Herbert Marshall
Encyclopedia
Herbert Marshall born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.
His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College (later known as Harlow College
, until c1964) in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk. Marshall overcame the loss of a leg in World War I
, where he served in the London Scottish Regiment with fellow actors Basil Rathbone
, Ronald Colman
, and Claude Rains
, to enjoy a long career.
His stage debut took place in 1911, and he entered motion pictures with Mumsie (1927). Initially he played romantic leads and later character roles. The suave actor spent many years playing romantic leads opposite such stars as Greta Garbo
, Marlene Dietrich
and Bette Davis
, and starring in such classics as Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Little Foxes
(1941), and The Razor's Edge
(1946). He was featured in both the 1929
and the more famous 1940 version
of The Letter, first as the murdered lover, then the wronged husband.
He starred in a popular radio series, The Man Called X, in which he played a globe-trotting "American" spy with an English accent.
He was married five times. Among his wives were two actresses, Edna Best, with whom he appeared in The Calendar, Michael and Mary and The Faithful Heart, and Boots Mallory
, to whom he was married from 1947 until her death in 1958. His grave is located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory
in Los Angeles.
His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College (later known as Harlow College
Harlow College
Harlow College is a Further Education college in Harlow, Essex. It was preceded by its homonym, a boys' boarding school situated in Old Harlow, which closed in 1965 ....
, until c1964) in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk. Marshall overcame the loss of a leg in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, where he served in the London Scottish Regiment with fellow actors Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
, Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
, and Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
, to enjoy a long career.
His stage debut took place in 1911, and he entered motion pictures with Mumsie (1927). Initially he played romantic leads and later character roles. The suave actor spent many years playing romantic leads opposite such stars as Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
and Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, and starring in such classics as Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
(1941), and The Razor's Edge
The Razor's Edge (1946 film)
The Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
(1946). He was featured in both the 1929
The Letter (1929 film)
The Letter is an American drama film which was made in both silent and talking versions by Paramount Pictures.-Preservation status:...
and the more famous 1940 version
The Letter (1940 film)
The Letter is a 1940 American film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, originally filmed in 1929.-Plot:...
of The Letter, first as the murdered lover, then the wronged husband.
He starred in a popular radio series, The Man Called X, in which he played a globe-trotting "American" spy with an English accent.
He was married five times. Among his wives were two actresses, Edna Best, with whom he appeared in The Calendar, Michael and Mary and The Faithful Heart, and Boots Mallory
Boots Mallory
Patricia "Boots" Mallory was an American film actress, dancer and model.-Career:Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mallory grew up in Mobile, Alabama, attended Murphy High School, and was working in the Lyric Theater as an usherette when the Ziegfeld Follies came to Mobile. Ziegfeld offered her a...
, to whom he was married from 1947 until her death in 1958. His grave is located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory is a crematory and columbarium located at 1605 South Catalina Street Los Angeles, California, in the historic West Adams District a short distance southwest of Downtown...
in Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
- The LetterThe Letter (1929 film)The Letter is an American drama film which was made in both silent and talking versions by Paramount Pictures.-Preservation status:...
(1929) - Murder!Murder!Murder! is a 1930 British drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. It is based on a novel and play called Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson...
(1930) - Secrets of a SecretarySecrets of a SecretarySecrets of a Secretary is a 1931 film directed by George Abbott, and starring Claudette Colbert and Herbert Marshall.-Plot:Society girl becomes a social secretary when her father dies penniless...
(1931) - The CalendarThe Calendar (1931 film)The Calendar is a 1931 British drama film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Herbert Marshall, Edna Best and Anne Grey. Racehorse owner Anson is swindled by a woman named Wenda and goes up in front of the Jockey Club where he is disqualified on race fixing allegations. He decides to get his...
(1931) - Michael and Mary (1931)
- The Faithful HeartThe Faithful Heart (1932 film)The Faithful Heart is a 1932 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Herbert Marshall, Edna Best and Mignon O'Doherty. It was based on the 1921 play The Faithful Heart by Monckton Hoffe.-Cast:* Herbert Marshall - Waverly Ango...
(1932) - Blonde VenusBlonde VenusBlonde Venus is a 1932 is a Pre-Code drama film starring Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. The movie was produced and directed for Paramount Pictures by Josef von Sternberg with a screenplay by Jules Furthman and S. K. Lauren adapted from a story by Furthman and von Sternberg. The music score was by W...
(1932) - Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Evenings for Sale (1932)
- I Was a SpyI Was a SpyI Was a Spy is a 1933 British thriller film directed by Victor Saville and starring Madeleine Carroll, Herbert Marshall and Conrad Veidt. A Belgian woman who nurses injured German soldiers during World War I passes intelligence to the British....
(1933) - Four Frightened PeopleFour Frightened PeopleFour Frightened People is a film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, and William Gargan.-Plot:...
(1934) - Outcast Woman (1934)
- The Painted VeilThe Painted Veil (1934 film)The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The music score was by Herbert Stothart,...
(1934) - If You Could Only CookIf You Could Only CookIf You Could Only Cook is a 1935 screwball comedy of mistaken identity starring Herbert Marshall as a frustrated automobile executive and Jean Arthur as a young woman who talks him into posing as her husband so they can land jobs as a butler and a cook....
(1935) - Dark AngelThe Dark Angel (1935 film)The Dark Angel is a 1935 film which tells the story of three childhood friends, two male, one female. When the woman chooses one of the men to marry, the other, jealous, sends his rival off into a dangerous situation during wartime...
(1935) - The Good FairyThe Good Fairy (film)The Good Fairy is a 1935 romantic comedy film written by Preston Sturges, based on the 1930 play A jó tündér by Ferenc Molnár as translated and adapted by Jane Hinton, which was produced on Broadway in 1931...
(1935) - A Woman RebelsA Woman RebelsA Woman Rebels is a 1936 RKO film adapted from the novel Portrait of a Rebel by Netta Syrett and starring Katharine Hepburn as Pamela Thistlewaite, who rebels against the social mores of Victorian England...
(1936) - Breakfast for TwoBreakfast for TwoBreakfast for Two is a 1937 US romantic comedy film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Alfred Santell.The film stars Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall and Glenda Farrell.The film was made in Black and White.-Plot:...
(1937) - AngelAngel (1937 film)Angel is a 1937 American comedy-drama film made by Paramount Pictures. It was produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson and Frederick Lonsdale, adapted by Guy Bolton and Russell Medcraft from the play Angyal by Melchior Lengyel. The music score was by Frederick...
(1937) - Mad About MusicMad About MusicMad About Music is a 1938 musical film about a girl at an exclusive boarding school who invents an exciting father. When her schoolmates doubt his existence, she has to produce him...
(1938) - Always GoodbyeAlways GoodbyeAlways Goodbye is a 1938 American film directed by Sidney Lanfield, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, and Ian Hunter.-Plot:...
(1938) - ZazaZaza (film)Zaza is a feature film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by George Cukor. The screenplay was written by Zoe Akins, based on play the Zaza. The music score is by Frederick Hollander...
(1939) - Foreign CorrespondentForeign Correspondent (film)Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War...
(1940) - The LetterThe Letter (1940 film)The Letter is a 1940 American film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, originally filmed in 1929.-Plot:...
(1940) - Kathleen (1941)
- The Little FoxesThe Little Foxes (film)The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play of the same name...
(1941) - When Ladies MeetWhen Ladies Meet (1941 film)When Ladies Meet is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Herbert Marshall, and Spring Byington in a story about a novelist in love with her publisher. The screenplay by S.K. Lauren and Anita Loos was based upon a 1932 play by Rachel Crothers. The...
(1941) - The Moon and SixpenceThe Moon and Sixpence (film)The Moon and Sixpence is a 1942 film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name. George Sanders stars as a London stockbroker who gives up his career, wife and children to become a painter...
(1942) - Young IdeasYoung IdeasYoung Ideas is a 1943 American romantic comedy film directed by Jules Dassin and starring Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor and Elliott Reid.-Plot:...
(1943) - Flight for FreedomFlight for FreedomFlight for Freedom is a 1943 drama film directed by Lothar Mendes. Film historians and Earhart scholars consider Flight for Freedom an "a clef" version of the Amelia Earhart life story concentrating on the sensational aspects of her disappearance during her 1937 world flight.The film's ending...
(1943) - Andy Hardy's Blonde TroubleAndy Hardy's Blonde TroubleAndy Hardy's Blonde Trouble is a romantic comedy, the fourteenth starring Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy. Andy goes to college, but soon gets in trouble with some pretty co-eds.-Cast:*Lewis Stone as Judge James K. Hardy*Mickey Rooney as Andrew "Andy" Hardy...
(1944) - The Enchanted CottageThe Enchanted Cottage (1945 film)The Enchanted Cottage is a 1945 romantic film fantasy starring Robert Young, Dorothy McGuire, and Mildred Natwick. It was based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero...
(1945) - The UnseenThe Unseen (1945 film)The Unseen is a 1945 film directed by Lewis Allen. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording , and is based on the novel Midnight House by Ethel Lina White. The film was Paramount's follow-up to the film The Uninvited .-Cast:...
(1945) - Crack-UpCrack-Up (1946 film)Crack-Up is a film noir directed by Irving Reis, remembered for directing many "Falcon" movies of the early 1940s including The Falcon Takes Over. The drama is based on "Madman's Holiday", a story written by mystery writer Fredric Brown...
(1946) - The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge (1946 film)The Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
(1946) - Duel in the Sun (1946)
- IvyIvy (film)Ivy is an American crime film noir directed by Sam Wood and written by Charles Bennett, based on The Story of Ivy, the novel written by Marie Belloc Lowndes. The drama features Joan Fontaine, Patric Knowles, Herbert Marshall, among others. The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film...
(1947) - High WallHigh WallHigh Wall is a film noir, starring Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter and Herbert Marshall. It was directed by Curtis Bernhardt from a screenplay by Sydney Boehm and Lester Cole, based on a play by Alan R...
(1947) - The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden (1949 film)The Secret Garden is a 1949 US drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox...
(1949) - Black JackBlack Jack (film)Black Jack is a 1950 adventure film written and directed by Julien Duvivier and starring George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Roc and Dennis Wyndham. It tells the story of a man who uses his yacht to smuggle drugs tries to go straight, but finds it harder than he had anticipated...
(1950) - Anne of the IndiesAnne of the IndiesAnne of the Indies is a 1951 adventure film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by George Jessel.The film stars Jean Peters and Louis Jourdan, with Debra Paget, Herbert Marshall, Thomas Gomez and James Robertson Justice.-Story Development:The story was...
(1951) - Angel Face (1952)
- GogGog (film)Gog is a 1954 science fiction film directed by Herbert L. Strock and released in 1954 by United Artists. It is notable for having been shot in color, widescreen and 3-D...
(1954) - The Black Shield of FalworthThe Black Shield of FalworthThe Black Shield of Falworth is a 1954 film made by Universal Studios, produced by Robert Arthur and Melville Tucker and directed by Rudolph Maté...
(1954) - Wicked As They ComeWicked as they ComeWicked As They Come is a 1956 British film starring Arlene Dahl, Philip Carey and Michael Goodliffe, with support from Sid James...
(1956) - Stage StruckStage Struck (film)Stage Struck is a 1958 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Augustus and Ruth Goetz is based on a play by Zoe Akins, which served as the basis for the 1933 film Morning Glory starring Katharine Hepburn....
(1958) - The FlyThe Fly (1958 film)The Fly is a 1958 American science-fiction horror film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell , from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan...
(1958) - Five Weeks in a BalloonFive Weeks in a BalloonFive Weeks in a Balloon, or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen is an adventure novel by Jules Verne.It is the first Verne novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with...
(1962) - The CaretakersThe CaretakersThe Caretakers is a 1963 United Artists film drama starring Joan Crawford, Robert Stack, Polly Bergen and Janis Paige in a story about a mental hospital....
(1963) - The Third DayThe Third DayThe Third Day is a feature film released in 1965. It stars George Peppard and his then wife Elizabeth Ashley, and is a suspense thriller. It was largely ignored in cinemas and is rarely seen on television. It was directed by Jack Smight from a book by Joseph Hayes.-Plot:Steve Mallory has been...
(1965)