Trivia: British actor Reginald Owen was a graduate of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his stage bow in 1905, remaining a highly-regarded leading man in London for nearly two decades before traversing the Atlantic to make his Broadway premiere in The Swan. His film career commenced with The Letter (1929), and for the next forty years Owen was one of Hollywood's favorite Englishmen, playing everything from elegant aristocrats to seedy villains. Modern viewers are treated to Owen at his hammy best each Christmas when local TV stations run MGM's 1938 version of The Christmas Carol. As Ebeneezer Scrooge, Owen was a last-minute replacement for an ailing Lionel Barrymore, but no one in the audience felt the loss as they watched Owen go through his lovably cantankerous paces. Reginald Owen's film career flourished into the 1960s and 1970s. He was particularly amusing and appropriately bombastic as Admiral Boom, the cannon-happy eccentric neighbor in Disney's Mary Poppins (1964).

Trivia: Canadian-born Gene Lockhart made his first stage appearance at age 6; as a teenager, he appeared in comedy sketches with another fledgling performer, Beatrice Lillie. Lockhart's first Broadway production was 1916's Riviera. His later credits on the Great White Way included Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesmen, in which Lockhart replaced Lee J. Cobb in the role of Willy Loman. In between acting assignments, Lockhart taught stage technique at the Juilliard School of Music. A prolific writer, Lockhart turned out a number of magazine articles and song lyrics, and contributed several routines to the Broadway revue Bunk of 1926, in which he also starred. After a false start in 1922, Lockhart launched his film career in 1934. His most familiar screen characterization was that of the cowardly criminal who cringed and snivelled upon being caught; he also showed up in several historical films as small-town stuffed shirts and bigoted disbelievers in scientific progress. When not trafficking in petty villainy, Lockhart was quite adept at roles calling for whimsy and confusion, notably Bob Cratchit in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and the beleaguered judge in A Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Extending his activities to television, Lockhart starred in the 1955 "dramedy" series His Honor, Homer Bell. Gene Lockhart was the husband of character actress Kathleen Lockhart, the father of leading lady June Lockhart, and the grandfather of 1980s ingenue Anne Lockhart.

Trivia: British stage actress Kathleen Lockhart made infrequent American film appearances between 1936 and 1954. She was occasionally cast opposite her more famous husband, character actor Gene Lockhart; in 1938 the Lockharts portrayed Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit in MGM's A Christmas Carol (1938). One of her better-known film roles was as the wife of magazine editor Albert Dekker in the Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement. After the death of her husband in 1957, Lockhart made no further acting appearances. Kathleen Lockhart was the mother of actress June Lockhart and the grandmother of actress Anne Lockhart.

Trivia: Leo G. Carroll was the son of an Irish-born British military officer. The younger Carroll had intended to follow in his father's footsteps, but his World War I experiences discouraged him from pursuing a military career. On the British stage from the age of sixteen, Carroll settled in the U.S. in 1924, playing such plum theatrical roles as the title character in The Late George Apley. In films from 1934, Carroll often portrayed shy, self-effacing Britishers who, in "Uriah-Heep" fashion, used their humility to hide a larcenous or homicidal streak. Reportedly Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actor, Carroll was seen in half a dozen Hithcock films, notably Spellbound (1946) (as the scheming psychiatrist) and North by Northwest (1959) (as the dry-witted CIA agent). A "method actor" before the term was invented, Carroll was known to immerse himself in his roles, frequently confounding strangers by approaching them "in character." Leo G. Carroll was always a welcome presence on American television, starring as Topper in the "ghostly" sitcom of the same name, and co-starring as Father Fitzgibbons in Going My Way (1962) and Alexander Waverly on The Man From UNCLE (1964-68).

Trivia: The son of a London bus conductor, Terry Kilburn spent his childhood as a vaudeville performer, doing an act consisting of celebrity imitations. Unlike other professional children cursed with "stage parents," Kilburn talked his mom and dad into bringing him to Hollywood to give movies a try. He made his American debut as a regular on Eddie Cantor's radio show, then made his first film appearance in MGM's Lord Jeff (1938). The best of his early roles included Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol (1938) and four separate roles (representing four generations of boy's-school students) in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). After high school, Kilburn decided to give movies second priority and concentrate on stage work. He studied drama at UCLA, then made his Broadway bow in a 1952 revival of Shaw's Candida. Though he would continue to sporadically show up in films like Fiend Without a Face (1958) and Lolita (1962), Terence Kilburn ("Terry" no more) would remain committed to live performances, as both actor and director; for many years, he has been artistic director of Rochester, Michigan's Meadow Brook Theatre.

Trivia: Delicate blonde actress Lynne Carver came to films in 1934 on the strength of a beauty contest. First billed as Virginia Reid, she worked at RKO in such musicals as Down to Their Last Yacht (1934) and Roberta (1935) before moving to MGM as "Lynne Carver" in 1937. She was a most fetching presence in such period dramas as A Christmas Carol (1938) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1939), and equally attractive in contemporary garb as Lew Ayres' hometown girl friend in Young Dr. Kildare (1938). Free-lancing after 1942, Lynne Carver appeared in a handful of westerns before retiring due to poor health in 1948.

Trivia: Brunette Canadian leading lady Ann Rutherford had the sort of button-cute baby face that allowed her to play ingénues into her thirties. The daughter of an opera tenor and a stage actress, Rutherford was performing on-stage from childhood. She was still a teenager when she made her first film appearances as leading lady to such Western heroes as John Wayne and Gene Autry. At MGM from 1937, Ms. Rutherford gained minor stardom as Polly Benedict in the studio's Andy Hardy series. She was allowed to display her perky comic gifts in a trio of 1940s mystery-comedies co-starring Red Skelton (Whistling in the Dark, Whistling in Dixie, Whistling in Brooklyn), and was quite appealing as Careen O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939). She closed out her film career in 1950 to devote more time to her private life; for many years, she was the wife of 20th Century Fox executive William Dozier. Ann Rutherford returned to the screen in 1972 to join several fellow MGM alumni in They Only Kill Their Masters, thereafter confining most of her professional activity to her annual appearances as Suzanne Pleshette's mother on TV's The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978).

Trivia: A former lawyer, Irish-born D'Arcy Corrigan came to films with a varied background that included a stint as private secretary for a member of Parliament and as a stock company leading man. In Hollywood from 1925, Corrigan played everything from barristers to opium addicts to cockneys to undertakers. Rarely onscreen for more than a minute or two, he usually made every second count. He is especially memorable as the morgue keeper in Bela Lugosi's Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), the blind man in John Ford's The Informer, and as the Spirit of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol (1938).

Trivia: A child prodigy from New Zealand, Ra Hould (born Richard Arthur Hould) began his long screen career as a sort of poor man's Freddie Bartholomew at Republic Pictures, for whom he starred in Dangerous Holiday (1937). He basically played himself, a ten-year-old violinist, and several commented on his likeness to MGM's Bartholemew, Variety opining: "Likeness may bring Hould attention for a time but will probably react against his chances in the end." When Bartholomew became entangled in a contract dispute with Metro, Hould replaced him in Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937), earning above-title billing along with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. The studio changed his name to Ronald Sinclair and under that moniker he went on to portray Edward IV as a boy in Universal's quasi-horror show Tower of London (1939) and Jasper King, the rich boy in Columbia's Five Little Peppers series (1939-1940). Adolescence, however, reared its ugly head and Hould/Sinclair eventually found a new career as a film editor. From 1954, he worked closely with maverick producer/director Roger Corman and low-budget director Bert I. Gordon, editing such camp classics as Swamp Woman (1955), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1958), and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965).

Trivia: Together with Arthur Treacher, Olaf Hytten and Wilson Benge, Charles Coleman was one of Hollywood's "perfect butlers." On stage, he was Pauline Frederick's leading man for many years. After touring the U.S. and Australia, he settled in Hollywood in 1923. Coleman was virtually always cast as a gentleman's gentleman, often with a streak of effeminacy; representative Charles Coleman assignments include Bachelor Apartment (1931), Diplomaniacs (1933), Three Smart Girls (1937) and Cluny Brown (1946). Charles Coleman is best remembered by film buffs for two classic lines of dialogue. Explaining why he falsely informed his master Charlie Ruggles that he was to dress for a costume ball in Love Me Tonight (1932), Coleman "I did so want to see you in tights!" And when asked by Deanna Durbin in First Love (1939) why butlers are always so dour, Coleman moans "Gay butlers are extremely rare."

Trivia: Having been born at Stratford-on-Avon, Halliwell Hobbes would have been remiss if he hadn't given acting a try. On stage from 1898, the imposing, sturdily built Hobbes appeared opposite such immortals as Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Ellen Terry. His first U.S. appearance was in the 1923 Broadway staging of Molnar's The Swan. He made the first of his over 150 films in 1929. Hobbes was most often seen as a diplomatic butler, in films ranging from Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) to the East Side Kids' Million Dollar Kid (1943) (in which he was billed as Holliwell Hobbs!). Other notable screen appearances in Halliwell Hobbes' resume include the role of General Carew in the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and as the "fugitive" iceman, Mr. DePinna, in You Can't Take It With You (1938).

Trivia: Effervescent little Billy Bevan commenced his stage career in his native Australia, after briefly attending the University of Sydney. A veteran of the famous Pollard Opera Company, Bevan came to the U.S. in 1917, where he found work as a supporting comic at L-KO studios. He was promoted to stardom in 1920 when he joined up with Mack Sennett's "fun factory." Adopting a bushy moustache and an air of quizzical determination, Bevan became one of Sennett's top stars, appearing opposite such stalwart laughmakers as Andy Clyde, Vernon Dent and Madelyn Hurlock in such belly-laugh bonanzas as Ice Cold Cocos (1925), Circus Today (1926) and Wandering Willies (1926). While many of Bevan's comedies are hampered by too-mechanical gags and awkward camera tricks, he was funny and endearing enough to earn laughs without the benefit of Sennett gimmickry. He was particularly effective in a series of "tired businessman" two-reelers, in which the laughs came from the situations and the characterizations rather than slapstick pure and simple. Bevan continued to work sporadically for Sennett into the talkie era, but was busier as a supporting actor in feature films like Cavalcade (1933), The Lost Patrol (1934) and Dracula's Daughter (1936). He was frequently cast in bit parts as London "bobbies," messenger boys and bartenders; one of his more rewarding talkie roles was the uncle of plumbing trainee Jennifer Jones (!) in Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown (1946). Among Billy Bevan's final screen assignments was the part of Will Scarlet in 1950's Rogues of Sherwood Forest.

Trivia: The daughter of actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, June Lockhart made her own acting bow at age 8. In 1938, the 12-year-old June appeared in her first film, A Christmas Carol (1938), in which her parents portrayed Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit. Few of her ingenue roles of the 1940s were memorable, though Lockhart did get to play the title character in The She-Wolf of London (1945) (never mind that she turned out not to be a she-wolf by fadeout time). In 1958, Lockhart took over from a recalcitrant Cloris Leachman in the role of rural wife and mother Ruth Martin on the long-running TV series Lassie. Though she professed to despise the role, Lockhart remained with the series until 1964, and over 20 years later satirically reprised the character on an episode of It's Garry Shandling's Show. She went on to play the young matriarch of the "space family Robinson" on the Irwin Allen TV endeavor Lost in Space (1965-68), and portrayed a lady doctor on the last two seasons of the bucolic sitcom Petticoat Junction. In deliberate contrast to her TV image, Lockhart enjoyed a bohemian, kick-up-your-heels offscreen existence. At one juncture, she was fired from her co-hosting chores at the Miss USA pageant when it was revealed that (gasp!) she was living with a man much younger than herself. June Lockhart is the mother of Anne Lockhart, a prolific TV actress in her own right.

Trivia: There's a bit of a cloud surrounding the origins of character actor Harry Cording. The 1970 biographical volume The Versatiles lists his birthplace as New York City, while the exhaustive encyclopedia Who Was Who in Hollywood states that Cording was born in England. Whatever the case, Cording made his mark from 1925 through 1955 in distinctly American roles, usually portraying sadistic western bad guys. A break from his domestic villainy occurred in the 1934 Universal horror film The Black Cat, in which a heavily-made-up Harry Cording played the foreboding, zombie-like servant to Satan-worshipping Boris Karloff.

Trivia: Diminuitive Irish actor Forrester Harvey was most often cast as cockney tradesmen, family gardeners and pub hangers-on. He entered films in 1922, but only with the advent of talking pictures were his talents exploited to full advantage. Part subservient, part pugnacious, Harvey became a fixture of Hollywood films set in England, Ireland or Scotland. His better-known film stints included Beamish in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) and Meredith the valet in Laurel and Hardy's A Chump at Oxford (1940). So ubiquitous was Forrester Harvey that he managed to appear in a film five years after his death! That film was Frank Capra's Riding High (1950), a remake of Broadway Bill (1934) which utilized extensive footage from the earlier film -- including virtually all of Harvey's scenes as a horse trainer.

Trivia: Despite his Irish background, no one could play the typical British gentleman, or gentleman's gentleman, better than Lumsden Hare. There was definitely something aristocratic about the erect, dignified 6'1" Hare, who played the Prince Regent in The House of Rothschild (1934) and the King of Sweden in Cardinal Richelieu (1935), not to mention countless military officers, doctors, and lawyers. A leading man in his younger days to Ethel Barrymore, Maude Adams, Nance O'Neil, and Maxine Elliott, Hare made his screen debut, as F. Lumsden Hare, in 1916 and continued to mix film with Broadway appearances through the 1920s. Relocating to Hollywood after the changeover to sound, Hare became one of the era's busiest, and finest, character actors, appearing in hundreds of film and television roles until his retirement in 1960.

Trivia: According to his official studio bio, Boyd Irwin appeared for 17 years on stages in both his native England and Australia. He embarked on a screen career in the latter country in 1915, as a leading man with J.C. Williamson Prod., Southern Cross Feature Film Co., and Haymarket Pictures Corp. In America from 1919, Irwin was relegated to character roles, often villainous in nature, and can be seen as Rochefort in Douglas Fairbanks' The Three Musketeers (1921). He also played the Duc de Guise in Norma Talmadge's Ashes of Vengeance (1923) and Levasseur in Vitagraph's Captain Blood (1924) before returning to Australia. Irwin was back in Hollywood after the changeover to sound, however, lending his ramrod-straight presence to playing scores of military officers, noblemen, and even hotel clerks in films ranging from Madam Satan (1930) to Forever Amber (1947).

Trivia: British stage actor William Stack made his first film appearance in 1918's The Girl From Downing Street. Stack then went back to the stage, steering clear of films until 1930. For the next 11 years, he popped up in minor roles as judges, doctors, generals, and priests. One of William Stack's more prestigious assignments during this period was Ruthven in John Ford's Mary of Scotland (1936).