Victor Jory Movies
After a rough-and-tumble adolescence, Victor Jory attended high school in California, studying acting with Gilmor Brown at the Pasadena Playhouse. Jory's subsequent tenure at the University of California lasted all of one year before he was bitten by wanderlust; he joined the coast guard, where he distinguished himself as a champion in several contact sports. Sharp-featured, muscular, and possessed of a rich theatrical voice, Jory made his New York stage bow in 1929, and one year later co-starred in the original Broadway production of Berkeley Square. Inaugurating his film career with Renegades (1930), Jory spent the next five decades in roles ranging from romantic leads to black-hearted villains. Highlights in his screen career include a sinister but strangely beautiful performance as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935); the vicious Injun Joe in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938); white-trash carpetbagger Jonas Wilkerson in Gone With the Wind (1939); Texas patriot William Travis in Man of Conquest (1939); the hissable, crippled patriarch in The Fugitive Kind (1960); the taciturn father of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962); and the ancient South American Indian chief in Papillon (1973). In 1940, Jory starred in the Columbia serial The Shadow (1940), essaying the dual role of the mind-clouding Shadow and his alter ego Lamont Cranston (with several disguise sequences along the way).The outspoken Jory was supremely confident of his talents, remarking on several occasions that he was "damn good" -- though he was tougher than any movie critic in assessing his lesser performances. He was also more than generous with young up-and-coming actors (except for self-involved "method" performers), and was a veritable fountain of Broadway and Hollywood anecdotes, some of which were actually true. An occasional theatrical director and playwright, Jory wrote the Broadway production Five Who Were Mad. On TV, Jory starred in the popular syndicated detective series Manhunt (1959-1960) and guested on dozens of other programs. Long married to actress Jean Innes, Victor Jory was the father of Jon Jory, who for many years was artistic director of the Actors Theatre of Louisville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
The infernal machine in question is a bomb controlled by a wireless operator and set aboard a New York bound ocean liner. No one knows it is there. Meanwhile the passengers go about their business. One of them, a stowaway pretends to be a classy fellow so he can pitch woo to a sophisticated lady. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Genevieve Tobin, (more)
- 1933
After suffering magnificently in picture after picture at RKO and Paramount, Helen Twelvetrees was subjected to even more agony in Columbia's My Woman. Twelvetrees is cast as Connie, the ever-lovin' wife of vaudeville hoofer Chick (Wallace Ford). After years of tanktowns and two-a-days, Chick finally hits it big as a radio star (adding what was then a "modern" twist to an old story). Success goes to his head almost immediately, whereupon he forgets all about Connie. Inevitably, Chick sabotages his own career, hits the skids, and begs forgiveness from his spouse. Present-day viewers might find it surprising that Connie would prefer the chronically unreliable Chick over her most ardent suitor, the cultured, soft-spoken radio executive Mr. Bradley (Victor Jory in a rare sympathetic role). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1932
In this police drama, a cop, known for being a rock under pressure, endeavors to cope with the aftermath of a psychologically traumatic experience at work. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
In this children's comedy, a young woman is left in charge of two little hellions when her sister dies. She finally finds love with a handsome assistant district attorney, but the resentful children scare him off. They soon feel bad for their bratty behavior and go to his apartment to apologize. There they are captured by two assassins who have gone there to kill the lawyer. Fortunately, one of the tykes escapes and rallies the neighborhood kids who launch an all-out assault on the hit-men and defeat them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Boots Mallory, (more)
- 1930
In this action-adventure opus, Deucalion (Warner Baxter), Machwurth (Noah Beery), Mordiconi (C. Henry Gordon) and Biloxi (George Cooper) are four members of a desert patrol fighting off godless villains amidst the sand dunes. The four soldiers are lured away from their mission by Eleanore (Myrna Loy), a beautiful but dangerous women who persuades them to abandon their cause and join forces with the enemy. In time, Deucalion and his men discover the evil that lurks beneath Eleanore's seductive exterior, but have they come to their senses in time to rejoin their comrades before the cause is lost? Keep an eye peeled for a pre-Dracula Bela Lugosi, who plays one of the bad guys (no great surprise there). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, (more)
