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Richard Arlen

Richard Arlen

Actor · 1899 – 1976 · Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore) was an American film and television actor. He served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps during World War I. After the war, he went to the oilfields of Texas and Oklahoma and found work as a tool boy. He was thereafter a messenger and sporting editor of a newspaper before going to Los Angeles to act in films, but no producer wanted him. He was a delivery boy for a film laboratory when the motorcycle which he was riding landed him a broken leg outside the Paramount Pictures lot. A sympathetic film director gave him his start as an extra. He appeared at first in silent films before making the transition to talkies. His first important film role was in Vengeance of the Deep. He took time out from his Hollywood career to teach as a United States Army Air Forces flight instructor in World War II. Arlen is best known for his role as a pilot in the Academy Award-winning Wings with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Gary Cooper, El Brendel, and his second wife, Jobyna Ralston, whom he married in 1927. He was among the more famous residents of the celebrity enclave, Toluca Lake, California. He married New York socialite, Margaret Kinsella, in 1946. In 1939, Universal teamed him with Andy Devine for a series of 14 B-pictures, mostly action-comedies with heavy reliance on stock footage from larger-scale films. They are informally known as the "Aces of Action" series, which is how the stars were billed in the trailers. When Arlen left the studio in 1941, the series continued with Devine teamed with a variety of other actors. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Arlen was active in television, having guest starred in several anthology series, including Playhouse 90, The Loretta Young Show, The 20th Century Fox Hour, and in three episodes of the series about clergymen, Crossroads. In 1960, Arlen was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star at 6755 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the film industry. In 1968, he appeared on Petticoat Junction playing himself. The episode was called "Wings" and it was in direct reference to the 1927 silent movie Wings. Arlen appeared in westerns, such as Lawman, Branded, Bat Masterson, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, and Yancy Derringer, and in such drama/adventure programs as Ripcord, Whirlybirds, Perry Mason, The New Breed, Coronado 9, and Michael Shayne.

Movies24

  • Movie7.2

    Wings

    1927 · 345 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Warlock

    1959 · 176 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Island of Lost Souls

    1932 · 274 votes

  • Movie7.3

    The Best Man

    1964 · 45 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Town Tamer

    1965 · 12 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Young Fury

    1964 · 13 votes

  • Movie4.4
  • Movie6.9

    The Mountain

    1956 · 51 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Alice in Wonderland

    1933 · 66 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Law of the Lawless

    1964 · 10 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Wayward

    1932 · 3 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Tropic Fury

    1939 · 2 votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie6.5

    Johnny Reno

    1966 · 22 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Waco

    1966 · 8 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Thunderbolt

    1929 · 32 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Flaming Feather

    1952 · 10 votes

  • Movie7.0
  • Movie8.0
  • Movie6.3

    Black Spurs

    1965 · 19 votes

  • Movie5.9

    The Virginian

    1929 · 18 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Buckskin

    1968 · 10 votes

  • Movie5.5

    The Sea God

    1930 · 4 votes

  • Movie6.3

    The Young and the Brave

    1963 · 10 votes

Series18

  • TV7.7

    Perry Mason

    1957 · 139 votes

  • TV5.3

    Matinee Theater

    1955 · 7 votes

  • TV5.9

    Petticoat Junction

    1963 · 42 votes

  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Lucy Show

    1962 · 53 votes

  • TV7.1

    Wanted: Dead or Alive

    1958 · 38 votes

  • TV6.2

    Yancy Derringer

    1958 · 11 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Colgate Comedy Hour

    1950 · 13 votes

  • TV6.4

    Bat Masterson

    1958 · 16 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV7.3

    Your Show of Shows

    1950 · 4 votes

  • TV6.8

    Branded

    1965 · 18 votes

  • TV6.4

    Lock-Up

    1959 · 7 votes

  • TV6.5

    This Is Your Life

    1952 · 13 votes

  • TV7.7

    The New Breed

    1961 · 3 votes

  • TV6.6

    Letter to Loretta

    1953 · 7 votes

  • TV6.8

    Crossroads

    1955 · 4 votes

  • TV6.7

    Coronado 9

    1960 · 3 votes