McGraw-Hill| year=1975| isbn=978-0-0704-6460-5}}</ref>
Ney was credited with saying, "Hidden behind the façade of pompous jargon and noble affections, there is more sheer larceny per square foot on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange than any place else in the world."<ref name=bernstein>{{cite news| title=Richard Ney Dies; Actor, Investment Adviser| first=Adam| last=Bernstein| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4403-2004Jul21.html| accessdate=March 29, 2022| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=July 22, 2004| page=B5}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ney was married four times: * Marjorie Simons, who was a substitute art teacher in his high school.<ref name=bernstein/> The couple married in New York City in 1937 and divorced in Reno, Nevada, in 1939.<ref>{{cite news| title=Vital Statistics: Decrees Granted| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98681655/reno-gazette-journal/| newspaper=Reno Evening Gazette| date=August 15, 1939| access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Screen Star and Navy Officer to Marry| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/11/05/archives/screen-star-and-navy-officer-to-marry.html| newspaper=The New York Times| date=November 5, 1943| url-access=subscription}}</ref> * Greer Garson (1904–1996), married July 24, 1943, although the couple previously stated that the wedding would not take place until after the war ended.<ref>{{cite news| title=Garson-Ney Wedding Postponed| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/11/20/archives/garsonney-wedding-postponed.html| newspaper=The New York Times| date=November 20, 1942| url-access=subscription}}</ref> Ney and Garson divorced on September 25, 1947,<ref>{{cite news| title=Sobbing Greer Garson Rushes from Courtroom Just Before Winning Divorce from Actor Ney| newspaper=San Bernardino County Sun| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98680034/the-san-bernardino-county-sun/| date=September 26, 1947| page=1| agency=Associated Press| access-date=March 29, 2020}}</ref> the actress claiming that her husband was "morose and critical of her acting."<ref>{{cite news| title=Actor Ney to Marry Mrs. McMartin| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98682169/the-san-bernardino-county-sun/| newspaper=San Bernardino Sun| date=June 14, 1949| page=1}}</ref> * Pauline Sears McMartin (1901–1986), a daughter of Colonel Douglas Settle, U.S. Army, and former wife of Canadian millionaire Duncan J. R. McMartin Sr. They wed on June 16, 1949.<ref>{{cite news| title=Richard Ney Weds| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98682341/the-los-angeles-times/| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=June 17, 1949| page=1| access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> and divorced in 1970.<ref>California Marriage and Divorce Records, accessed on ancestry.com; February 18, 2017.</ref> She later married Clarence Dunbar. By this marriage Ney had one stepchild, Marcia McMartin Illing.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} * Mei Lee (1987–2004; his death), a vice president in Ney's investment firm.
==Death== Ney was living in Pasadena, California when he died of a heart ailment while gardening in his yard.<ref name=bernstein/>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1942|| ''Mrs. Miniver'' || Vin Miniver || |- |1942|| ''The War Against Mrs. Hadley'' || Theodore Hadley || |- |1947|| ''The Late George Apley'' || John Apley || |- |1947|| ''Ivy'' || Jervis Hamilton Lexton || |- |1948|| ''Joan of Arc'' || Charles de Bourbon, Duke de Clermont || |- |1949|| ''The Fan'' || Mr. James Hopper || |- |1949|| ''The Lovable Cheat'' || Jacques Minard || |- |1949|| ''The Secret of St. Ives'' || Anatole de Keroual || |- |1950|| ''My Beautiful Daughter'' || Massimo Lega || |- |1950|| ''Un sourire dans la tempête'' || Sergeant James Spenlow || |- |1951|| ''Ein Lächeln im Sturm'' || Sergeant James Spenlow || |- |1952|| ''Babes in Bagdad'' || Ezar || |- |1960|| ''Midnight Lace'' || Daniel Graham || |- |1962|| ''The Premature Burial'' || Miles Archer || |}
==Books== * ''The Wall Street Jungle'' (1970) * ''The Wall Street Gang'' (1974) * ''Making It in the Market: Richard Ney's Low-Risk System for Stock Market Investors'' (1975)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|628647|Richard Ney}} * {{IBDB name|8319}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ney, Richard}} Category:1916 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Male actors from New York City Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:American investment advisors Category:American lyricists Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Male actors from Pasadena, California Category:20th-century American male actors