Ralph Bellamy Movies
From his late teens to his late 20s, Ralph Bellamy worked with 15 different traveling stock companies, not just as an actor but also as a director, producer, set designer, and prop handler. In 1927 he started his own company, the Ralph Bellamy Players. He debuted on Broadway in 1929, then broke into films in 1931. He went on to play leads in dozens of B-movies; he also played the title role in the "Ellery Queen" series. For his work in The Awful Truth (1937) he received an Oscar nomination, playing the "other man" who loses the girl to the hero; he was soon typecast in this sort of role in sophisticated comedies. After 1945 his film work was highly sporadic as he changed his focus to the stage, going on to play leads in many Broadway productions; for his portrayal of FDR in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) he won a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Award. From 1940-60 he served on the State of California Arts Commission. From 1952-64 he was the president of Actors' Equity. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting." He authored an autobiography, When the Smoke Hits the Fan (1979). ~ All Movie Guide- 1936
This drama focuses upon a beleaguered surgeon. He is first involved with a social-climbing fiancee who constantly puts him down. Then he suffers amnesia and wakes to find himself in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Though he cannot remember his name, his medical skills remain intact and he is able to find work as a steel mill doctor helping injured workers. There he encounters a thug who wants to destroy the mill and kill him. After the good doctor saves the life of the thug's son, the bad-guy has a change of heart and spares the doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Gloria Shea, (more)
- 1936
In this interesting drama, a disfigured fugitive killer gets a second chance at life when he hides out in a hospital and overhears a doctor discussing his innovative scientific theories. The murderer accosts the doctor and forces him to perform a radical surgery that will change the criminal's face and brain and make him into a better person. Using a new name, the crook becomes a top doctor. Unfortunately, he could change his face, but he could not flee his past and he finds himself standing trial and getting convicted. He is later pardoned by the governor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Marian Marsh, (more)
- 1936
A Kathleen Norris novel was the source for this romantic drama, which begins when widowed navy doctor Quentin Harden (Ralph Bellamy) falls in love with nurse Vicki Blake (Claire Trevor). Despite her awareness that most naval marriages end in divorce, Vicki says "yes" when Harden proposes. Soon she begins to suspect that he still carries a torch for his late wife, but she remains with Harden for the sake of his crippled daughter (Anne Howard). Vicki's loyalty is rewarded when Harden proves once and for all that he is in love with her, and only her. Warren Hymer provides comic relief as a goofy gob who deliberately gets injured so he can enjoy the attentions of a bevy of beautiful nurses. Navy Wife was largely filmed on location at the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Trevor, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1936
In this adventure, a wealthy socialite falls in love and decides to stow away on her would-be lover's airplane as it takes off for China where he has been sent on a mission by his father. Unfortunately, the two are captured by revolutionaries; in order to gain their freedom, the man must promise to fly for the Chinese rebels. He does so--most acrobatically. Later he takes care of them for good. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1935
Paul Muni is a prominent physician who is kidnapped by gangsters and forced to tend the needs of head crook Barton MacLaine. MacLaine takes a liking to the intellectual doctor and allows him to go home after his job is done. Muni finds himself the reluctant "staff physician" for the gangster, thus is periodically spirited away from his practice to look after the criminal. He has given his word not to "rat" on the crooks, but he can't sit idly by while the gangsters loot the city. Muni foils the crooks by injecting them with a drug which induces temporary blindness. Dr. Socrates was remade in 1939 as King of the Underworld, with Humphrey Bogart as the gangster boss and actress Kay Francis in Paul Muni's role (with surprisingly few dialogue alterations to accommodate the gender switch!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, an impoverished dreamer saves a group of people during a terrible storm by leading them to shelter in a ghost town containing but one ancient resident. The stranded travelers are surprised by the high-style in which the codger lives. Soon they learn that the man and the drifter's grandfather co-owned a gold-mine. Unfortunately, the old resident cannot find it. The young dreamer finds it for him, and then marries an heiress who was among the travelers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1935
Steamship captain Steve Andrews (Ralph Bellamy) is demoted to second officer when Marge Walker (Ann Sothern), daughter of Steve's boss, insists that her boyfriend Roy Dale (John Buckler) be put in charge of the ship. Dale's first assignment is to deliver a valuable cargo to Shanghai within a designated date. Marge stows away on board to be nearer to Dale, which earns her the unbridled scorn of the embittered Steve. During a violent storm at sea, Dale panics and leaves his post, obliging Steve to take over command of the ship. As a result, it is Steve who guides the vessel safely to Shanghai -- and instead of being brought up on charges of mutiny, he wins the love of Marge at fade-out time. Here as elsewhere, Ralph Bellamy and Ann Sothern work so well together that one might assume they were married in real life (which they weren't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1935
In this romance, set during the Great Depression, an impoverished socialite is forced to work by her financial situation. She gets a job working as a hostess at Club HeeHaw. How degrading! It gets worse for her when her boss promotes her to "gigolette" in his posh club Casino de Monaco. Her boyfriend is appalled, and the romance threatens to fall apart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrienne Ames, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1935
In this Samuel Goldwyn production directed by King Vidor, the studio's intent was to make Russian-born Anna Sten a star, but it didn't succeed. Sten plays Manya Nowak, a Polish farm girl attracted to Tony Barrett (Gary Cooper), a novelist with writer's block who has retreated to a Connecticut farmhouse to find his muse. Barrett's wife Dora (Helen Vinson) misses the city and returns there, while Tony decides to use Manya as a character in his next novel. They become friends, and Tony learns that her straightlaced father Jan (Sigfried Rumann) has betrothed Manya to Fredrik Sobieski (Ralph Bellamy), whom she does not love. Manya and Tony spend a chaste night together when a blizzard shuts them in. Her father drags her home and demands that she marry Fredrik immediately. Many arguments and disagreements ensue. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Anna Sten, (more)
- 1935
After nearly a decade of nominal "leading lady" roles, Carole Lombard landed her first genuine starring vehicle with Hands Across the Table. Reasoning that the way to a man's heart is through his cuticles, Regi Allen (Carole Lombard) takes a job as a manicurist at a fancy barbershop, unabashedly admitting that she hopes to use this position to snag a rich husband. Sure enough, Regi's charms prove irresistable to Allen Macklyn (Ralph Bellamy) a wealthy and charming invalid, who knows that the girl is a golddigger but doesn't care. The other man in Regi's life is Theodore "Ted" Drew III (Fred MacMurray), who though born into a wealthy family is stone broke, and on the verge of marrying a rich debutante (Astrid Allwyn) to replenish his lost fortune. Hoping to briefly escape this fate and his other financial problems, Theodore hides out in Regi's apartment. It is, of course, a platonic relationship: Having been burned in the past, Regi doesn't want to get romantically entangled with a pauper, while Ted is already promised to someone else. But, as is often the case in 1930s comedies, things don't quite turn out the way that either Regi or Ted expect. Full of delightful, unexpected touches, Hands Across the Table proved to be a major boost for Carole Lombard's career, and didn't exactly do any harm to up-and-coming Fred MacMurray either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1935
Generous stock footage from such previous Columbia aviation epics as Flight and Dirigible helped to make Air Hawks (working title: Air Fury) seem more costly than it really was. Real-life pilot Wiley Post, who'd recently grabbed the headlines with his daring around-the-world flight, plays himself, while the acting relief is provided by Ralph Bellamy (hero), Tala Birrell (heroine) and Douglass Dumbrille (villain). The plot has something to do with an infra-red "death ray" which figures prominently in the rivalry between two competing air services. Singled out for critical praise was the sound-effects work by Edward Bernds, who later became a prolific Columbia "B"-picture and 2-reeler director. Air Hawks was released in late May of 1935; in less than two months, Wiley Post and his close friend Will Rogers would perish in a plane crash of the coast of Alaska. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Wiley Post, (more)
- 1935
Rendezvous at Midnight shifts from "low" to "drive" when corrupt city commissioner Myles Crawford (Arthur Vinton) is murdered. His assistant, Bob Edmonds (Ralph Bellamy), originally assigned to investigate the commissioner's administration, now tries to solve his murder. The prime suspect is Sandra Rogers (Valerie Hobson), the last person to see Crawford alive. Despite the most damning evidence, Edmonds refuses to believe that Sandra is guilty, and he sets about to prove it -- even if it means compromising his own honesty. This mild whodunit has curiously been included in TV's "Shock Theater" package, right along with Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Wolf Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Valerie Hobson, (more)
- 1934
In the first of Columbia Pictures' "Inspector Trent" whodunits, the inspector (Ralph Bellamy) is called in to investigate the death of Edward Arnold (William Jeffrey). Although the young doctor in charge, David Marsh (Arthur Pierson), maintains that Arnold died of natural causes, a family curse causes Trent to become suspicious. The good inspector becomes even more alarmed when the victim, who has indeed been poisoned, proves to be one John Fry, the real Arnold (Claude Gillingwater) having changed places with an old friend in order to defeat the curse. But who killed Fry? Was it the Japanese houseboy, Kono (Otto Yamaoka)? Or the family attorney (Bradley Page)? Suspicion also centers on Arnold's beautiful ward, Janet (June Collyer); Fry's widow, Mavis (Betty Blythe); and sundry other more or less sinister characters lurking about the family's cavernous Forest Lake estate. Before Midnight was followed by three additional "Inspector Trent" mysteries: One Is Guilty, The Crime of Helen Stanley, and Girl in Danger, all released in 1934 and starring the affable Ralph Bellamy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, June Collyer, (more)
- 1934
Columbia's Once to Every Woman was the first of A. J. Cronin's medical novels to be adapted for the screen. The drama of the piece hinges on the conflict between brilliant young surgeon Barclay (Ralph Bellamy) and crusty hospital head Dr. Selby (Walter Connolly). On another, less-crucial front, Barclay and playboy physician Preston (Walter Byron) vie for the attentions of pretty nurse Miss Farnshawe (Fay Wray). The story comes to a tension-laden climax as Barclay prepares for a delicate brain operation -- a revolutionary procedure which has been opposed by Dr. Selby throughout the picture. Once to Every Woman was scripted by frequent Frank Capra collaborator Jo Swerling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1934
When asked in 1970 to recall his participation in RKO Radio's Spitfire, Ralph Bellamy prefaced his comments with a terse "Why don't we just forget about it?" Based on a play by Lula Vollmer, the film stars Katharine Hepburn, phony Ozark accent and all, as Trigger Hicks, an illiterate hillbilly faith healer. A very curious young lady, Trigger prays for the souls of all those around her, but this doesn't stop her from flinging rocks at them when she's upset (which is often!). Romance unexpectedly enters Trigger's life in the form of engineer Stafford (Robert Young) and construction boss Fleetwood (Ralph Bellamy), both of whom are instrumental in saving her from a superstitious lynch mob after she kidnaps an ailing baby "for its own good." Outside of Sylvia Scarlett, Spitfire is Katharine Hepburn's strangest film -- and, sad to say, one of her worst. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Robert Young, (more)
- 1934
One is Guilty was an entry in Columbia's "Inspector Trent" mysteries, all starring the ubiquitous Ralph Bellamy. A philandering prizefighter is murdered, and then the prizefighter's manager is likewise bumped off. All evidence points to heroine Sally (Shirley Grey), but Inspector Trent isn't about to put the cuffs on her until he has all the evidence. Sure enough, the killer turns out to be the proverbial least likely suspect, whom the viewer will probably tag the minute the guilty party shows up on screen. As Trent, Ralph Bellamy is far more plausible and far less imbecilic than he'd be in Columbia's "Ellery Queen" series of the early 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Shirley Grey, (more)
- 1934
This third entry in Columbia's "Inspector Trent" series is cleverly (and economically) set in a movie studio. A malevolent leading lady (Gail Patrick) is murdered while filming a scene, whereupon the nervous studio head calls in Inspector Trent (Ralph Bellamy). Since everybody on the lot despised the victim, there's a surplus of suspects -- among them nominal romantic leads Shirley Grey and Kane Richmond and future director Vincent Sherman. The key to the solution is a booby-trapped camera, a gimmick that strains the audience's credulity but which works well within the film's framework. Among the film's highlights is a nightclub scene in which a bit player, who later became famous as mentalist Norvelle, predicts Trent's future (and he's right!) Crime of Helen Stanley was remade four years later as Who Killed Gail Preston, with Rita Hayworth as the unfortunate title character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kane Richmond, Bradley Page, (more)
- 1934
This drama was adapted from a minor story by Dashiell Hammett and chronicles the attempts of an ex-con to stay on the straight and narrow. It's difficult for he is volatile and tends to get into fistfights when riled. It is his explosive temper that got him put away for three years after he accidentally killed a man while fighting over a woman. His newest troubles also center upon a woman. She bursts into his cabin one day as she tries to run from her abusive, obsessive partner who is pursing her. When he shows up, the young man tries to defend her. He hits an accomplice of the abuser and the abuser gets a warrant for the ex-con's arrest. He and the girl become fugitives from the law. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1934
Jane Mufin's stage play Love Flies in the Window was the basis for the RKO Radio assembly-line romance This Man is Mine. Happily married to dull but dependable Jim Dunlap (Ralph Bellamy), level-headed Toni Dunlap (Irene Dunne) suddenly finds herself forced to fight for her husband's affections. The cause of it all is Toni's old school chum, the recently divorced Fran Harper (Constance Cummings). Fran graciously makes no secret of her intention to steal Jim away. With equal graciousness, Toni beats her rival at her own game. In addition to the sterling contributions of its stars, This Man is Mine benefits from a well-honed supporting performance by Kay Johnson, who two years earlier had co-starred with Constance Cummings in Frank Capra's American Madness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1934
The fourth and last of Columbia's "Inspector Trent" mysteries, Girl in Danger once more stars Ralph Bellamy as the super-methodical Trent. The endangered girl is socialite Gloria Gale (Shirley Grey), who on a caprice steals a valuable emerald. Pursued by Inspector Trent, the playful Gloria leads the detective on a merry chase, apparently never realizing that Trent is merely trying to protect her from a murderous gang of jewel thieves. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Trent is murdered, leaving Gloria to her fate. Or is this what really happens? Nothing is quite what it seems to be in Girl in Danger, keeping the audience on guard throughout the picture -- and, incidentally, obscuring the film's many plot holes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Shirley Grey, (more)
- 1933
An espionage drama set in the early 20th century, Ever in My Heart stars Barbara Stanwyck as a New England naif who marries a German citizen (Otto Kruger). In 1915, Stanwyck and her husband suffer a brace of blows: The death of their son, and the sinking of the Lusitania, the latter incident sparking a wave of anti-German sentiment. Hounded out of their small town by the angered citizens, Stanwyck and Kruger move to Europe, where the husband voluntarily leaves his wife to join the Kaiser's army. In 1917, Stanwyck, working as a canteen volunteer in France, discovers that her once pro-American husband is now a German spy. To save him from a firing squad, she poisons his wine, then kills herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, (more)
- 1933
Ace of Aces was based on Bird of Prey by John Monk Saunders, an acknowledged master of aviation epics. Richard Dix stars as Rex Thorne, a pacifistic sculptor who registers as a conscientious objector when WWI breaks out. Thorne's unwillingness to fight in a war he believes to be unnecessary is misread as cowardice by his socialite sweetheart Nancy Adams (Elizabeth Allen). In "four feathers" fashion, Thorne signs up with the air corps to prove his courage. Before long, he has established a reputation as a reckless, ruthless flying ace, with little concern for anyone's safety, including his own. This fails to satisfy Nancy -- now also serving her country as a Red Cross nurse -- who feels that Thorne has become too bloodthirsty for his own good (What does this woman want?) The supporting cast includes radio singer Art Jarrett and James Cagney's look-alike brother Bill. Some of the aerial scenes in Ace of Aces were "borrowed" from Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
- 1933
In this romantic drama, a woman inadvertently assists a con artist in his scheme to rob a store manager and ends up in prison. After helping to put out the very fire she herself started in the prison shop, the woman receives early parole and heads back to the con-artist. She then returns to the store manager to make peace, but finds herself falling in love with him. Unfortunately their affair is interrupted when the manager's wife is also sprung from prison. The girl immediately bows out, but when the wife tells him that she divorced him in prison, the girl comes running back, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Clarke, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1933
A Somerset Maugham story was adapted for The Narrow Corner, a film about Man's inability to escape his destiny. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a fugitive from Australian justice, wanted for accidentally killing a man. He escapes to the East Indies in a ship rented by his father. Among the people Fairbanks meets and befriends are a scholar (Reginald Owen) and his daughter (Patricia Ellis). The fugitive falls in love with the girl, which prompts her fiance (the ever-jilted Ralph Bellamy) to commit suicide. Thus Fairbanks realizes that, by running from the consequences of his actions, he has brought misfortune to others. Narrow Corner was remade, with tighter censorship restrictions in effect, as Isle of Fury (36). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Patricia Ellis, (more)
- 1933
Sally Eilers plays Sandra, a secretary who falls for her boss in this passable marital drama from Fox. The attraction is mutual and when Carter Cavendish (Ralph Bellamy) learns that his wife, Betty (Helen Vinson), is having an affair, he divorces her and marries Sandra. But Betty wants sole custody of their young daughter, Patsy (Karol Kay), a potentially wealthy child prodigy, and does what she can to embarrass her former husband. Sandra, however, calls her bluff and the greedy Betty is eventually forced to relinquish custody of the child. Second Hand Wife was based on a serialized novel by Kathleen Norris. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
