Guy Bates Post
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Guy Bates Post (September 22, 1875 – January 16, 1968) was an American
character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...
who appeared in at least 21
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
plays and 25 Hollywood films over a career that spanned more than 50 years. He was perhaps best remembered in the role of
Omar Khayyám Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) ( Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar Khayyam (), was ...
in the 1914 stage and 1922 film productions of Richard Walton Tully's '' Omar the Tentmaker'' and for his over 1,500 performances in John Hunter Booth's 1917 play '' The Masquerader''.


Early life

Guy Bates Post was born in Seattle, Washington, the first of two sons and a daughter (actress Madeline Post) raised by John J. Post and Mary Annette Ostrander. His father, a Canadian of English descent, was a partner in the Seattle lumber firm Stetson and Post. His mother was born in Wisconsin into a family that originally went west from New York. Post received his education at schools in Seattle and later San Francisco, then he dropped out of college to embark on a career in theatre.Guy Bates Post, 92, an Actor Since '93. ''New York Times,'' January 18, 1968, p. 39


Stage

Post made his professional debut in November 1894 at Chicago's Schiller Theatre playing a minor role opposite Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter and
Kyrle Bellew Harold Kyrle Money Bellew (28 March 1850 – 2 November 1911) was an English stage and silent film actor. He notably toured with Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter, Cora Brown-Potter in the 1880s and 1890s, and was cast as the leading man in many s ...
in ''
Charlotte Corday Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known simply as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution who assassinated revolutionary and Jacobins, Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793. Cor ...
''. By May 1898, Post was a member of Otis Skinner's Company and married to Sarah Truax, the troupe's leading lady. His big break came early in 1900 when he was chosen to play David Brandon in Liebler and Company's Southern American tour of Israel Zangwill's '' The Children of the Ghetto''.edited by Walter Browne, Frederick Arnold Austin, 1908. ''Who'Who on the Stage'' p. 345
Retrieved April 3, 2014
Although the tour proved short lived, Post's performance in ''The Children of the Ghetto'' led to such rôles as Rawdon Crowley, in Langdon Miller's dramatization of the
William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...
novel '' Vanity Fair''; Lieutenant Denton, in Augustus Thomas' ''
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
''; Robert Racket in the Madeleine Lucette Ryley play ''My Lady Dainty''; and Abbe Tiberge, in Theodore Burt Sayre's dramatization of the Abbé Prévost short novel '' Manon Lescaut''. Post remained active on Broadway until the mid-1930s achieving particular success as Captain Stuart in ''Soldiers of Fortune'' (1902) by Augustus Thomas, Steve in ''The Virginian'' (1904) by
Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer. His novel ''The Virginian (novel), The Virginian'', published in 1902, helped create the cowboy as a folk hero in the United States and built Wister's reputation as the " ...
and Kirke La Shelle, Dean in ''Bird of Paradise'' (1910) by Richard Walton Tully, Omar Khayyám in ''Omar the Tent Maker'' (1914) by Richard Walton Tully and dual rôles, as John Chilcote and John Loder, in '' The Masquerader'' (1914) by John Hunter Booth.


Film

Post had a 25-year career in cinema beginning in 1922 with
silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
adaptations of '' Omar the Tentmaker'' and ''The Masquerader''. He played the Grand Lama in the 1936 serial '' Ace Drummond'' and 'Papa' Bergelot in the 1937 serial '' The Mysterious Pilot''. Post played
Louis Napoleon Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
in the 1937 film '' Maytime'' with
John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...
,
Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American soprano and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', ''Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow (1934 film) ...
and
Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs ...
. In 1939, he was once again cast as Louis Napoleon in the film ''The Mad Empress'' opposite Medea de Novara,
Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English and American stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the United States, he appeared in Broadway plays and Hollywood ...
and
Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1940, a ...
. In his last film, '' A Double Life'' (1947), Post plays an actor performing in a production of Shakespeare's ''
Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
''.


Personal life

Post married actress
Sarah Truax Sarah Truax (February 12, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American actor whose career began in the mid-1890s and lasted well into the twentieth century. Though she appeared in only a handful of Broadway and Hollywood productions over her career, T ...
on April 18, 1897, at St. John's Episcopal Church, San Francisco. At the time, the two were engaged with Skinner's company performing at the city's Baldwin Theatre. The couple divorced amicably some ten years later. In August 1907, he married Jane Peyton (born Jennie Van Norman), a fellow cast member with ''
The Heir to the Hoorah ''The Heir to the Hoorah'' is a surviving 1916 silent film produced by Jesse Lasky and released through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by William C. deMille. A print survives in the Library of Congress. Cast *Thomas Meighan - Joe Lacy *Ani ...
'' tour. This union ended with an annulment seven years later. Post married Adele Ritchie on February 2, 1916, at a ceremony held in Toronto two days after the actress had secured a divorce from her previous husband. Post and Ritchie separated in 1926 and divorced three years later. On October 26, 1936, in Las Vegas, Post married the British actress Lillian Kemble-Cooper. This union lasted for over 30 years and ended with his death in Los Angeles at the age of 92.Funeral Services Conducted for Guy Bates Post. ''Van Nuys Valley News And Green Sheet,'' January 19, 1968 p. 11


Filmography


Resources


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Guy Bates 1875 births 1968 deaths American male stage actors American male film actors American male silent film actors 19th-century American male actors 20th-century American male actors