Posted: October 14th, 2007, 6:15 pm
Raymond Walburn
Ah, Raymond Walburn, an actor who could create a portrait of a four-flusher, toady, race track tout or rapscallion in a variety of shades, though mostly comic! Loved him in everything from Frank Capra's sublime Broadway Bill (1934), to his appearance in The Three Stooges!
His pop-eyed look, ragged yet once stylish clothes and flowery speech patterns are still delightful. I just caught him recently as an erudite bum in a little road movie with the ghastly title, Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence (1939). Mr. Walburn's characterization fell somewhere between that of the pride of the 19th century theatre world, Maurice Barrymore, and the cartoon of J. Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow, the foxy antagonist in Disney's Pinocchio (1940).
Walburn played with the very young and raw talents of Glenn Ford and Richard Conte in "Heaven..." . Though the careers of both of these actors would take an entirely different direction, I suspect that they learned a great deal about stealing scenes from one of the masters.
Thanks so much for reminding me of this always welcome actor!