George Bancroft (actor)

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George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 – October 2, 1956) was an American film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. A star of pre-Code Hollywood, he is best known as the tough guy lead in four Josef von Sternberg films, the last of which, Thunderbolt (1929) earned him a Best Actor Award nomination. He was later a supporting actor in a number of notable movies, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Stagecoach (1939).<ref name="George Bancroft">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early years

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-08550, Filmstar George B. Bancrofft in Berlin.jpg
George Bancroft in Berlin (1929)

Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. He attended Tomes Institute in Port Deposit, Maryland.<ref name="bd" />

Maritime work

After working on merchant marine vessels at age 14, Bancroft was an apprentice on Template:USS and later served on Template:USS and West Indies. Additionally, during the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), he was a gunner on Template:USS.<ref name="acsp">Template:Cite book</ref> During his days in the Navy, he staged plays aboard ship.<ref name="slp"/>

In 1900, he swam underneath the hull of the battleship Template:USS to check the extent of the damage after it struck a rock off the coast of China.<ref name="slp"/> For this, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, but found it too restrictive for his tastes and left to pursue a theatrical career.<ref name="slp"/><ref group=note>The reference work American Classic Screen Profiles says of Bancroft, "He left the Academy after one year for a theatrical career."</ref><ref name=acsp/>

Acting career

In 1901, Bancroft began acting in earnest, as he toured in plays and had juvenile leads in musical comedies. In vaudeville, he did blackface routines and impersonated celebrities.<ref name=acsp/> His Broadway credits include the musical comedies Cinders (1923) and The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly (1923).<ref name="George Bancroft"/>

One of his early films was The Journey's End (1921).<ref name="bd" /> Bancroft's first starring role was in The Pony Express (1925), and the next year he played an important supporting role in a cast including Wallace Beery, Charles Farrell and Esther Ralston in the period naval widescreen epic Old Ironsides (1926). He then had his finest period as a lead actor, starring in four Paramount productions directed by Josef von Sternberg: Underworld (1927), The Drag Net (1928), The Docks of New York (1928) and Thunderbolt (1929); the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.<ref group=note>The Academy Awards Database provides this comment: 

"[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. There were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930. Though not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by the various boards of judges.]"</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> He played the title role in The Wolf of Wall Street (1929, released just prior to the Wall Street Crash), appeared in Paramount's all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930) and starred in Rowland Brown's Blood Money (1933), condemned by the censors because they feared the film would "incite law-abiding citizens to crime."Template:Citation needed

Reportedly, he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just one bullet can't stop Bancroft!".

Bancroft enjoyed his career height in the late 1920s, his thirties' films where he was the leading man, didn't quite have the same impact and by 1936 he had slipped to being a supporting actor; although he still appeared in such classics as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with Cagney and George Raft, and Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell. In 1942, he left Hollywood to be a full-time rancher.

Personal life

Bancroft first married actress Edna Brothers.<ref name="slp"/> Three years later, he married musical comedy star Octavia Broske.<ref name="slp">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> In 1934, Brothers sued him, claiming they had never divorced.<ref name="slp"/> Two years later, the case was settled, and Brothers obtained a divorce.<ref name="slp"/>

Death

On October 2, 1956, Bancroft died in Santa Monica, California, at age 74.<ref name="bd">Template:Cite book</ref> He was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.Template:Citation needed

Complete filmography

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Notes

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References

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