Canadian actor Gene Lockhart is famous not only for his roles in 300 movies. He is known as a singer and playwright. For many popular songs, the artist wrote the lyrics.
Eugene (Eugene) Lockhart came to the stage at the age of six. His contribution to the development of the film and television industry in America is marked on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two named stars. The artist's career has been long. He not only performed, but also taught, composed plays for theater and radio, wrote articles for magazines and lyrics for songs.
Road to success
The biography of the future star began in 1891. The child was born on July 18 in the Canadian city of Kitchener. From an early age, the boy was distinguished by his performing talent. The six-year-old sang in the Kilties Band of Canada.
The boy studied in Canadian schools. Athletic Gene played on the Toronto Argonauts football team. He did not stop playing football later: the artist was happy to devote his free time to this sport. Then the family moved to England. Gene received his further education at the capital's Brompton Oratory school, where he studied oratory.
Actress Beatrice Lilly invited a fifteen-year-old teenager to play with her in sketches. The actor made his Broadway debut in 1916. He played in the musical "Girl of the Riviera". During this period, together with the popular Canadian composer Ernest Seitz, the actor wrote the ballad "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", which was part of Duke Ellington's repertoire. With good vocal skills, Gene performed in the operetta production of The Bat in San Francisco. In 1926 the actor created and directed a musical revue on Broadway.
For the first time, the actor starred in a movie in 1922. In the film "Gentle Smile" the performer played the Rector. The debut took place in a silent film. In sound, Lockhart starred in 1934. In the film "By Your Will" he got the role of playboy Skeets.
Very often directors offered the textured performer to play the villains. Lockhart's characters turned out to be no less charming than goodies. So, in the film "Algeria" he appeared before the audience in the form of a traitor Regis. The role earned Gene an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
As conceived by the creators, all adventure seekers flock to Algeria. In the old district of Kasbah, the main character, Pepe le Mocco, is hiding from the police. In this world, he is completely calm and afraid of persecution. However, he quickly gets bored with too bland life. He feels the excitement again after meeting with a young tourist Gaby. Only it is not known what their romance may result in.
New works
In 1938, Bob Cretchet, a co-star of the film "A Christmas Carol", became the hero of the artist, a completely positive supporting character.
He gets permission from his boss Scrooge, albeit with great difficulty, to celebrate Christmas with his family. The stubborn person himself must, by his own example, understand what it is like to see the world around him in its true light.
Sheriff Peter (Pinky) Hartwell visited the actor while working on the film "His Girlfriend Friday" in 1940, filmed in the genre of an eccentric comedy. In it, Lockhart starred with the famous Cary Grant.
The artist's new character is Mayor Lovell in Meet John Doe. The tycoon Norton, who bought the newspaper "Bulletin", decides to replace the entire staff of the newspaper. Stranded journalist Ann Mitchell goes to the extreme.
She publishes a letter she wrote on behalf of an unknown person who signed herself as John Doe. In it, he threatens suicide on Christmas night as a sign of the struggle with the situation in society. The article causes a huge resonance. The editor begs Anne to find the one who wants to play Doe and interview her. The girl stops her choice on the tramp Willoughby.
Diverse heroes
Gene played Samuel Bacon in The Western They Died in Their Posts, and became Prescott in Sea Wolf. In the semi-documentary project "Mission to Moscow" the actor reincarnated as Vyacheslav Molotov. The painting was created as a chronicle of the American Ambassador Davis's impressions of the Soviet Union.
In the new film "Strange Woman" Lockhart got one of the central characters, Isaiah Poster. Thanks to him, the main character of the picture gains position and money as the wife of one of the most influential people in the city. However, Jenny does not stop playing dangerous games.
The actor returned to the role of a movie villain while working on the historical drama Jeanne d'Arc. He played Georges Tremouille, the chief adviser to the Dauphin. In the American adaptation of Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" Lockhart got the role of the mayor. He tries with all his might to divert all suspicions of dishonesty from himself, coaxing the "inspector".
Outcomes
The fans will remember the character Starkeeper in the musical film "Carousel". The main character of the film, Billy, dies, not having time to see the birth of his daughter. But he gets a chance to return a day after years to tell her the most important thing.
The last in the actor's filmography was the film "Genie Eagles" in 1957. The actor played the role of Uncle Sid in the comedy "Ah, Wilderness" on Broadway, was Willie Lohman in "Death of a Salesman".
In his personal life, the artist was happy. A colleague, actress Kathleen Lockhart became his wife. The family has a child, daughter June. She subsequently chose stage creativity for herself. Also an actress and granddaughter of the performer Anne.
The artist not only played in cinema and theater. He taught stage technique and acting at the New York Juilliard School of Music.
The artist passed away in 1957, on the last day of March.
