Robert Montgomery

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Robert Montgomery born Henry Montgomery Jr May 21 1904 September 27 1981 was an American film and television actor director and producer He was also the father of actress Elizabeth Montgomery Montgomery settled in New York City to try his hand at writing and acting He established a stage career and became popular enough to turn down an offer to appear opposite Vilma Bánky in the film This Is Heaven 1929 Sharing a stage with George Cukor gave him an entry to Hollywood and a contract with MetroGoldwynMayer where he debuted in So This Is College also 1929 Montgomery initially played exclusively in comedy roles but portrayed a character in his first drama film in The Big House 1930 MGM was initially reluctant to assign him in such a role until his earnestness and his convincing arguments with demonstrations of how he would play the character won him the assignment From The Big House on he was in constant demand Appearing as Greta Garbos romantic interest in Inspiration 1930 started him toward stardom with a rush Norma Shearer chose him to star opposite her in The Divorcee 1930 Strangers May Kiss 1931 and Private Lives 1931 which led him to stardom In another challenging role Montgomery played a psychopath in the chiller Night Must Fall 1937 for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination After World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939 and while the United States was still officially neutral Montgomery enlisted in London for American field service and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation He then returned to Hollywood and addressed a massive rally on the MGM lot for the American Red Cross in July 1940 Montgomery returned to playing light comedy roles such as Alfred Hitchcocks Mr Mrs Smith 1941 with Carole Lombard He continued his search for dramatic roles For his role as Joe Pendleton a boxer and pilot in Here Comes Mr Jordan 1941 Montgomery was nominated for an Oscar a second time After the US entered World War II in December 1941 he joined the United States Navy rising to the rank of lieutenant commander and served on the USS Barton DD722 which was part of the DDay invasion on June 6 1944 In 1945 Montgomery returned to Hollywood making his uncredited directing debut with They Were Expendable where he directed some of the PT boat scenes when director John Ford was unable to work for health reasons Montgomerys first credited film as director and his final film for MGM was the film noir Lady in the Lake 1947 in which he also starred which received mixed reviews Adapted from Raymond Chandlers detective novel and sanitized for the censorship of the day the film is unusual because it was filmed entirely from Marlowes vantage point Montgomery only appeared on camera a few times three times in a mirror reflection Active in Republican politics and concerned about communist influence in the entertainment industry Montgomery was a friendly witness before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1947 Montgomery has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one for movies at 6440 Hollywood Boulevard and another for television at 1631 Vine Street