Ross Alexander (born Alexander Ross Smith, Jr.; July 27, 1907 – January 2, 1937) was an American stage and film actor.
Ross Alexander | |
|---|---|
 Ross Alexander in 1935 | |
| Born | Alexander Ross Smith, Jr. July 27, 1907 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 2, 1937 (aged 29) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1924–1937 |
| Spouses | |
Early years
editAlexander was born Alexander Ross Smith. Jr. in Brooklyn, New York,[1] the son of Maud Adelle (nee Cohen) and Alexander Ross Smith.[2]
Alexander attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn until he and his family moved to upstate Rochester, New York. He attended high school there, but dropped out before graduating.[3] Alexander claimed in interviews that the high-school principal recommended to his parents that the student should follow the acting profession.[citation needed]
When he was 17, he went to New York City and studied acting at the Packard Theatrical Agency.[4]
Stage
editAlexander began his acting career with the Henry Jewett Players in Boston, debuting in Enter Madame.[5] By 1926, he was regarded as a promising leading man with good looks and an easy, charming style, and began appearing in more substantial roles.[citation needed]
His Broadway credits include Enter Madame (1920), The Ladder (1926), Let Us Be Gay (1928), That's Gratitude (1930), After Tomorrow (1931), The Stork Is Dead (1932), Honeymoon (1932), and The Party's Over (1932).[6] Alexander looked back at The Ladder with bemusement because its oilman backer, who had declared that the play would have a record-breaking run, kept his word by keeping the show open -- despite audiences of perhaps a dozen people at each performance. Ross Alexander stayed with the ailing show for almost two years.[7]
Film
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2018) |
Alexander was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures, and made his film debut in The Wiser Sex[8] (1932). Paramount dropped his option and he returned to Broadway. In 1934, casting director Max Arnow signed him with Warner Bros. His bigger successes from this period were Flirtation Walk (1934), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Captain Blood (both 1935).
In 1936, he starred in Hot Money. It was a defining role in his persona as a glamorous, well-dressed and dapper leading man, not in the usual Warner gangster mold of rough-hewn stars such as Edward G. Robinson or Paul Muni.[citation needed]
His final film Ready, Willing and Able, a Ruby Keeler musical, was released posthumously. Supposedly Ronald Reagan was signed by the studio as a replacement for Alexander due to remarked similarities in their radio voices and mannerisms.[9]
Personal life
editAlexander married actress Aleta Freel on February 28, 1934, in East Orange, New Jersey.[4] Freel committed suicide on December 7, 1935, shooting herself in the head with a .22 rifle.[10] On September 17, 1936, Alexander married actress Anne Nagel,[11] with whom he had appeared in the films China Clipper and Here Comes Carter (both 1936).[12]
Death
editAlexander always had problems with money. According to a studio biography, "He ruefully says that he doesn't know how to save money, and guesses that he'll have to get a business manager. And the only thing he collects is -- not first editions or etchings -- but debts!"[13] By the end of 1936, despite his movie employment, he was deeply in debt. On January 2, 1937, three months after marrying Nagel, with his professional and personal life in disarray, Alexander shot himself in the head with a .22 pistol in the barn behind his home.[14] He is buried in lot 292 of the Sunrise Slope section of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.[15]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | The Wiser Sex | Jimmy O'Neill | |
| 1934 | Social Register | Lester Trout | |
| Gentlemen Are Born | Tom Martin | ||
| Flirtation Walk | Oskie | ||
| 1935 | Maybe It's Love | Rims O'Neil | |
| Going Highbrow | Harley Marsh | ||
| We're in the Money | C. Richard Courtney, aka Carter | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Demetrius | ||
| Shipmates Forever | Lafayette "Sparks" Brown | ||
| Captain Blood | Jeremy Pitt | ||
| 1936 | Boulder Dam | Rusty Noonan | |
| Brides Are Like That | Bill McAllister | ||
| I Married a Doctor | Erik Valborg | ||
| Hot Money | Chick Randall | ||
| China Clipper | Tom Collins | ||
| Here Comes Carter | Kent Carter | Alternative title: The Voice of Scandal | |
| 1937 | Ready, Willing, and Able | Barry Granville | Released posthumously |
References
edit- ^ Frasier, David K. (2005). Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth Century Cases. McFarland. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9781476608075. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
- ^ "Hundreds at Actor's Funeral". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Illinois, Edwardsville. January 9, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ross Alexander: The Life and Death of a Contract Player (2020) by John Franceschina.
- ^ a b Allen, John R. Jr. "Ross Alexander". Classic Images. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
- ^ "Signed for Films". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. November 4, 1931. p. 21. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "("Ross Alexander" search results)". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
- ^ Ross Alexander in Warner Bros. publicity for Maybe It's Love, 1936.
- ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9781557835512. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
- ^ Anger, Kenneth (1984). Hollywood Babylon II, Plume, New York, p. 215.
- ^ "Milestones". Time. December 7, 1935.
- ^ "Alexander Ended Life As Film Fame Neared". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. Associated Press. January 4, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved June 15, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ross Alexander: The Tragic Suicide of a Closeted 1930s Hollywood Star". Original Cinemaniac. December 28, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ Ross Alexander, publicity for Maybe It's Love.
- ^ Donnelley, Paul (2005). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus Press. p. 38. ISBN 1-84449-430-6.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
