Stanley Ridges

Stanley Ridges

Born: July 17, 1890
Died: April 22, 1951
in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanley Ridges (17 July 1890 – 22 April 1951) was a British-born actor who made his mark in films by playing a wide assortment of character parts.

Born 17 July 1890 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK, Stanley Ridges became a protégé of Beatrice Lillie, a star of musical stage comedies, and spent many years learning and honing his craft on the stage. Eventually making his way to America, Ridges began as a song-and-dance man on Broadway, but later turned to dramatic roles onstage, appearing in such plays as Maxwell Anderson's Mary of Scotland (as Lord Morton) and Valley Forge (as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench), becoming a romantic leading man.

Ridges' silent film debut was in Success (1923). With his excellent diction and rich speaking voice, he easily made the transition into sound films, with his career taking off at age 43, in Crime Without Passion (1934), with Claude Rains. Ridges found himself cast in character roles, as his greying hair put his romantic leading man days at an end. His most best known roles were probably two different characters in one film, one of them the kindly Professor Kingsley and the other the murderous Red Cannon in the thriller Black Friday (1940). The Jekyll and Hyde transformations gave Ridges a chance to display his acting ability.

Ridges was often cast in supporting roles in many classic films, and played the lead only once, in the B-picture False Faces (1943).

Among Ridges's other film roles were as the Scotland Yard inspector who is shadowing Charles Laughton in the film The Suspect (1944), as Major Buxton (Gary Cooper's commanding officer) in Sergeant York (1942), as Professor Siletsky in To Be or Not to Be (also 1942), and as Cary Travers Grayson, the official White House physician in Wilson (1944).

By 1950, he had just begun appearing in television anthologies such as Studio One and Philco Television Playhouse. His last feature film, the Ginger Rogers comedy The Groom Wore Spurs, in which he played a mobster, was released a month before he died.

Stanley Ridges died 22 April 1951, in Westbrook, Connecticut, aged 60.

Movies for Stanley Ridges...

The Groom Wore Spurs
Title: The Groom Wore Spurs
Character: Harry Kallen
Released: March 13, 1951
Type: Movie
Pretty female attorney Abigail "AJ" Furnival is hired to keep high-flying cowboy movie star Ben Castle out of trouble in Las Vegas. Despite his many faults, Abigail falls in love with and marries Ben, with the hope that she can mold him into the virtuous hero he plays on the screen.
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No Way Out
Title: No Way Out
Character: Dr. Sam Moreland
Released: August 16, 1950
Type: Movie
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
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The Man Who Had Influence
Title: The Man Who Had Influence
Character: J. C. Grant
Released: May 29, 1950
Type: Movie
Business mogul's son David Grant uses his father's power to extricate himself from problems - until implication in a woman's death tests David's willingness to avoid responsibility.
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Paid in Full
Title: Paid in Full
Character: Dr. P.J. 'Phil' Winston
Released: February 15, 1950
Type: Movie
Two sisters fall in love with the same man. After the wedding, the new husband realizes he may have married the wrong sister.
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The File on Thelma Jordon
Title: The File on Thelma Jordon
Character: Kingsley Willis
Released: November 4, 1949
Type: Movie
Cleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.
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Task Force
Title: Task Force
Character: Sen. Bentley
Released: August 30, 1949
Type: Movie
After learning the finer points of carrier aviation in the 1920s, career officer Jonathan Scott and his pals spend the next two decades promoting the superiority of naval air power. But military and political "red tape" continually frustrate their efforts, prompting Scott to even consider leaving the Navy for a more lucrative civilian job. Then the world enters a second World War and Scott finally gets the opportunity to prove to Washington the valuable role aircraft carriers could play in winning the conflict. But what will it cost him and his comrades personally?
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You're My Everything
Title: You're My Everything
Character: Mr. Henry Mercer
Released: July 22, 1949
Type: Movie
In 1924, stage-struck Boston blueblood Hannah Adams picks up musical star Tim O'Connor and takes him home for dinner. One thing leads to another, and when Tim's show rolls on to Chicago a new Mrs. O'Connor comes along as incompetent chorus girl. Hollywood beckons, and we follow the star careers of the O'Connor family in silents and talkies.
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Streets of Laredo
Title: Streets of Laredo
Character: Major Bailey
Released: May 27, 1949
Type: Movie
Texas, 1878: cheerful outlaw-buddies Jim, Lorn and Wahoo rescue spunky orphan Rannie Carter from rustling racketeers, then are forced to separate. Lorn goes on to bigger and better robberies, while Jim and Wahoo are (at first reluctantly) maneuvered into joining the Texas Rangers. For friendship's sake, the three try to keep out of direct conflict, but a showdown begins to look inevitable. And Rannie, now grown into lovely young womanhood, must choose between Lorn and Jim
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An Act of Murder
Title: An Act of Murder
Character: Doctor Walter Morrison
Released: December 5, 1948
Type: Movie
A man kills his terminally ill wife to prevent her further suffering.
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Title: Studio One
Character: Police Chief Scott Anderson
Released: November 7, 1948
Type: TV
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
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Possessed
Title: Possessed
Character: Dr. Willard
Released: May 29, 1947
Type: Movie
After being found wandering the streets of Los Angeles, a severely catatonic woman tells a doctor the complex story of how she wound up there.
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Mr. Ace
Title: Mr. Ace
Character: Toomey
Released: August 2, 1946
Type: Movie
A rich society woman uses a gangster to win a congressional election.
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Canyon Passage
Title: Canyon Passage
Character: Jonas Overmire
Released: July 17, 1946
Type: Movie
In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.
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Because of Him
Title: Because of Him
Character: Charles Gilbert
Released: January 18, 1946
Type: Movie
A young woman who wants to break into the theater schemes to become the protege of a famous Broadway star.
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Captain Eddie
Title: Captain Eddie
Character: Col. Hans Adamson
Released: June 18, 1945
Type: Movie
WWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver and pilot in WWI, to an important person in the early years of civil airline service, after his plane crashed in the South Pacific in late 1942.
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The Phantom Speaks
Title: The Phantom Speaks
Character: Dr. Paul Renwick
Released: April 13, 1945
Type: Movie
The spirit of an executed murderer enters the body of a physician, and forces him to do its bidding--namely, murder.
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God Is My Co-Pilot
Title: God Is My Co-Pilot
Character: Col. Merian 'Steve' Cooper
Released: April 7, 1945
Type: Movie
Robert L. Scott has dreamed his whole life of being a fighter pilot, but when war comes he finds himself flying transport planes over The Hump into China. In China, he persuades General Chennault to let him fly with the famed Flying Tigers, the heroic band of airmen who'd been fighting the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe.
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The Suspect
Title: The Suspect
Character: Inspector Huxley
Released: January 31, 1945
Type: Movie
Genial shopkeeper Philip has to endure the constant nagging of a shrewish wife while he secretly yearns for a pretty young stenographer. When the henpecking gets to be too much, Philip murders his wife and manages to make her death look like an accident. A ruthless blackmailer and a low-key detective both discover Philip's secret, and he has to decide which of them poses the more dangerous threat.
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The Master Race
Title: The Master Race
Character: Phil Carson
Released: September 22, 1944
Type: Movie
When allied troops liberate a small battle-scarred Belgium town in 1944 the American and British commanders do all they can to help the war-weary people back on their feet. There are mental and physical wounds to heal, fields to plough, the church to rebuild. But a top Nazi, knowing the War is lost, has infiltrated the town and is fostering dissent and disunity.
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Wilson
Title: Wilson
Character: Dr. Cary Grayson
Released: August 1, 1944
Type: Movie
The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post at Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey, and his subsequent ascent to the Presidency of the United States. During his terms in office, Wilson must deal with the death of his first wife, the onslaught of German hostilities leading to American involvement in the Great War, and his own country's reticence to join the League of Nations.
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The Story of Dr. Wassell
Title: The Story of Dr. Wassell
Character: Cmdr. William B. 'Bill' Goggins
Released: July 4, 1944
Type: Movie
As the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so wounded sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia.
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The Voice That Thrilled the World
Title: The Voice That Thrilled the World
Character: Self (segment 'Sergeant York') (archive footage)
Released: October 16, 1943
Type: Movie
This short traces the history of sound in the movies, beginning with French scientist Leon Scott's experiments in 1857. Featured are snippets from early sound pictures.
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This Is the Army
Title: This Is the Army
Character: John Davidson
Released: August 14, 1943
Type: Movie
In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank. Wounded in the War, he becomes a producer. In WW II his son Johnny Jones, who was before his fathers assistant, gets the order to stage a knew all-soldier show, called THIS IS THE ARMY. But in his pesonal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over.
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False Faces
Title: False Faces
Character: District Attorney Stanley S. Harding
Released: May 28, 1943
Type: Movie
A district attorney sets out to vindicate his son who's been accused of murdering a nightclub singer.
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Air Force
Title: Air Force
Character: Maj. Mallory - Clark Field
Released: March 20, 1943
Type: Movie
The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.
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Tarzan Triumphs
Title: Tarzan Triumphs
Character: Colonel Von Reichart
Released: January 20, 1943
Type: Movie
Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the jungle with plans to conquer her people and take their wealth. Tarzan, the isolationist, becomes involved after the Nazis shoot at him and capture Boy: "Now Tarzan make war!"
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Eyes in the Night
Title: Eyes in the Night
Character: Hansen
Released: October 16, 1942
Type: Movie
Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.
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Eagle Squadron
Title: Eagle Squadron
Character: Air Minister
Released: June 16, 1942
Type: Movie
An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.
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The Big Shot
Title: The Big Shot
Character: Martin T. Fleming, Attorney
Released: June 13, 1942
Type: Movie
Duke Berne, former big shot but now a three-time loser, fears returning to crime because a fourth conviction will mean a life sentence. Finally, haunted by his past and goaded by his cohorts, he joins in planning an armoured car robbery.
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To Be or Not to Be
Title: To Be or Not to Be
Character: Professor Alexander Siletsky
Released: March 5, 1942
Type: Movie
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
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The Lady Is Willing
Title: The Lady Is Willing
Character: Kenneth Hanline
Released: February 12, 1942
Type: Movie
Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Elizabeth Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a baby she picked up on the street. She wants to keep the baby but has to find a husband to make adoption viable. She offers her new obstetrician Dr. McBain help with his research on rabbits in exchange for marriage - and he accepts. The marriage of convenience turns into a marriage of real love until Dr. McBain's ex-wife comes looking for money.
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They Died with Their Boots On
Title: They Died with Their Boots On
Character: Maj. Romulus Taipe
Released: November 20, 1941
Type: Movie
The story follows General George Armstrong Custer's adventures from his West Point days to his death. He defies orders during the Civil War, trains the 7th Cavalry, appeases Chief Crazy Horse and later engages in bloody battle with the Sioux nation.
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Sergeant York
Title: Sergeant York
Character: Major Buxton
Released: September 27, 1941
Type: Movie
Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.
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Mr. District Attorney
Title: Mr. District Attorney
Character: District Attorney Tom F. Winton
Released: March 27, 1941
Type: Movie
An assistant prosecutor and his spunky friend investigate a suddenly hot case.
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The Sea Wolf
Title: The Sea Wolf
Character: Johnson
Released: March 21, 1941
Type: Movie
Shipwrecked fugitives try to escape a brutal sea captain who's losing his mind.
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Black Friday
Title: Black Friday
Character: Prof. George Kingsley / Red Cannon
Released: February 29, 1940
Type: Movie
University professor George Kingsley is struck by gangsters while crossing the street, leaving him with brain damage and one of the gangsters, Cannon, paralyzed. Kingsley's friend Dr. Sovac attends to both men, and when Cannon offers him a reward for aiding his recovery, Kovac transplants part of Cannon's brain into the dying Kingsley's skull, creating a dual personality.
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Nick Carter, Master Detective
Title: Nick Carter, Master Detective
Character: Doctor Frankton (as Stanley C. Ridges)
Released: December 13, 1939
Type: Movie
Detective Nick Carter is brought in to foil spies at the Radex Airplane Factory, where a new fighter plane is under manufacture.
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Espionage Agent
Title: Espionage Agent
Character: Hamilton Peyton
Released: September 30, 1939
Type: Movie
When Barry Corvall discovers that his new bride is a possible enemy agent, he resigns from the diplomatic service to go undercover to route out an espionage ring planning to destroy American industrial capability.
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Dust Be My Destiny
Title: Dust Be My Destiny
Character: Charles 'Charlie' Garreth
Released: September 16, 1939
Type: Movie
Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, leading to the older man's death due to a weak heart. Joe and Mabel go on the run as he thinks no-one would believe a nobody like him.
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Each Dawn I Die
Title: Each Dawn I Die
Character: Mueller
Released: August 19, 1939
Type: Movie
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
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I Stole a Million
Title: I Stole a Million
Character: Downs (uncredited)
Released: August 1, 1939
Type: Movie
A cabbie and petty thief dreams of the big heist that will end his thieving ways.
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Union Pacific
Title: Union Pacific
Character: Gen. Casement
Released: May 5, 1939
Type: Movie
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
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Silver on the Sage
Title: Silver on the Sage
Character: Earl Brennan / Dave Talbot
Released: March 31, 1939
Type: Movie
Hoppy goes undercover as a gambler from the East when Bar 20 cattle are stolen by unknown rustlers. Brennan/Talbot are twin brothers (one a casino owner, the other a rancher) and Hoppy believes they provide alibis for each other while one is out committing crimes. Hoppy gets a job in the casino to learn more but is exposed when a gambling gunslinger notices him.
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Let Us Live
Title: Let Us Live
Character: District Attorney
Released: March 29, 1939
Type: Movie
When a confused eyewitness identifies New York City cabbie Brick Tennant as a killer, he is sentenced to death for a murder that he wasn't involved in. Though no one is willing to listen to the innocent prisoner's pleas for freedom, Brick's faithful fiancée, Mary, knows that her lover is innocent because she was with him when the crime was committed. As the scheduled execution draws ever nearer, Mary begins to investigate the murder herself.
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There's That Woman Again
Title: There's That Woman Again
Character: Tony Croy
Released: December 24, 1938
Type: Movie
Bill Reardon, a private detective, is working on a case involving stolen items from a local jewelry store. The case takes a different turn when Bill's prying wife wants to help catch the crook.
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The Mad Miss Manton
Title: The Mad Miss Manton
Character: Edward Norris
Released: October 21, 1938
Type: Movie
When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves them wrong.
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If I Were King
Title: If I Were King
Character: Rene de Montigny
Released: September 28, 1938
Type: Movie
King Louis XI masquerades as a commoner in Paris, seeking out the treachery he is sure lurks in his kingdom. At a local tavern, he overhears the brash poet François Villon extolling why he would be a better king. Annoyed yet intrigued, the King bestows on Villon the title of Grand Constable. Soon Villon begins work and falls for a lovely lady-in-waiting, but then must flee execution when the King turns on him.
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They're Always Caught
Title: They're Always Caught
Character: Dr. John Pritchard
Released: July 3, 1938
Type: Movie
This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short shows the role the crime laboratory plays in the solving of cases, and how even the smallest detail can become a major clue.
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Yellow Jack
Title: Yellow Jack
Character: Dr. James Carroll
Released: May 19, 1938
Type: Movie
A fairly accurate historical account of Walter Reed's search for the cause of "Yellow Jack" or Yellow Fever and those who risked their lives in the pursuit.
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Internes Can't Take Money
Title: Internes Can't Take Money
Character: Dan Innes
Released: April 16, 1937
Type: Movie
Dr. Kildare treats and falls for impoverished ex-con Janet Healy, widow of a bank robber, who can't find her baby. Later she helps Kildare sew up gangster Hanlon in a tavern back room. Kildare pursues Janet and enlists Hanlon to help her; the gangster's solution, not surprisingly, is violent.
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Sinner Take All
Title: Sinner Take All
Character: MacKelvey
Released: December 18, 1936
Type: Movie
A young lawyer is determined to identify who is murdering members of a wealthy New York publishing family.
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Winterset
Title: Winterset
Character: Shadow
Released: December 3, 1936
Type: Movie
A man is determined to find the real culprit behind the crime for which his father was wrongly executed.
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The Scoundrel
Title: The Scoundrel
Character: Paul Decker
Released: April 30, 1935
Type: Movie
A ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.
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Crime Without Passion
Title: Crime Without Passion
Character: Eddie White
Released: August 30, 1934
Type: Movie
Caddish lawyer Lee Gentry is going out with Katy Costello, but carrying on an affair with dancer Carmen Brown. When he wants to end the dalliance with Carmen, she is so distraught that she becomes suicidal. Seizing the gun from Carmen, he accidentally shoots her, and thinking she's dead, concocts a series of increasingly outlandish alibis to cover his tracks under the guidance of a ghostly apparition that is his alter ego.
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For Two Cents
Title: For Two Cents
Released: October 24, 1930
Type: Movie
DeWolf Hopper thinks he is on the verge of death and a couple of newspapers are bidding for the story rights. One of the newspapers is willing to pay a big sum if Hopper will kick off in time for its last edition of the day. Hopper plays the whole role in bed.
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The Poor Fish
Title: The Poor Fish
Character: George
Released: June 7, 1930
Type: Movie
Harry comes home unexpectedly and overhears his wife calling another man 'sweetheart' on the telephone. It turns out that both men are avid fishermen. They leave, so Daisy calls Mr. Gill at the Aquarium and asks if he likes fish. He doesn't, so she invites him over.
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Success
Title: Success
Character: Gilbert Gordon
Released: February 25, 1923
Type: Movie
The often-told film story of a drunken actor hitting the skids, making a comeback, and helping his grown daughter in the bargain.