George Bancroft (actor)

George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 – October 2, 1956) was an American
film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. He was cast in many notable films alongside major film stars throughout his Hollywood years.

Early years

Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. He attended Tomes Institute in Port Deposit, Maryland.

Maritime work

After working on merchant marine vessels at age 14, Bancroft was an apprentice on and later served on and ''West Indies''. Additionally, during the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), he was a gunner on . During his days in the Navy, he staged plays aboard ship.

In 1900, he swam underneath the hull of the battleship to check the extent of the damage after it struck a rock off the coast of China. For this, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, but found it too restrictive for his tastes and left to pursue a theatrical career.The reference work ''American Classic Screen Profiles'' says of Bancroft, "He left the Academy after one year for a theatrical career."

Acting career

In 1901, Bancroft began acting in earnest, as he toured in plays and had juvenile leads in musical comedies. In vaudeville, he did blackface routines and impersonated celebrities. His Broadway credits include the musical comedies ''Cinders'' (1923) and ''The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly'' (1923).

One of his early films was ''The Journey's End'' (1921). Bancroft's first starring role was in ''The Pony Express'' (1925), and the next year he played an important supporting role in a cast including Wallace Beery, Charles Farrell and Esther Ralston in the period naval widescreen epic '' Old Ironsides'' (1926), then went from historical pictures to the gritty world of the underground in Paramount Pictures productions such as von Sternberg's ''Underworld'' (1927) and ''The Docks of New York'' (1928). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for ''Thunderbolt'',The Academy Awards Database provides this comment:
"[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. There were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930. Though not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by the various boards of judges.]" played the title role in '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (1929, released just prior to the Wall Street Crash), and appeared in Paramount's all-star revue ''Paramount on Parade'' (1930) and Rowland Brown's ''Blood Money'' (1933), condemned by the censors because they feared the film would "incite law-abiding citizens to crime." Bancroft had enjoyed his career height in silent pictures and none of his early sound films in which he played the lead had the same impact.

Reportedly, he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just ''one'' bullet can't stop Bancroft!". By 1934, he had slipped to being a supporting actor, although he still appeared in such classics as ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936) with Gary Cooper, ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, '' Each Dawn I Die'' (1939) with Cagney and George Raft, and '' Stagecoach'' (1939) with John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell. In 1942, he left Hollywood to be a full-time rancher.

Personal life

Bancroft first married actress Edna Brothers. Three years later, he married musical comedy star Octavia Broske. In 1934, Brothers sued him, claiming they had never divorced. Two years later, the case was settled, and Brothers obtained a divorce.

Death

On October 2, 1956, Bancroft died in Santa Monica, California, at age 74. He was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.

Complete filmography

* '' The Journey's End'' (1921) as The Ironworker
* ''The Prodigal Judge'' (1922) as Cavendish
* '' Driven'' (1923) as Lem Tolliver
* ''Teeth'' (1924) as Dan Angus
* ''The Deadwood Coach'' (1924) as Tex Wilson – in play
* '' Code of the West'' (1925) as Enoch Thurman
* '' The Rainbow Trail'' (1925) as Jake Willets
* ''The Pony Express'' (1925) as Jack Slade
* ''The Splendid Road'' (1925) as Buck Lockwell
* '' The Enchanted Hill'' (1926) as Ira Todd
* ''Sea Horses'' (1926) as Cochran
* '' The Runaway'' (1926) as Lesher Skidmore
* '' Old Ironsides'' (1926) as Gunner
* ''White Gold'' (1927) as Sam Randall
* '' Too Many Crooks'' (1927) as Bert the Boxman
* ''Underworld'' (1927) as 'Bull' Weed
* ''Tell It to Sweeney'' (1927) as Cannonball Casey
* '' The Rough Riders'' (1927) as Happy Joe
* '' The Showdown'' (1928) as Cardan
* ''The Drag Net'' (1928) as Two-Gun Nolan
* ''The Docks of New York'' (1928) as Bill Roberts
* '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (1929) as The Wolf
* ''Thunderbolt'' (1929) as Thunderbolt Jim Lang
* ''The Mighty'' (1929) as Blake Greeson
* ''Paramount on Parade'' (1930) as Mug (Impulses)
* '' Ladies Love Brutes'' (1930) as Joe Forziati
* '' Derelict'' (1930) as Bill Rafferty
* ''Scandal Sheet'' (1931) as Mark Flint
* ''Rich Man's Folly'' (1931) as Brock Trumbull
* ''The World and the Flesh'' (1932) as Kylenko
* ''Lady and Gent'' (1932) as Stag Bailey
* ''Blood Money'' (1933) as Bill Bailey
* '' Elmer and Elsie'' (1934) as Elmer Beebe
* '' Hell-Ship Morgan'' (1936) as Captain Ira 'Hell-Ship' Morgan
* ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936) as MacWade
* '' Wedding Present'' (1936) as Pete Stagg
* '' A Doctor's Diary'' (1937) as Dr. Clem Driscoll
* ''John Meade's Woman'' (1937) as Tim Mathews
* '' Racketeers in Exile'' (1937) as William Waldo
* ''Submarine Patrol'' (1938) as Capt. Leeds
* ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938) as Mac Keefer
* '' Stagecoach'' (1939) as Marshal Curley Wilcox
* '' Each Dawn I Die'' (1939) as John Armstrong
* '' Espionage Agent'' (1939) as Dudley Garrett
* ''Rulers of the Sea'' (1939) as Captain Oliver
* '' Green Hell'' (1940) as 'Tex' Morgan
* ''Young Tom Edison'' (1940) as Samuel 'Sam' Edison
* ''When the Daltons Rode'' (1940) as Caleb Winters
* ''Northwest Mounted Police'' (1940) as Jacques Corbeau
* ''Little Men'' (1940) as Major Burdle
* ''Texas'' (1941) as Windy Miller
* ''The Bugle Sounds'' (1942) as 'Russ' Russell
* '' Syncopation'' (1942) as Steve Porter
* ''Whistling in Dixie'' (1942) as Sheriff Claude Stagg (final film role)

Notes

References

External links

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Photographs and literature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, George
1882 births
1956 deaths
American male stage actors
American male film actors
Male actors from Philadelphia
20th-century American male actors
Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica
Paramount Pictures contract players
United States Naval Academy alumni
United States Navy sailors