Robert Coote

Robert Coote

Born: February 4, 1909
Died: November 26, 1982
in London, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.

Coote was born in London and educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex. He began his stage career at the age of 16, performing in Britain, South Africa, and Australia before arriving in Hollywood in the late 1930s. He played a succession of pompous British types in supporting roles, including a brief but memorable turn as Sgt. Bertie Higginbotham in Gunga Din (1939). His acting career was interrupted by his service as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He played Bob Trubshawe in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), chosen for the first-ever Royal Film Performance on 1 November 1946, before he returned to Hollywood, where his films included The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Forever Amber (1947), The Three Musketeers (1948), and Orson Welles' Othello (1952).

In 1956, Coote created the role of Colonel Pickering in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady (1956–62), which he reprised in the musical's 1976–77 Broadway revival. He also originated the role of King Pellinore in the Broadway production of Camelot (1960–63). He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as Timmy St. Clair in the NBC TV series The Rogues (1964–65). In 1966, Coote appeared with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in an episode of The Honeymooners entitled "The Honeymooners in England", broadcast on CBS-TV from Miami.

In his last feature film performance, Coote portrayed one of the critics dispatched by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood (1973).

His final role was on television, playing orchid nurse Theodore Horstmann in the 1981 NBC-TV series Nero Wolfe, starring William Conrad in the title role. In most film and TV adaptations of Nero Wolfe mysteries, before and since, Horstmann has been a very minor character, but Coote's Horstmann got considerable screen time in the series.

The veteran British character actor died in his sleep at the New York Athletic Club in November 1982, at the age of 73.

Coote was a close friend of actor David Niven, sharing a house with Niven for a time in the late 1930s and living in a flat over Niven's garage for several years after the Second World War.

Movies for Robert Coote...

Title: Nero Wolfe
Character: Theodore Horstmann
Released: January 16, 1981
Type: TV
Nero Wolfe is a television series based on the characters in Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired January 16 – August 25, 1981, on NBC. William Conrad fills the role of the detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Lee Horsley is his assistant Archie Goodwin. Produced by Paramount Television, the series updates the world of Nero Wolfe to contemporary New York City and draws few of its stories from the Stout originals.
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Title: Sweepstakes
Released: January 26, 1979
Type: TV
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Institute for Revenge
Title: Institute for Revenge
Character: Wellington
Released: January 22, 1979
Type: Movie
A sophisticated computer named IFR (the film's title is its nickname) supervises an organization dedicated to correcting wrongs against the defenseless and assigns human operatives to track down the evildoers and bring them to justice non-violently.
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Filming Othello
Title: Filming Othello
Released: July 10, 1978
Type: Movie
Filming Othello is a 1978 documentary film directed by and starring Orson Welles about the making of his award-winning 1952 production Othello. The film, which was produced for West German television, was the last completed feature film directed by Welles.
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Theatre of Blood
Title: Theatre of Blood
Character: Oliver Larding
Released: March 16, 1973
Type: Movie
A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
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Charley's Aunt
Title: Charley's Aunt
Character: Col. Sir Francis Chesney
Released: November 23, 1969
Type: Movie
Adaptation of the play by Brandon Thomas.
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Prudence and the Pill
Title: Prudence and the Pill
Character: Henry Hardcastle
Released: May 23, 1968
Type: Movie
Prudence Hardcastle is on the pill. So is her sister-in-law, but someone has been swapping aspirin for their pills. Is it the teenage niece, the maid, the chauffeur, a lover, Prudence's husband Gerald, or all of the above?
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Kenner
Title: Kenner
Released: January 1, 1968
Type: Movie
Roy Kenner arrives in Bombay hot on the heels of dope smuggler Tom Jordan, the man who murdered his partner. Combing the city for clues to Jordan's whereabouts, Kenner crosses paths with 9-year-old Saji. Saji soon helps save Kenner from the lethal drug dealers, and takes Kenner to his home. Love soon blossoms between Kenner and Anasuya, Saji's mother, and Saji comes to see him as a father. But Kenner's obsession with vengeance threatens to engulf this accidental family in tragedy.
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The Cool Ones
Title: The Cool Ones
Character: Stanley Krum
Released: April 12, 1967
Type: Movie
A young, millionaire rock promoter creates a new boy/girl team for his teen TV dance show. Will the ambitious go-go dancer and has-been pop star fall in love for real?
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Title: The Whitehall Worrier
Released: January 13, 1967
Type: TV
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The Swinger
Title: The Swinger
Character: Sir Hubert Charles
Released: November 13, 1966
Type: Movie
An authoress writes a steaming sex-novel and proceeds to live out her heroine's adventures.
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Alice Through the Looking Glass
Title: Alice Through the Looking Glass
Character: The Red King
Released: November 6, 1966
Type: Movie
Alice returns to Wonderland through the looking glass in this TV musical.
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A Man Could Get Killed
Title: A Man Could Get Killed
Character: Hatton / Jones
Released: March 25, 1966
Type: Movie
An American businessman visiting Lisbon gets mistaken for a British secret agent who stole some diamonds. As a result, he has everybody in Lisbon after him.
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Title: The Rogues
Character: Timmy St. Clair
Released: September 13, 1964
Type: TV
The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964, to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young as a related trio of former conmen who could, for the right price, be persuaded to trick a very wealthy and heinously unscrupulous mark. Although it won the 1964 Golden Globe award for Best Television Series, the show was cancelled after one season consisting of thirty episodes.
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The Golden Head
Title: The Golden Head
Released: August 22, 1964
Type: Movie
Stevenson, the famous English criminal expert visits Hungary with his family. While he is chairing a conference on criminology, infamous art treasure robbers steal the golden herm of Saint László. Suspicion is cast on the Stevenson children.
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The V.I.P.s
Title: The V.I.P.s
Character: John Coburn
Released: September 1, 1963
Type: Movie
Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.
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Title: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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The League of Gentlemen
Title: The League of Gentlemen
Character: Bunny Warren
Released: April 15, 1960
Type: Movie
Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and military discipline and planning are imposed by Hyde and second-in-command Race on the team, although civilian irritations do start getting in the way.
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Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
Title: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
Character: Baines
Released: January 3, 1960
Type: Movie
Saville is told by a palm reader he is doomed to become a murderer at some future time. He decides to get the inevitable out of the way before his upcoming society wedding, and goes about attempting the crime on several likely victims.
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Title: Rawhide
Released: January 9, 1959
Type: TV
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.
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The Horse's Mouth
Title: The Horse's Mouth
Character: Sir William Beeder
Released: November 11, 1958
Type: Movie
Gulley Jimson is a boorish aging artist recently released from prison. A swindler in search of his next art project, he hunkers down in the penthouse of would-be patrons the Beeders while they go on an extended vacation; he paints a mural on their wall, pawns their valuables and, along with the sculptor Abel, inadvertently smashes a large hole in their floor. Jimson's next project is an even larger wall in an abandoned church.
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Title: Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Character: Terry
Released: October 6, 1958
Type: TV
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.
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Merry Andrew
Title: Merry Andrew
Character: Dudley Larabee
Released: March 20, 1958
Type: Movie
When eccentric English teacher Andrew Larabee needs a raise in order for his fiancée to marry him, his interest in archaeology leads him to an ancient statue's burial site. But when he finds a traveling circus directly above the statue's location, he accidentally becomes part of the act. With a newfound passion for performance and an attraction to the beautiful acrobat Selena, Andrew must decide what is truly important to him.
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The Swan
Title: The Swan
Character: Capt. Wunderlich
Released: April 26, 1956
Type: Movie
Princess Beatrice's days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin when he pays a surprise visit to their palace. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he's bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate's dairy than Alexandra's rose garden. And then he starts playing football with the tutor and Alexandra's brothers. Invite the tutor to the ball that night and watch how gracefully Alexandra dances with him.
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The Constant Husband
Title: The Constant Husband
Character: The Best Man
Released: April 21, 1955
Type: Movie
Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his life back to his gorgeous wife and their large London house, so all seems well with the world. But more detective work starts to uncover an alarming chain of further stunning wives and a way of going on that the new Charles finds pretty unacceptable.
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The Prisoner of Zenda
Title: The Prisoner of Zenda
Character: Fritz von Tarlenheim
Released: November 4, 1952
Type: Movie
An Englishman vacationing in Ruritania is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
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The Merry Widow
Title: The Merry Widow
Character: Marquis De Crillon
Released: September 5, 1952
Type: Movie
Marshovia, a small European kingdom, is on the brink of bankruptcy but the country may be saved if the wealthy American Crystal Radek, widow of a Marshovian, can be convinced to part with her money and marry the king's nephew count Danilo. Arriving to Marshovia on a visit, Crystal Radek change places with her secretary Kitty. Following them to Paris, Danilo has a hard time wooing the widow after meeting an attractive young woman at a nightclub, the same Crystal Radek who presents herself as Fifi the chorus girl. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.
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Scaramouche
Title: Scaramouche
Character: Gaston Binet
Released: May 8, 1952
Type: Movie
In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
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Othello
Title: Othello
Character: Roderigo
Released: November 28, 1951
Type: Movie
When a secret marriage is planned between Othello, a Moorish general, and Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio, her old suitor Roderigo takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago, who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful.
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The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
Title: The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
Character: British Medical Officer
Released: October 16, 1951
Type: Movie
The life and career of Erwin Rommel and his involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler.
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Soldiers Three
Title: Soldiers Three
Character: Maj. Mercer
Released: April 1, 1951
Type: Movie
Kiplingesque tale of British forces in 19th-century India.
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The Elusive Pimpernel
Title: The Elusive Pimpernel
Character: Sir Andrew ffoulkes
Released: November 7, 1950
Type: Movie
A British aristocrat goes in disguise to France to rescue people from The Terror of the guillotine.
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Title: Lux Video Theatre
Character: Stephen
Released: October 2, 1950
Type: TV
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
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Title: Lux Video Theatre
Character: Joe Worton
Released: October 2, 1950
Type: TV
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
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Title: Lux Video Theatre
Character: Lawton
Released: October 2, 1950
Type: TV
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
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Title: Robert Montgomery Presents
Character: Sir Archibald Bruern
Released: January 30, 1950
Type: TV
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on.
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Title: Robert Montgomery Presents
Released: January 30, 1950
Type: TV
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on.
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The Red Danube
Title: The Red Danube
Character: Brigadier C.M.V. Catlock
Released: October 14, 1949
Type: Movie
A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.
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Title: Studio One
Character: Dr. Gordon
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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The Three Musketeers
Title: The Three Musketeers
Character: Aramis
Released: October 19, 1948
Type: Movie
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure about the king's musketeers and their mission to protect France.
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Berlin Express
Title: Berlin Express
Character: Sterling
Released: May 1, 1948
Type: Movie
In post-war Europe, a diverse group of passengers aboard a U.S. Army train to bombed-out Frankfurt becomes involved in a Nazi assassination plot.
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The Exile
Title: The Exile
Character: Dick Pinner
Released: October 17, 1947
Type: Movie
In 17th-century England, Charles II, the rightful heir to the kingdom, is driven from his country by militants working for rogue leader Oliver Cromwell. Charles ends up in the Netherlands, where he falls for local beauty Katie and spends his days happily in the quiet countryside. Unfortunately, Cromwell's associate Col. Ingram and his men track Charles down, and the would-be monarch must resort to swashbuckling his way to freedom.
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Forever Amber
Title: Forever Amber
Character: Sir Thomas Dudley
Released: October 10, 1947
Type: Movie
Amber St Clair, orphaned during the English Civil War and raised by a family of farmers, aspires to be a lady of high society; when a group of cavaliers ride into town, she sneaks away with them to London to achieve her dreams.
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Lured
Title: Lured
Character: Detective Wilson
Released: August 28, 1947
Type: Movie
Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached by Harley Temple, a police investigator who believes her friend has been murdered by a serial killer who uses personal ads to find his victims. Temple hatches a plan to catch the killer using Sandra as bait, and Sandra agrees to help.
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The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Title: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Character: Mr. Coombe
Released: May 25, 1947
Type: Movie
A young British widow rents a seaside cottage and soon becomes haunted by the ghost of its former owner.
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A Matter of Life and Death
Title: A Matter of Life and Death
Character: Bob Trubshawe
Released: December 15, 1946
Type: Movie
When a young RAF pilot miraculously survives bailing out of his aeroplane without a parachute, he falls in love with an American radio operator. But the officials in the other world realise their mistake and dispatch an angel to collect him.
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Cloak and Dagger
Title: Cloak and Dagger
Character: Cronin
Released: September 28, 1946
Type: Movie
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
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Forever and a Day
Title: Forever and a Day
Character: Blind Officer
Released: January 21, 1943
Type: Movie
In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, tries to dissuade him from selling by telling him the 140-year history of the place and the connections between the Trimble and Pomfret families.
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Commandos Strike at Dawn
Title: Commandos Strike at Dawn
Character: Robert Bowen
Released: December 30, 1942
Type: Movie
A gentle widower, enraged at Nazi atrocities against his peaceful Norwegian fishing village, escapes to Britain and returns leading a commando force against the oppressors.
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You Can't Fool Your Wife
Title: You Can't Fool Your Wife
Character: Battincourt
Released: May 21, 1940
Type: Movie
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.
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Vigil in the Night
Title: Vigil in the Night
Character: Dr. Caley
Released: February 5, 1940
Type: Movie
A good nurse ruins her career by covering up for her sister's careless mistake.
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Nurse Edith Cavell
Title: Nurse Edith Cavell
Character: Bungey
Released: August 31, 1939
Type: Movie
British nurse Edith Cavell is stationed at a hospital in Brussels during World War I. When the son of a former patient escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp, she helps him flee to Holland. Outraged at the number of soldiers detained in the camps, Edith, along with a group of sympathizers, devises a plan to help the prisoners escape. As the group works to free the soldiers, Edith must keep her activities secret from the Germans
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Bad Lands
Title: Bad Lands
Character: Eaton
Released: August 28, 1939
Type: Movie
A sheriff and his posse set out to catch a murderer, but their mission proves more dangerous than anyone suspected after they become stranded in the desert and attacked by Apaches.
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The House of Fear
Title: The House of Fear
Character: Robert Morton
Released: June 30, 1939
Type: Movie
A detective goes undercover as a producer to investigate an actor's murder, which occurred during the performance of a play...
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Gunga Din
Title: Gunga Din
Character: Bertie Higginbotham
Released: January 26, 1939
Type: Movie
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
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Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Title: Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Character: Rollo Venables
Released: January 20, 1939
Type: Movie
A Japanese man claiming to be Mr. Moto, of the International Police, is abducted and murdered soon after disembarking from a ship at Port Said in Egypt. The real Mr. Moto is already in Port Said, investigating a conspiracy against the British and French governments.
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The Girl Downstairs
Title: The Girl Downstairs
Character: Karl
Released: December 23, 1938
Type: Movie
A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falling in love with him.
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Blond Cheat
Title: Blond Cheat
Character: Gilbert Potts
Released: June 17, 1938
Type: Movie
Socially prominent Michael Ashburn, chief assistant for a London loan broker makes a large loan during a closing time to a man for a pair of earrings. He is unaware that the collateral can not be removed from the ears in which they reside, so then Julie becomes part of the collateral.
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A Yank at Oxford
Title: A Yank at Oxford
Character: Wavertree
Released: February 18, 1938
Type: Movie
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
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The Sheik Steps Out
Title: The Sheik Steps Out
Character: Lord Eustace Byington
Released: September 5, 1937
Type: Movie
In this comedy, a wealthy sheik kidnaps and falls for a snobby socialite.
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The Thirteenth Chair
Title: The Thirteenth Chair
Character: Stanby
Released: May 7, 1937
Type: Movie
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
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Rangle River
Title: Rangle River
Character: Reggie Mannister, Flight-Lieutenant
Released: December 19, 1936
Type: Movie
Marion Hastings returns to her father Dan's cattle property in western Queensland after being away in Europe for fifteen years. She is treated with hostility by her father's foreman, Dick Drake, and her father's neighbour, Don Lawton.
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Loyalties
Title: Loyalties
Character: Robert
Released: July 2, 1933
Type: Movie
A houseguest at an upper-class gathering, wealthy Jew Ferdinand de Levis, is robbed of £1,000 with evidence pointing towards the guilt of another guest, Captain Dancy. Instead of supporting De Levis, the host attempts to hush the matter up and when this fails, he sides with Dancy and subtly tries to destroy de Levis' reputation. When Dancy is later exposed, and commits suicide, de Levis is blamed for his demise.
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Sally in Our Alley
Title: Sally in Our Alley
Character: Waiter At Party
Released: July 9, 1931
Type: Movie
A woman believes her boyfriend died in the First World War, but he is now looking for her
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Title: Best Of Enemies
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: TV
A documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, 'What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?'