Donald MacBride
Encyclopedia
Donald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer (making several recordings in 1907) in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914
and 1955
. His year of birth is given variously as 1889 or 1893 in the standard reference books, but the latter seems to be the correct one as his "New York Times" obituary records his age as 63.
MacBride was best known for his portrayal of detectives in crime films. Famously he would react to bad or disturbing news with a slowly grimacing expression that earned him the nickname "slow burn McBride". He also did several slapstick roles in films with comedians such as the Marx Brothers
.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and died in Los Angeles, California
.
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....
and 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
. His year of birth is given variously as 1889 or 1893 in the standard reference books, but the latter seems to be the correct one as his "New York Times" obituary records his age as 63.
MacBride was best known for his portrayal of detectives in crime films. Famously he would react to bad or disturbing news with a slowly grimacing expression that earned him the nickname "slow burn McBride". He also did several slapstick roles in films with comedians such as the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Selected filmography
- Misleading LadyMisleading LadyMisleading Lady is a 1932 film directed by Stuart Walker, and starring Claudette Colbert and Edmund Lowe.Paramount closed its studio in Astoria, Queens upon the completion of this film on 1 March 1932.-Plot:...
(19321932 in film-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
) - Buzzin' AroundBuzzin' Around-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Cornelius* Al St. John - Al* Dan Coleman - Bit Part * Fritz Hubert - Bit Part * Donald MacBride - Policeman * Gertrude Mudge - Cornelius's Ma * Al Ochs - Bit Part...
(19331933 in film-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
) (uncredited) - The Chemist (19361936 in filmThe year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
) (short) - Room ServiceRoom Service (1938 film)Room Service is an RKO film comedy starring the Marx Brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by Allen Boretz and John Murray. It co-stars Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Alexander Asro, and Frank Albertson.-Plot outline:...
(19381938 in filmThe year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
) - The Great Man VotesThe Great Man VotesThe Great Man Votes is a 1939 American drama film starring John Barrymore as a widowed professor turned drunkard who has the deciding vote in an election for mayor. It was based on the short story of the same name by Gordon Malherbe Hillman in American Magazine...
(19391939 in filmThe year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
) - The Flying IrishmanThe Flying IrishmanThe Flying Irishman is a 1939 biographical drama film produced by RKO Pictures in 1939 about Douglas Corrigan's unofficial transatlantic flight the previous year. Directed by Leigh Jason to a screenplay by Ernest Pagano and Dalton Trumbo, the film was made quickly to exploit the huge public...
(1939) - Charlie Chan at Treasure IslandCharlie Chan at Treasure IslandCharlie Chan at Treasure Island is a 1939 American film directed by Norman Foster, starring Sidney Toler as the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, that takes place on Treasure Island during San Francisco's Golden Gate International Exposition.-Cast:* Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan*...
(1939) - The Saint's Double TroubleThe Saint's Double TroubleThe Saint's Double Trouble is a 1940 action-adventure film produced by RKO Pictures. The film stars George Sanders as Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint", a master criminal turned crime-fighter, and features horror film legend Bela Lugosi as "The Partner"...
(19401940 in filmThe year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
) - Northwest Passage (1940)
- My Favorite WifeMy Favorite WifeMy Favorite Wife is a 1940 screwball comedy produced and co-written by Leo McCarey and directed by Garson Kanin. The movie stars Irene Dunne as a woman who returns to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for several years, and Cary Grant as her husband...
(1940) - High Sierra (19411941 in filmThe year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
) - Topper ReturnsTopper ReturnsTopper Returns is the third and final entry in the initial series of films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith. It followed Topper and Topper Takes a Trip...
(1941) - Love CrazyLove CrazyLove Crazy is a 1941 screwball comedy film pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy as a couple whose marriage is on the verge of being broken up by the husband's old girlfriend and the wife's disapproving mother.-Plot:...
(1941) - Here Comes Mr. JordanHere Comes Mr. JordanHere Comes Mr. Jordan is a comedy film in which a boxer, mistakenly taken to Heaven before his time, is given a second chance back on Earth. It stars Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains and Evelyn Keyes. The movie was adapted by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller from the play Heaven Can Wait by Harry...
(1941) - You'll Never Get RichYou'll Never Get RichYou'll Never Get Rich is a 1941 Hollywood musical comedy film with a wartime theme starring Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, Cliff Nazarro, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The film was directed by Sidney Lanfield...
(1941) - Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana Purchase (film)Louisiana Purchase is a 1941 film adaptation of the musical theater play, Louisiana Purchase. A Paramount Pictures production, the film was directed by Irving Cummings with Robert Emmett Dolan serving as musical director as he had done for the play. Starring comedian Bob Hope, the film featured...
(1941) - The Glass KeyThe Glass Key (1942 film)The Glass Key is a 1942 film noir, directed by Stuart Heisler and based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The story had previously been adapted for film in 1935.-Plot:...
(1942) - My Sister EileenMy Sister Eileen (1942 film)My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
(1942) - A Night to RememberA Night to Remember (1943 film)A Night to Remember is a mystery comedy film starring Loretta Young and Brian Aherne. It was directed by Richard Wallace, and is based on the novel The Frightened Stiff by Kelley Roos...
(19431943 in filmThe year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
) - They Got Me CoveredThey Got Me CoveredThey Got Me Covered is a 1943 film starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. The comedy movie was directed by David Butler. Otto Preminger appears in a supporting role.-Cast:*Bob Hope as Robert Kittredge*Dorothy Lamour as Christina Hill...
(1943) - Best Foot Forward (1943)
- The Thin Man Goes HomeThe Thin Man Goes HomeThe Thin Man Goes Home is a 1945 motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora.-Plot:...
(19441944 in filmThe year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
) - Abbott and Costello in HollywoodAbbott and Costello in HollywoodAbbott and Costello in Hollywood is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. This film's full onscreen title is Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood.-Plot:...
(19451945 in filmThe year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
) - The KillersThe Killers (1946 film)The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. It is based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film features Burt Lancaster in his screen debut, as well as Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene...
(19461946 in filmThe year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
) - The Egg and IThe Egg and I (film)The Egg and I is a 1947 film directed by Chester Erskine, who co-wrote screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the book by Betty MacDonald.This comedy was such a hit with audiences, it spawned the Ma and Pa Kettle film series...
(19471947 in filmThe year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
) - The Story of SeabiscuitThe Story of SeabiscuitThe Story of Seabiscuit is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay was written by John Taintor Foote. The film is a fictionalized account of the career of the racehorse Seabiscuit with a subplot involving the romance between the niece of a horse trainer and a jockey...
(19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
) - Bowery BattalionBowery BattalionBowery Battalion is a 1951 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on January 24, 1951 by Monogram Pictures and is the twenty-first film in the series.-Plot:...
(19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) - The Seven Year ItchThe Seven Year ItchThe Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
(19551955 in filmThe year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
)