Leo G Carroll & Cedric Hardwicke

[MissGoddess]

Not exactly major stars so I may not get many responses to this thread, but I've been taking more notice of the contributions each made to so many classic films (and television).

I have always taken both for granted, and for the longest time didn't even distinguish their names from a host of other venerable English character actors, but lately I've acquired a better appreciation of them individually.

Carroll was always more familiar to me because of the Alfred Hitchcock movie appearances---he made six in all, more than any other actor, aside from Hitch himself. He always seemed harmless and somewhat "grey" in demeanor but then the plot would reveal he was something altogether less benign or he would deliver an astute but possibly cold-blooded line which made my eyebrows stand up on end.

Hardwicke, whose identity I constantly confused with C. Aubrey Smith's, did not attract my specific notice until I watched him in two "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episodes, particularly in "A Man Greatly Beloved." Suddenly I detected a very sly sense of humor behind that somewhat rigid front (accounted for, I think, the seven years he served in the military, including the duration of WWI) and after reading some quotes (below) by him, I realized my guess was right.

So Hitchcock is my link for rediscovery of both men. In doing a little research I learned the actors had a couple of other similarities: both were born within a year of each other; each had their stage debuts in the same year (1912)---in New York and London, respectively; and---that's about all they had in common.

Carroll's career is probably considered the more successful over-all due to the television shows and numerous Hitchcock appearances. He also has a more approachable or harmless-seeming manner. But in terms of choice acting roles, Hardwicke's is by far the more illustrious (he was well known for his stage interpretations of Bernard Shaw characters) and though intimidating, I think he was equally beloved of those who knew him.

I've included some tid-bits about each of these actors whom most of us, perhaps, have taken for granted. Each contributed greatly to the wonderfully rich movies of their era.



Leo G Carroll - b 1892, d 1972

Born in Weedon, England to wealthy Catholic family and named after Pope Leo XIII

Made Broadway debut in 1912; In 1940s was the original Broadway actor in title role of The Late George Apley (played on screen by Ronald Colman)

Served in WWI

Appeared in 6 Hitchcock movies, more than any other actor

TV Shows: "Topper", "Man/Girl from U.N.C.L.E." and "Going My Way"

Notable movies (besides Hitch's): Wuthering Heights, Enchantment, Father of the Bride, Captain's Courageous, Forever Amber, Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Bad & The Beautiful, The Desert Fox: Story of Rommell, We're No Angels, The Swan, Tarantula, The Parent Trap




Sir Cedric Hardwicke b 1893, d 1964

Born in Lye, Worcestershire, England

Debuted London stage 1912

Served seven years in military, including France in WWI

Knighted by George V in 1934, one of the few and youngest actor (41) ever at that time

5th favorite actor of Bernard Shaw---the other four being the Marx brothers

Published two volumes of memoirs: 1932's Let's Pretend: Recollections and Reflections of a Lucky Actor. London, England: Grayson and Grayson; and, in 1961 A Victorian in Orbit. London, England: Methuen.


Notable movies: King Solomon's Mines(1937-played Alan Quartermain(!)); On Borrowed Time (played personification of "death", Mr Brink); Stanley & Livingstone (played Livingstone); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (played the wicked Frollo); Tom Brown's School Days, The Howard's of Virginia (excellent as Fleetwood Peyton); Suspicion (played General MacLaidlaw, he of the grim portrait); The Keys of the Kingdom, The Lodger, Wilson, Sentimental Journey (a fave!); The Picture of Dorian Gray; Ivy; Lured; Tycoon; I Remember Mamma (played kindly boarder, Jonathan Hyde); The Winslow Boy; Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (sings!); Salome; Around the World in 80 Days; The Pumpkin Eater

TV appearences include "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episodes "Wet Saturday" and "A Man Greatly Beloved"

QUOTES by Hardwicke:

"I can't act. I have never acted. And I shall never act. What I can do is suspend my audience's power of judgement till I've finished."

"I believe that God felt sorry for actors, so he created Hollywood to give them a place in the sun and a swimming pool. The price they had to pay was to surrender their talent."

"Actors and burglars work better at night."

"England is my wife. America is my mistress. It is very good sometimes to get away from one's wife."

[On TV commercials] "The last refuge of optimism in a world of gloom."

*[On 'sneak previews'] "Let one dim-witted schoolboy scrawl 'lousy' on his card, and the entire studio may be stampeded the following morning in an executive meeting to discuss slicing and revising the picture to shreds. On Hollywood's theory that the customer must know best, the schoolboy's 'lousy' is regarded as the last word in dramatic criticism."

"The director's tricks are accomplished by converting plays into spectacles of love, landscape, and lust, and the actors into puppets. Unhappily, a lot of young actors and actresses are destroyed in the process. They are drilled to perfection in a single role, while the director tries to produce performances by direction alone. As a result, they may be ruined for anything beyond the single role."

"By temperament, a young actor needs to be mercurial, if nothing else, able to shed misfortunes like a duck shedding water and to magnify a pinpoint of hope into a golden dawn."

"Actors must practice restraint else think what might happen in a love scene." Hee!---Miss G

"When actors are talking, they are servants of the dramatist. It is what they can show the audience when they are not talking that reveals the fine actor."

[jdb1]

MissG, I always liked Leo G. Carroll, who I knew from the old "Topper" series, wherein he was always so very befuddled by his ghostly friends. I think I've read that Hitchcock constantly complained that Carroll couldn't act, yet he continued to use him. Then there was "The Man From UNCLE." I think I remember Carroll more than I do the two cuties who starred.

I was sort of scared by Hardwicke - he generally played forbidding and/or evil characters in the movies I saw. I did enjoy his performance in "The Howards of Virginia," which was recently broadcast.

In the early 60s he co-starred on TV with Gertrude Berg in a series called "Mrs. G Goes to College," where Berg was a Molly Goldberg-like character who decided to get her BA. Hardwicke was the stern but kindly professor who took her under his wing. I think he was only for only a few shows, and then became ill and couldn't continue.

Edward Hardwicke, who played Dr. Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes in the excellent British TV version of the Holmes saga of the 80s and 90s, is Sir Cedric's son, and as the Holmes series went on, the son began to look more and more like his father.

[MikeBSG]

Both are good actors. I can't think of anyone today who really does what they did in the movies.

An interesting Leo G. Carroll role is that of the mad scientist in "Tarantula" in 1955. He has been injected with his serum by an angry assistant, and so he too is mutating throughout the film. Carroll makes you feel the scientist's struggle to stay human as well as his temptations. It is an interesting Jekyll-Hyde type performance.

Hardwicke left a number of fine performances behind. What struck me about "The Lodger" was that his part as the father was far more raffish and comic than the usual role Hardwicke played.

[jdb1]

Carroll was in the film "The Happy Years," a film about a boy in a prep school in what looks to be the 1890s - he played the teacher/housemaster of the dorm where the hero resided. He was quite nice - a bit warmer than he was usually allowed to be.

Now I'll have the image of the supersized Leo G. of "Tarantula" in my head all day!

[MissGoddess]

I never saw the "Topper" television series or even heard of that one with Ceddy playing a professor. I forgot to include that Edward Hardwicke was his son so thank you for mentioning him. He does resemble his father in his later years!

I think I saw Tarantula on TV as a kid because I vaguely rememeber it (I'm terrified of large spiders). That would be a fun one for TCM to air, I'd like to see it again.

[ken123]

I liked Anne Jeffreys in The Topper TV Series.

[jdb1]

I liked Anne Jeffreys in The Topper TV Series.

I did, too. Both she and Robert Sterling were reasonable TV replacements for Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. I haven't seen the show in decades -- I wonder if I'd like it quite as much now. Besides Kathleen Freeman as Katie, the constantly perplexed maid, I particularly remember the wonderful Lee Patrick as Mrs. Topper (Henrietta, I think). I can still hear her saying in that pseudo-British, breathy, Glenda the Good Witch voice, "Oh, Cosmo!"

[CharlieT]

MissGoddess, I'm surprised that you didn't include The Ten Commandments in Cedric Hardwicke's notable movies. That role, along with his dual role in A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court, is one of my favorites.

And, of course, Leo G. Carroll's portrayal of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol is special to me. I try to keep up with all versions of the Dickens classic and, although this isn't my favorite version (see avatar ), his interpretation visually seems to be the closest to what I envision when I read the book. I still like Michael Hordern's portrayal best.

[MissGoddess]

MissGoddess, I'm surprised that you didn't include The Ten Commandments in Cedric Hardwicke's notable movies. That role, along with his dual role in A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court, is one of my favorites.

And, of course, Leo G. Carroll's portrayal of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol is special to me. I try to keep up with all versions of the Dickens classic and, although this isn't my favorite version (see avatar ), his interpretation visually seems to be the closest to what I envision when I read the book. I still like Michael Hordern's portrayal best.

Hi there, Charlie---I haven't seen The Ten Commandments (I mean the film, ) in ages so I forgot him completely from it. I only have Heston and Brynner seared into my brain from that epic.

I also haven't seen Conn. Yankee in ages, either.

[MissGoddess]

Let us not forget that Leo G. Carroll was also on <b>The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.</b>, co-starring Stephanie Powers and Noel Harrison, and my favorite of the 2 U.N.C.L.E. shows.

The American Life Network has been airing both shows for a couple of years now, and it's given me my first look at them. I like watching out for what outfit Stefanie will wear next in her show. I also like her name, "April Dancer"---my first name and I used to study ballet, so it's perfect!

[moira finnie]

This is a delightful thread, devoted to two very deserving practitioners of the acting craft.

I loved Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the king with the sniffles in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) and in On Borrowed Time (1939)as "the gentleman in a dustcoat", Mr. Brink, who has come to collect some souls. I also think that he took the melodramatic part of the judge, Frollo, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and added several shades of gray to the part, humanizing what might have been a stock villain, and allowing the viewer to understand the tragic agony that the character endures when he finds himself in the grip of his lust for Esmerelda (Maureen O'Hara).

I've recently been reading Hume Cronyn's memoir, called "A Terrible Liar", in which he mentions his debt to Hardwicke for his guidance and for his example of professionalism as an actor and a director. Cronyn says that while Hardwicke was stony broke at the end of his life, (due largely to alimony), he was always generous with his help to the actor. Hardwicke even insisted that Cronyn visit him while he was in the hospital when Sir Cedric was dying of emphysema to discuss some theatrical problem. Between gasps on his oxygen mask, the elder man sighed, "I suppose this, [meaning the perilous state of his health], will cut down on my career." Cronyn was touched that he still wished to pursue his dramatic career, but felt that Hardwicke's comment was the understatement of the year. Two days later, Hume Cronyn and Richard Burton were among their friend's pall bearers.

What struck me about "The Lodger" was that his part as the father was far more raffish and comic than the usual role Hardwicke played.~ MikeBSG

Hey Mike,
One of the other things that amused me in The Lodger (1944) was that at one point, Sara Allgood explains to Laird Cregar that she and her husband (Cedric Hardwicke) need the income from a boarder. She explains, (a bit too garrulously, if you ask me), that in order to offset the financial setback prompted by her husband's miscalculation of a tea shipment and his subsequent efforts to repay the cost to his employer, they are living in straitened circumstances and that her husband has had a nervous breakdown as a result of the strain, so Laird should ignore any peevishness he exhibits! Well, oddly, Sir Cedric seems to be blithely jaunty in his approach to most of the events around the Ripper's activities, dispelling his wife and niece's concerns and enjoying many of the case's details. Of course, the fact that Hardwicke's character is showing signs of interest in something other than his own situation could be interpreted as a significant psychological breakthrough out of his depression, huh?

Perhaps I missed this plot point in a line of dialogue, but here's another oddity in this very entertaining movie: Mr. and Mrs. Victorian Respectability (Hardwicke and Allgood) don't seem to have a qualm about their beautiful niece (Merle Oberon) appearing on stage and exposing her (ahem) "limbs" and other naughty bits for all the world to see! It also seems funny that when the light finally dawns on the couple about the oddity of their lodger, they are concerned about leaving Merle Oberon in the house alone with him, but don't seem to bat an eye when Cedric rushes back to the house, and discovers that Merle is entertaining Laird in a discourse on the nature of women, the flesh and the devil in her bedroom, (well, okay, sitting room), while dressed in a lovely peignoir. Hello? This is Victorian England, she's not a woman of ill repute, but supposedly a "nice girl"! What the heck is going on here??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gee, on further reflection it occurs to me that one of the themes of "The Lodger" might be our sometimes willful attempts to go through life being unobservant about important things. Oh yes, we notice when someone is burning a stinky ol' satchel in the attic alright, but the fixed stare of Laird Cregar's socially paralyzed character, the desperate plight of former music hall performer Queenie Leonard as Daisy seems to go unnoticed except by Kitty (Merle Oberon), and Merle's tiptoeing over the line of circumspect behavior for a "lady"--these we miss! "The Lodger" is looking more and more like a social comedy to me.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Moira! I read that "Ceddy" had some tough financial problems at the end of his life and that the several actors' charities pitched in and paid for many of his medical bills. He seems to have been generous with his advice and his pocket, which is to say he must have generous of heart.

And now you have made me want to see that version of The Lodger again!

[feaito]

Great thread April. I have always liked Leo G. Carroll, especially in his films with "Hitch". Besides my father-in-law, with whom I have an excellent relationship, resembles him physically, rather uncannily

As for Cedric Hardwicke. I can relate to what Judith states about being scared of him -He always seemed to play villains and he excelled at it, but yesterday, revisiting the 1935 version of "Les Miserables", I was in awe of Hardwicke's magnificent impersonation of the benevolent, merciful Bishop who befriends Valjean. One is not used to such subtle, top quality performaces as this. I agree that he was also superb in "The Howards of Virginia", which I enjoyed very much (and Cary's performance did not bother me at all).

[MissGoddess]

Hi Feaito---I have not seen Les Misrables yet. I thought Cary was OK in Howards of Virginia, but Hardwicke really lit things up whenever his character appeared.