Edward Ellis

Edward Ellis

Born: November 11, 1870
Died: July 26, 1952
in Coldwater, Michigan, USA
Character actor in films, often portraying strident types, he is best remembered cast as "The Thin Man" (actually, "Wynant") of the hit 1934 MGM film. He Ellis was active on Broadway as an actor, producer and playwright from 1905-32 (see "Other Works"). He died in Beverly Hills, CA at age 81 in 1952.

Movies for Edward Ellis...

The Omaha Trail
Title: The Omaha Trail
Character: Mr. Vane
Released: September 1, 1942
Type: Movie
The coming of the railroad to the West triggers an Indian war.
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Steel Against the Sky
Title: Steel Against the Sky
Character: Pop Aloysisus Evans
Released: December 13, 1941
Type: Movie
Steel-worker brothers compete for the same woman.
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A Man Betrayed
Title: A Man Betrayed
Character: Boss Thomas 'Tom' Cameron
Released: March 7, 1941
Type: Movie
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee).
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Main Street Lawyer
Title: Main Street Lawyer
Character: Abraham Lincoln 'Link' Boggs
Released: November 2, 1939
Type: Movie
Story of a lawyer, gangster and a floozy.
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Three Sons
Title: Three Sons
Character: Daniel Pardway
Released: October 13, 1939
Type: Movie
A shop owner tries to interest his heirs in the family business.
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Career
Title: Career
Character: Stephen Cruthers
Released: July 7, 1939
Type: Movie
Set in a tiny midwestern town, this sentimental drama centers on the rivalry between two life-long acquaintances whose early friendship falls apart when they woo the same woman.
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Man of Conquest
Title: Man of Conquest
Character: Andrew Jackson
Released: May 15, 1939
Type: Movie
The story of Sam Houston, hero of the Texas revolution, statesman, and first president of the Republic of Texas.
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A Man to Remember
Title: A Man to Remember
Character: Dr. John Abbott
Released: October 14, 1938
Type: Movie
On the day of his funeral, a dedicated smalltown doctor is remembered by his neighbors and patients.
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Little Miss Broadway
Title: Little Miss Broadway
Character: Pop Shea
Released: July 29, 1938
Type: Movie
An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.
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Midnight Madonna
Title: Midnight Madonna
Character: Judge Clark
Released: July 1, 1937
Type: Movie
A habitual gambler comes to the aid of a desperate woman after her daughter inherits a fortune and is underhandedly taken by her estranged father.
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Let Them Live
Title: Let Them Live
Character: Pete Lindsey
Released: April 25, 1937
Type: Movie
A young man goes up against a crooked town boss.
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Maid of Salem
Title: Maid of Salem
Character: Elder Goode
Released: February 12, 1937
Type: Movie
When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves.
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Winterset
Title: Winterset
Character: Judge Gaunt
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 Texas Rangers
Title: The Texas Rangers
Character: Major Bailey
Released: August 28, 1936
Type: Movie
Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.
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Fury
Title: Fury
Character: Sheriff
Released: June 5, 1936
Type: Movie
Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.
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The Lady Consents
Title: The Lady Consents
Character: Jim Talbot
Released: February 7, 1936
Type: Movie
Civilized wife doesn't protest when husband runs off with uncivilized professional golfer pretending to be civilized.
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Chatterbox
Title: Chatterbox
Character: Uriah Lowell
Released: January 17, 1936
Type: Movie
Teenage orphan Jenny Yates becomes starstruck when a revival of an old Victorian melodrama passes through her small New England town, to the disapproval of her stern grandfather, Uriah. Stowing away in the car of Philip Greene, a wealthy young man working with the theater troupe, Jenny talks her way into the play's lead role. But director Archie Fisher doesn't tell her that the new version of the play is meant as a spoof.
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The Return Of Peter Grimm
Title: The Return Of Peter Grimm
Character: Dr. Andrew Macpherson
Released: September 13, 1935
Type: Movie
The ghost of a recently deceased family patriarch tries to help his surviving relatives, in part by preventing a marriage that he knows will go wrong.
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Wanderer of the Wasteland
Title: Wanderer of the Wasteland
Character: Dismukes
Released: September 9, 1935
Type: Movie
Adam Larey becomes a fugitive from justice when he escapes after being blamed for a crime he did not commit. He wanders into the desert wastelands and joins an outlaw gang who prey on gold prospectors. Years later, he meets his wife and her gold-prospecting father as they have come there seeking their fortune, and not knowing the danger of the treacherous desert wastes, the poisoned-water holes and the outlaw bands of marauders who roam the desert in search of the gold found by others. He comes to their aid and, eventually, manges to clear his name of the false charge against him.
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Village Tale
Title: Village Tale
Character: Old Ike
Released: June 15, 1935
Type: Movie
The insidious typical talk of a small town makes a young man and the married woman he is in love very unhappy.
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Transient Lady
Title: Transient Lady
Character: Nick Kiley
Released: March 4, 1935
Type: Movie
A senator's brother turns up murdered, and the senator tries to pin the blame on a man he knows is innocent.
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The President Vanishes
Title: The President Vanishes
Character: Lincoln Lee
Released: November 17, 1934
Type: Movie
The President Vanishes, released in the United Kingdom as Strange Conspiracy, is a 1934 American political drama film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Walter Wanger. Starring Edward Arnold and Arthur Byron, the film is an adaptation of Rex Stout's political novel of the same name.
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The Thin Man
Title: The Thin Man
Character: Clyde Wynant
Released: May 25, 1934
Type: Movie
A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
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The Last Gentleman
Title: The Last Gentleman
Character: Claude, Cabot's butler
Released: April 27, 1934
Type: Movie
In New England circa 1933, a niece is reported missing and presumed dead and Cabot Barr (George Arliss) summons his relatives to the family estate for a memorial service. Once there, Barr taunts each one, claiming their only interest in him is his money, and sends them away when the report about the niece proves to be false. Only niece Marjorie, who has ridiculed one of his pet eccentricities, seems to be the object of any sentimental affection.
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The Trumpet Blows
Title: The Trumpet Blows
Character: Chato
Released: April 14, 1934
Type: Movie
In Mexico, a former bandit settles down and picks out a beautiful young dancer to be his wife. His younger brother also comes home after having spent years in the U.S., and falls in love with his brother's intended fiancé. Rather than cause problems, the younger brother goes to Mexico City to become a matador. While there, he gets word that the police, who have been hunting his brother, have finally captured him.
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The 9th Guest
Title: The 9th Guest
Character: Tim Cronin
Released: January 31, 1934
Type: Movie
Eight people are invited by an unsigned telegram to a penthouse apartment, where they find themselves locked in and greeted by their unknown host's voice via the radio, who explains that before the night is over each one will be die unless they manage to outwit the ninth guest, Death.
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Hi, Nellie!
Title: Hi, Nellie!
Character: O'Connell
Released: January 20, 1934
Type: Movie
Managing Editor Brad Bradshaw refuses to run a story linking the disappearance of Frank Canfield with embezzlement of the bank. He considers Frank a straight shooter and he goes easy on the story. Every other paper goes with the story that Frank took the money and Brad is demoted, by the publisher, to the Heartthrob column - writing advice to the lovelorn. After feeling sorry for himself for two months, he takes the column seriously and makes it the talk of the town. But Brad still wants his old job back so he will have to find Canfield and the missing money.
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From Headquarters
Title: From Headquarters
Character: Dr. Van de Water
Released: November 16, 1933
Type: Movie
When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.
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After Tonight
Title: After Tonight
Character: Maj. Lieber
Released: November 10, 1933
Type: Movie
When war is declared in 1914, glamorous Russian Carla Vanirska manages to get to Vienna from Luxembourg, with the help of Captain Rudolph Ritter of the Austrian army. Meanwhile, Ritter is assigned to detect the identity of a spy.
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Strictly Personal
Title: Strictly Personal
Character: William "Soapy" Gibson
Released: March 17, 1933
Type: Movie
Soapy Gibson (Edward Ellis) and his wife Annie (Marjorie Rambeau) run a lonely hearts club in a small town. Even during the Depression years these were often "clip joints" - places where people with money but no mate got taken by someone offering the promise of companionship. However, Soapy and Annie are strictly on the level - and they have more than one reason to want to stay on the level. You see Soapy escaped from the law years ago, had some plastic surgery and changed his name, and has been living on the lam with his wife ever since.
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Girl Missing
Title: Girl Missing
Character: Detective Chief McDonald
Released: March 4, 1933
Type: Movie
Kay and June, two showgirls, are hurt when they seek financial help from Daisy. On Daisy's wedding night when she is rendered missing, Kay and June decide to look for her to claim the reward.
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I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Title: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Character: Bomber Wells
Released: November 9, 1932
Type: Movie
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
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The Frontier of the Stars
Title: The Frontier of the Stars
Released: January 30, 1921
Type: Movie
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Out Yonder
Title: Out Yonder
Character: Joey Clark
Released: December 21, 1919
Type: Movie
Flotsam (Thomas) is the daughter and helper of crusty old lighthouse keeper Joe Clark (Edward Ellis, in fine form). The reason why Clark lives 'out yonder' is because he's a fugitive from justice: years ago, he killed a man under complicated circumstances. Clark's official assistant is Amos Bart, but Flotsam does much of the work of maintaining the lighthouse.