Biography Clifton Webb

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 broadway
1.3 laura – established character actor
1.4 sitting pretty , stardom

biography
early life

webb born webb parmelee hollenbeck in indianapolis, indiana. child of jacob grant hollenbeck (1867 – may 2, 1939), ticket-clerk son of grocer indiana farming family, , wife, former mabel a. parmelee (parmalee or parmallee; march 24, 1869 – october 17, 1960), daughter of david parmelee, railroad conductor. couple married in kankakee, illinois, on january 18, 1888, , separated in 1891, shortly after son s birth. according marion county, indiana, marriage records, married in indianapolis on january 18, 1888.

in 1892, webb s mother, called mabelle , moved new york city beloved little webb , called him remainder of life. dismissed questions husband, jacob, father, worked indianapolis-st. louis railroad, saying, never speak of him. didn t care theatre. couple apparently divorced, since 1900, mabelle married green b. raum, jr. new york city s 1900 u.s. census indicates mabelle , son using surname raum , living on west 77th street green berry raum, jr., copper-foundry worker, gave position in household mabel s husband. raum son of general green berry raum, former u.s. commissioner of internal revenue , former u.s. commissioner of pensions. webb s father, jacob, married, second wife, ethel brown, , died in 1939.

broadway

by age of 19, using name clifton webb, had become professional ballroom dancer, partnering exceedingly decorative star dancer bonnie glass (she replaced him rudolph valentino), , performed in 2 dozen operettas before debuting on broadway bosco in purple road, opened @ liberty theatre on april 7, 1913, , ran 136 performances before closing in august. mother (billed mabel parmalee) listed in program member of opening-night cast. next musical al jolson vehicle, sigmund romberg s dancing around. opened @ winter garden theatre on october 10, 1914, , had 145 performances, closing in february, 1915. later year, webb in all-star revue ned wayburn s town topics, boasted 117 famous performers, including rogers, listed in century theatre opening-night program of september 23, 1915. closed 68 performances later on november 20, 1915. in 1916, had short run cole porter s comic opera see america first, opened @ maxine elliott theatre on march 28, 1916, , closed after 15 performances on april 8, 1916.

the year 1917 proved better, 233-performance run of jerome kern s love o mike, opened @ shubert theatre on january 15, 1917. after moving maxine elliott s theatre , casino theatre, closed on september 29, 1917. future mama star peggy wood in cast. webb s final show of 1910s, musical listen lester, had longest run, 272 performances. opened @ knickerbocker theatre on december 23, 1918, , closed in august 1919. webb appeared other broadway stars in national red cross pageant (1917), 50-minute film of stage production held benefit american red cross.

webb in 1923

the 1920s had webb in no fewer 8 broadway shows, numerous other stage appearances, including vaudeville, , handful of silent films. revue were, additional songs cole porter, opened @ central theatre on january 29, 1920, , closed 143 performances later on may 29, 1920. busy films, tours, , vaudeville, (including appearance @ london pavilion in 1921 mr. st. louis in fun of fayre , next year in phi-phi), did not return broadway until 1923, musical jack , jill (globe theatre) had 92 performances between march 22, 1923, , june 9, 1923, , lynn starling s comic play meet wife, opened on november 26, 1923, , ran summer of 1924, closing in august. 1 of play s leads 24-year-old humphrey bogart.

in 1925, webb appeared on stage in dance act vaudeville star , silent film actress mary hay. later year, when husband, tol able david star richard barthelmess , decided produce , star in new toys, chose webb second lead. film proved financially successful, 19 more years passed before webb appeared in feature film.

webb s mainstay broadway theatre. between 1913 , 1947, tall , slender performer sang in clear, gentle tenor, appeared in 23 broadway shows, starting major supporting roles , progressing leads. introduced irving berlin s easter parade , george , ira gershwin s ve got crush on in treasure girl (1928); arthur schwartz , howard dietz s guess ll have change plan in little show (1929) , louisiana hayride in flying colors (1932); , irving berlin s not rice in china in successful revue thousands cheer (1933). 1 of stage sketches, performed co-star fred allen, filmed vitaphone short subject titled still alarm (1930). allen s experiences while working webb appear in allen s memoirs.

most of webb s broadway shows musicals, starred in oscar wilde s importance of being earnest, , longtime friend noël coward s blithe spirit , present laughter.

laura – established character actor

webb in mid-fifties when actor/director otto preminger chose him on objections of 20th century fox chief darryl f. zanuck play elegant evil radio columnist waldo lydecker, obsessed gene tierney s character in 1944 film noir laura. zanuck reportedly found webb effeminate person , actor; wanted laird cregar play role cregar established on-screen villain , preminger wanted surprise audience.

webb s performance won him wide acclaim, , received academy award nomination best actor in supporting role. despite zanuck s original objection, webb signed long-term contract fox. worked them solely rest of career.

his first film under contract dark corner (1946), film noir directed henry hathaway gave version of laura performance. reunited tierney in highly praised role elitist elliott templeton in razor s edge (1946). received academy award nomination best actor in supporting role.

sitting pretty , stardom

webb promoted star in sitting pretty, playing mr. belvedere, snide, know-it-all babysitter. huge hit , webb received oscar nomination best actor in leading role

fox promptly put webb in sequel, mr. belvedere goes college (1949) belvedere has complete college degree , acts matchmaker. box office success.

in film cheaper dozen (1950), webb , myrna loy played frank , lillian gilbreth, real-life efficiency experts of 1910s , 1920s, , parents of 12 children. resulted in webb s third hit in row , led exhibitors voting him seventh biggest star in us.

less successful @ box-office heaven s sake (1950) in webb played angel trying couple on earth. made mr. belvedere rings bell (1951), belvedere causing trouble in old person s home, film not popular first two, resulting in end of series.

webb played father trying stop daughter anne francis marriage in elopement (1952), minor hit. made brief appearance in belles on toes (1952), sequel cheaper dozen, covered family s life after death of father.

webb starred college professor thornton sayre, in younger days known silent-film idol bruce dreamboat blair. distinguished academic wants no part of past fame, sets out stop showing of old films on television in dreamboat (1952), concludes webb s alter ego sayre watching himself star in sitting pretty.

around same time, starred in technicolor film biography of bandmaster john philip sousa, stars , stripes forever (also 1952). belvedere-like scoutmaster in mister scoutmaster (1953). webb had dramatic role doomed brave husband of unfaithful barbara stanwyck in titanic (also 1953). writer walter reisch says movie created in part vehicle webb fox, wanted push webb more serious roles.

soon afterwards, played (fictional) novelist john frederick shadwell in 3 coins in fountain (1954), romancing dorothy mcguire. huge hit. top billed company owner in woman s world (1954), corporate drama.

the british film man never (1956) had webb playing part of royal navy lt. cmdr. ewen montagu in true story of operation mincemeat, elaborate plan deceive axis powers allied invasion of sicily during world war ii. in boy on dolphin (1957), second-billed alan ladd, third-billed sophia loren, portrayed wealthy sophisticate enjoyed collecting illegally obtained greek antiquities. in nod own identity, character s name victor parmalee.

he starred in remarkable mr. pennypacker (1959), cheaper dozen comedy man 2 families, , holiday lovers (1959), family comedy set in south america. neither particularly successful. fox developing journey center of earth (1959) vehicle webb fell ill , unable it; james mason took part.

webb s final film role sarcastic, self-sacrificing catholic priest in leo mccarey s satan never sleeps (1962). film, set in china, showed victory of mao tse-tung s armies in chinese civil war, ended ascension power in 1949, filmed in britain during summer of 1961, using sets film inn of sixth happiness (1958), had same setting.

webb honored star on hollywood walk of fame @ 6850 hollywood boulevard contributions motion picture industry.