Donald Cook

Donald Cook

Born: September 26, 1901
Died: October 1, 1961
in Portland, Oregon
Donald Cook (September 26, 1901 – October 1, 1961) was an American stage and film actor.

Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work. He started screen work in "shorts" before going on to films.

Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery. He played opposite Helen Morgan in the 1936 film adaptation of Show Boat was one of the suspects in the Philo Vance mystery The Casino Murder Case, starred as an heroic immigration inspector in Ellis Island. Other film credits include The Man Who Played God, Our Very Own and The Penguin Pool Murder (1932).

Cook made his Broadway debut in 1926 as Donn Cook, and his New York theatrical career continued until 1959. His credits included a 1948 revival of Private Lives.

Cook was married to Princess Gioia Tasca di Cuto from 1937 until his death from a heart attack in New Haven.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Donald Cook, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Donald Cook...

The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas
Title: The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas
Character: Hunchback of Notre Dame
Released: December 17, 1996
Type: Movie
The made for television movie Munster's Scary Little Christmas, created three decades after the demise of the original series, concerns son Eddie missing his home in Transylvania. Soon the entire family bands together to teach the young boy everything great about the holiday season.
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Title: Too Young to Go Steady
Character: Tom Blake
Released: May 14, 1959
Type: TV
Too Young to Go Steady was a live primetime sitcom that aired on NBC in 1959. It centered on the romantic awakening of Pamela Blake, a pretty 15-year-old girl struggling to make the transition from tomboy to young lady.
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Title: ABC Album
Released: April 12, 1953
Type: TV
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Title: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character: Cassidy
Released: October 5, 1951
Type: TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
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Title: Lux Video Theatre
Character: Roger
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: Bruce Wallace
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: Tad Bryson
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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Our Very Own
Title: Our Very Own
Character: Fred Macaulay
Released: July 27, 1950
Type: Movie
During a heated argument with her sister Joan, Gail discovers the shocking news that she is adopted. With the reluctant support of her adoptive parents and baby sister Penny, Gail goes in search of her biological mother and true identity.
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Title: The Philco Television Playhouse
Released: October 3, 1948
Type: TV
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
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Patrick the Great
Title: Patrick the Great
Character: Pat Donahue Sr.
Released: May 4, 1945
Type: Movie
A famous stage actor hopes to land the lead role in a big new Broadway musical, but he's unaware his teenage son has already been given the part.
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Blonde Ransom
Title: Blonde Ransom
Character: Duke Randall
Released: May 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Vicki Morrison is the niece of the irascible old scoundrel Uncle William Morrison. When Vicki's boyfriend and owner of a Broadway nightclub Duke Randall needs $63,000 in a hurry, Vicki fakes her own kidnapping to raise the ransom money from her uncle. Things get sticky when the phony abduction turns real.
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Here Come the Co-eds
Title: Here Come the Co-eds
Character: Dean Larry Benson
Released: February 2, 1945
Type: Movie
Molly, her brother, Slats, and his pal, Oliver, are taxi dancers at the Miramar Ballroom. As a publicity stunt, Slats plants an article about Molly claiming her ambition is to earn enough money to attend staid, all-girl Bixby College. Bixby's progressive dean offers Molly a scholarship. Molly accepts on the condition that Slats and Oliver come along too as campus caretakers. But the pompous Chairman threatens to foreclose on the school's mortgage if Molly isn't expelled. Together, the trio, with the help of some new friends, concocts a scheme to raise enough money to save the school. The plan involves a bet on the Bixby basketball team, which is playing in a game rated at 20 to 1 by the local bookie. But the bookie has other plans for their dough and hires a group of ringers to step in for the opponents. All is not lost, at least while Oliver has the chance to turn things around for his friends-one way or another.
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Bowery to Broadway
Title: Bowery to Broadway
Character: Dennis Dugan
Released: November 3, 1944
Type: Movie
Two Bowery vaudevillians find success in producing shows on Broadway, but when one of them suddenly departs to work for a beautiful woman, a feud erupts.
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Murder in the Blue Room
Title: Murder in the Blue Room
Character: Steve
Released: October 27, 1944
Type: Movie
A young woman, a trio of singers, and a mystery writer are among the guests at a house long-considered to be haunted.
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Freedom Comes High
Title: Freedom Comes High
Released: January 1, 1943
Type: Movie
A young wife learns that freedom must sometimes be paid for in lives, when her husband's ship is struck during battle.
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Circus Girl
Title: Circus Girl
Character: Charles Jerome
Released: March 1, 1937
Type: Movie
A jealous trapeze star decides he must eliminate his romantic rival.
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Two Wise Maids
Title: Two Wise Maids
Character: Bruce Arnold
Released: February 15, 1937
Type: Movie
The two leading ladies are cast as Prudence and Agatha, a pair of old-fashioned schoolteachers in an old-fashioned small town. Disdaining the wimpy theories of "progressive" education, Prudence and Agatha stick to the reliable "Three R's," often teaching to the tune of a hickory stick. Though ridiculed for their so-called outmoded methods, the heroines manage to turn out quite a few prize students, earning the undying gratitude of the local citizenry.
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Beware Of Ladies
Title: Beware Of Ladies
Character: George Martin
Released: December 21, 1936
Type: Movie
An unhappily married newspaper reporter discovers she's being used as a pawn in a scheme to discredit the political candidate she's been assigned to write about.
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Can This Be Dixie?
Title: Can This Be Dixie?
Character: Longstreet Butler
Released: November 13, 1936
Type: Movie
A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old plantation.
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Ellis Island
Title: Ellis Island
Character: Gary Curtis
Released: November 4, 1936
Type: Movie
It opens in 1926 when three bank robbers, Theodore Kedrich, Jan Imarski, and Petra Lonelli, stage a daring daylight bank robbery and get away with a million dollars in cash. They are soon apprehended and sent to prison for ten years but the money is not recovered. Flash forward to 1936 when all three men have been released from prison and are about to be deported back to where they came from via the Deportation department at Ellis Island. They arrive by the ferry boat and already on hand to bid them adieu, and possibly learn where they stashed the missing money, is gang leader Dude and his three henchmen, Nails, Moxie and Bugs, and also Kendrich's niece Betty Parker there to bid old Uncle Ted a fond goodbye. Also on Ellis Island is a crook called Solo, who has an upper hand as he has stolen the credentials of a Treasury Agent named Peter James and has access to the prisoners, and has cut a deal with Kendrichs to get him off of Ellis Island.
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Show Boat
Title: Show Boat
Character: Steve Baker
Released: May 17, 1936
Type: Movie
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
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The Girl from Mandalay
Title: The Girl from Mandalay
Character: Kenneth Grainger
Released: April 19, 1936
Type: Movie
John Foster and Kenneth Grainger are a couple of Englishmen stationed at a teak wood post. When Foster's fiancée, Mary Trevor, writes him that their engagement is off, he goes off to Mandalay.
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Ring Around the Moon
Title: Ring Around the Moon
Character: Ross Graham
Released: February 15, 1936
Type: Movie
Despite being in love with coworker Kay Duncan, high-flying newspaperman Ross Graham winds up engaged to socialite Gloria Endicott, a woman he doesn't love. Turmoil ensues for Ross as he tries to make his marriage work.
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The Leavenworth Case
Title: The Leavenworth Case
Character: Dr. Truman Harwell
Released: January 20, 1936
Type: Movie
Director Lewis D. Collins' 1936 whodunit is about the investigation into the death of an elderly tycoon, who is murdered shortly after announcing he plans to change his will and give away his fortune.
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Ladies Love Danger
Title: Ladies Love Danger
Released: December 12, 1935
Type: Movie
Fox comedy about an adventurous young woman
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The Calling of Dan Matthews
Title: The Calling of Dan Matthews
Character: Frank Blair
Released: December 10, 1935
Type: Movie
Dan Matthews (Richard Arlen), a young parson, is in love with Hope Strong (Charlotte Wynters), the daughter of James B. Strong ('FRederick Burton'), a man who controls the town with his real estate and business interests. Strong is an upstanding citizen who has fallen into the hands of a clever racketeer, Jeff Hardy (Douglass Dumbrille), who acts as Strong's manager of some innocent-appearing amusement places that are really secret dens of vice.
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Confidential
Title: Confidential
Character: FBI Agent Dave Elliott
Released: October 16, 1935
Type: Movie
A Treasury agent gains the trust of a mob gunman while working under cover to smash a crime syndicate.
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The Spanish Cape Mystery
Title: The Spanish Cape Mystery
Character: Ellery Queen
Released: October 9, 1935
Type: Movie
Ellery Queen's vacation is interrupted when murder strikes next door to his oceanside cabin.
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Here Comes the Band
Title: Here Comes the Band
Character: Don Trevor
Released: August 30, 1935
Type: Movie
In this musical, a songwriter goes to court to claim the rights to his song that was stolen by an unscrupulous music publisher. He brings his girlfriend with him. Also going to court are the Jubilee singers, hillbillies, and some cowboys and Indians who demonstrate that the composer wrote his song by rearranging four folk tunes. He wins his song back and $50,000 in damages. Songs include: "Heading Home," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," "Tender Is the Night," "You're My Thrill," "I'm Bound for Heaven," and "The Army Band."
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Murder in the Fleet
Title: Murder in the Fleet
Character: Lieutenant Commander David Tucker
Released: May 24, 1935
Type: Movie
A traitor is lurking somewhere aboard the USS Carolina, and Lt. Tom Randolph is determined to find the offender. First a revolutionary new piece of technology -- an electric firing device -- is sabotaged. Then one of the cruiser's crew is murdered. In order to catch the killer, the captain locks down the ship. With foreign dignitaries, corporate goons and even Tom's girlfriend, Betty, trapped on the vessel, there is no shortage of suspects.
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Motive for Revenge
Title: Motive for Revenge
Character: Barry Webster
Released: May 15, 1935
Type: Movie
Bank teller Barry Webster is driven to stealing bank funds by his mother-in-law who continually nags him about forcing her daughter Muriel to live in poverty...
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The Casino Murder Case
Title: The Casino Murder Case
Character: Lynn
Released: March 15, 1935
Type: Movie
When Philo Vance receives a note that harm will befall Lynn at the casino that night, he takes the threat seriously while the DA dismisses it. At the casino owned by Uncle Kinkaid, Lynn is indeed poisoned under the watchful eye of Philo. However, he recovers, but the same cannot be said for Lynn's wife Virginia, who is at the family home. Only a family member could have poisoned Lynn and Virginia and everyone has their dark motives. Philo will follow the clues and find the perpetrator.
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Gigolette
Title: Gigolette
Character: Gregg Emerson
Released: February 15, 1935
Type: Movie
Kay Parrish, a society girl, finds she is penniless when her father dies. However she persuades Terry Gallagher to give her a hostess job at his New York City clip-joint, which he operates on the theory that if the suckers want it he'll give it to them, albeit he does apply some principles regarding the matter. A Broadway playboy, Greg Emerson, falls in love with Kay and proposes but his high-society parents object strongly. Terry. although he also has fallen in love with Kay and doesn't realize she feels the same about him, sets out to provide a happy ending for the couple.
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The Night Is Young
Title: The Night Is Young
Character: Toni Berngruber
Released: January 11, 1935
Type: Movie
Young Austrian Archduke Paul "Gustl" Gustave is in an arranged engagement but his uncle, the emperor, decides to let Gustl carry on a fling with ballet dancer Lisl Gluck.
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Behind the Evidence
Title: Behind the Evidence
Character: Ward Cameron
Released: January 8, 1935
Type: Movie
Norman Foster plays a millionaire who takes a job as a reporter after he's wiped out in the Stock Market. Foster's managing editor Samuel S. Hinds considers the young upstart to be a pain in the neck. But all is forgiven-at least until next time-when Foster solves a series of puzzling robberies..
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Fugitive Lady
Title: Fugitive Lady
Character: Jack Howard
Released: December 10, 1934
Type: Movie
In this thriller, a young woman marries a dashing young man who, unbeknownst to her, is a jewel thief.
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Jealousy
Title: Jealousy
Character: Mark Lambert
Released: November 23, 1934
Type: Movie
Larry O'Roark is a boxer who's insanely posssesive and jealous of his fiancee, Jo. the sight of her and her employer, Mr. Lambert, at ringside during his big fight distracts Larry and he is knocked out. He then promises never to be jealous again and marries Jo. When she realizes that they're broke she asks Lambert for a job (she had quit on marrying Larry.) One thing leads to another and Larry, enraged with jealousy, end up killing Lambert. He then wanders off in a daze, and Jo takes the rap for the murder. Larry descends from his amnesiac fog just in time to interrupt the announcement of the jury's verdict in Jo's trial. then it's off to the chair for Larry. Or is it?
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Most Precious Thing in Life
Title: Most Precious Thing in Life
Character: Bob Kelsey
Released: June 15, 1934
Type: Movie
An unwed mother watches as her illegitimate son is raised by others. Director Lambert Hillyer's 1934 drama stars Jean Arthur, Richard Cromwell, Donald Cook, Anita Louise, Jane Darwell, Mary Forbes and Ward Bond.
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Viva Villa!
Title: Viva Villa!
Character: Don Felipe de Castillo
Released: April 27, 1934
Type: Movie
In this fictionalized biography, young Pancho Villa takes to the hills after killing an overseer in revenge for his father's death.
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Whirlpool
Title: Whirlpool
Character: Bob Andrews
Released: April 10, 1934
Type: Movie
An ex-convict tries to connect with the daughter who doesn't even know he exists.
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The 9th Guest
Title: The 9th Guest
Character: Jim Daley
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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Long Lost Father
Title: Long Lost Father
Character: Bill Strong
Released: January 19, 1934
Type: Movie
A long-absent father is reunited with his daughter, who still holds a grudge that he had deserted his family years earlier.
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The World Changes
Title: The World Changes
Character: Richard Nordholm
Released: November 25, 1933
Type: Movie
Generational saga tracing the events in the lives of the midwest pioneering Nordholm family, as seen through the eyes of businessman Orin Nordholm Jr., who ages from a youth to an elderly grandfather.
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Fog
Title: Fog
Character: Wentworth Brown
Released: November 11, 1933
Type: Movie
The murders are committed in swift succession on board a liner crossing the Atlantic in a dense fog, and many of the passengers come under suspicion before the actual killer is bought to justice with the aid of a very substantial "ghost."
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Fury of the Jungle
Title: Fury of the Jungle
Character: 'Lucky' Allen
Released: October 23, 1933
Type: Movie
Joan Leesom is stranded in a remote South American jungle village. She is pursued by the rapacious Taggart Taggart, however, has been involved with the beautiful native girl Chita. Chita now feels nothing but hatred for Joan, creating a deadly triangle that leads to an explosive ending.
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Brief Moment
Title: Brief Moment
Character: Franklin Deane
Released: September 29, 1933
Type: Movie
A high living society playboy marries a nightclub singer, and she soon realizes that, though they're genuinely in love, the husband's endless partying completely dominates and is destroying their marriage.
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Baby Face
Title: Baby Face
Character: Ned Stevens
Released: July 13, 1933
Type: Movie
A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.
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The Woman I Stole
Title: The Woman I Stole
Character: Corew
Released: June 29, 1933
Type: Movie
A man (Jack Holt) wins his best friend's wife (Fay Wray) and seems to be plotting to ruin the man's oil business.
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Jennie Gerhardt
Title: Jennie Gerhardt
Character: Lester Kane
Released: June 8, 1933
Type: Movie
This turn-of-the-century tragedy chronicles the sorrowful travails of a woman who endures a series of devastating losses.
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The Kiss Before the Mirror
Title: The Kiss Before the Mirror
Character: Maria's Lover
Released: May 4, 1933
Type: Movie
When a famous doctor kills his adulterous wife, he is defended by his best friend, an attorney who suspects that his own wife is having an affair.
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The Circus Queen Murder
Title: The Circus Queen Murder
Character: The Great Sebastian
Released: April 10, 1933
Type: Movie
Suave, lip-reading DA Thatcher Colt plans to get away from the big city for a while. So he and his secretary, Miss Kelly hop on a train for an Upstate NY town called Gilead. They expect a calm oasis, but when a small time circus rolls into town they soon find themselves caught up in a sordid tale of marital infidelity, murder, cruelty to animals, and cannibalism.
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Private Jones
Title: Private Jones
Character: Lt. John Gregg
Released: March 25, 1933
Type: Movie
After America enters World War I, young William "Bill" Jones tries to avoid military service by telling the draft board that he is the sole supporter of his family and is employed by businessman Roger Winthrop, his sister Helen's boss.
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Frisco Jenny
Title: Frisco Jenny
Character: Dan Reynolds
Released: January 14, 1933
Type: Movie
Jenny is carrying the child of a young man who dies in the San Francisco earthquake (1906). After giving birth, she decides to place her child in the custody of a wealthy married couple. Years later, thanks to the protection of a corrupt politician, she becomes the main "madame" of San Francisco, in addition to participating in various illegal activities.
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Penguin Pool Murder
Title: Penguin Pool Murder
Character: Philip Seymour
Released: December 9, 1932
Type: Movie
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.
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The Conquerors
Title: The Conquerors
Character: Warren Lennox
Released: November 18, 1932
Type: Movie
A newlywed couple journeys west to make their fortune, and begins a banking empire.
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The Trial of Vivienne Ware
Title: The Trial of Vivienne Ware
Character: John Sutherland
Released: May 1, 1932
Type: Movie
Vivienne Ware is defended by her ex-beau when she's accused of killing her faithless fiance.
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The Heart of New York
Title: The Heart of New York
Character: Milton
Released: March 26, 1932
Type: Movie
A poor New York plumber's wife and children hope to move "uptown" from their lower East Side neighborhood after he sells his new invention.
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The Man Who Played God
Title: The Man Who Played God
Character: Harold Van Adam
Released: February 9, 1932
Type: Movie
While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, concert pianist Montgomery Royale is deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler. With his career over as a result of his injury, Royale returns to New York City with his sister Florence, close friend Mildred Miller, and considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair. After abandoning thoughts of suicide, Montgomery discovers he can lip read, and he spends his days observing people in Central Park from his apartment window. As he learns of people's problems, he tries to help them anonymously. He becomes absorbed in his game of "playing God" but his actions are without sincerity.
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Taxi!
Title: Taxi!
Character: Actor in Movie Clip (uncredited)
Released: December 29, 1931
Type: Movie
Amidst a backdrop of growing violence and intimidation, independent cab drivers struggling against a consolidated juggernaut rally around hot-tempered Matt Nolan. Nolan is determined to keep competition alive on the streets, even if it means losing the woman he loves.
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Safe in Hell
Title: Safe in Hell
Character: Carl Bergen
Released: December 12, 1931
Type: Movie
To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.
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The Mad Genius
Title: The Mad Genius
Character: Fedor Ivanoff
Released: September 30, 1931
Type: Movie
A crippled puppeteer rescues an abused young boy and turns the boy into a great ballet dancer. Complications ensue when, as a young man, the dancer falls in love with a young woman the puppeteer is also in love with.
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Side Show
Title: Side Show
Character: Joe Palmer
Released: September 19, 1931
Type: Movie
A circus side show performer tries to discourage her younger sister from following in her footsteps.
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Party Husband
Title: Party Husband
Character: Horace Purcell
Released: June 6, 1931
Type: Movie
Party Husband finds ex-Ziegfield Girl Dorothy playing the better half of a thoroughly “modern marriage” whose openness threatens to bring about its premature end. Fellow Ziegfield alum Mary Doran plays the coquette whose intended conquest of the free-thinking hubby (James Rennie) starts to throw the couple’s “understanding” awry.
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The Public Enemy
Title: The Public Enemy
Character: Mike Powers
Released: April 23, 1931
Type: Movie
Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.
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How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots'
Title: How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots'
Released: April 15, 1931
Type: Movie
Golf expert Bobby Jones arrives on the golf course to join actors James Cagney, Anthony Bushell, Donald Cook, Evalyn Knapp, and Louise Fazenda in shooting a golf instruction film. Louise Fazenda however has no knowledge of golf and her ongoing commentary disrupts Jones's attempts to practice. While Cagney and Bushell hold Louise's mouth shut, Jones demonstrates his approach to golf. Later, upon arrival of director George Marshall, Louise is sent off "to practice" alone while the cast and crew go about shooting the film.
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Unfaithful
Title: Unfaithful
Character: Terry Houston
Released: March 14, 1931
Type: Movie
In this society drama set in contemporary England, a noblewoman pretends to be an adulteress in order to protect her sister-in-law, who actually is.
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Roseland
Title: Roseland
Character: Jack
Released: September 7, 1930
Type: Movie
A pretty dance hall girl is looking for the right guy.