CHARLES COBURN

'Charles Douville Coburn' (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961) was an Academy Award-winning American film and theater actor.

Contents

Personal life

Career

Hollywood blacklist

Selected filmography

External links

Personal life

He was born in Savannah, Georgia and was an only child. He married two times. His first wife was Ivah Wills Coburn (c. 1882-1937), an American actress and theatrical producer. In 1959, Coburn married Winifred Natzka, who was forty-one years his junior and the former wife of Oscar Natzka, an opera singer.
He died from a heart attack on August 30, 1961 in New York, New York, aged 84.

Career

Coburn was a theater manager by the age of 17. He later moved on to acting and made his debut on Broadway in 1901. Coburn formed an acting company with his wife Ivah in 1906. In addition to managing the company, the couple performed frequently on Broadway. After his wife's death in 1937, Coburn relocated to Los Angeles, California and began acting in films.
He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ''The More the Merrier'' in 1943. He was also nominated for ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' in 1941 and ''The Green Years'' in 1946. Other notable film credits include ''Of Human Hearts'' (1938), ''The Lady Eve'' (1941), ''Kings Row'' (1942), ''The Constant Nymph'' (1943), ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943), ''Wilson'' (1944), ''Impact'' (1949), ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953) and ''John Paul Jones'' (1959).
Coburn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to motion pictures at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard.

Hollywood blacklist

In the 1940s, Coburn served as vice-president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing group opposed to Communists in Hollywood. His leadership of the Hollywood blacklist of anyone with any connection to Communism, supported by such luminaries as John Wayne, Hedda Hopper, Adolphe Menjou, Ward Bond, Robert Taylor, Ronald Reagan and Ginger Rogers, to name a few, led to a myriad of talented actors, writers and directors being driven out of Hollywood and deprived of their livelihood.

Selected filmography

★ ''Of Human Hearts'' (1938)

★ ''Idiot's Delight'' (1939)

★ ''In Name Only'' (1939)

★ ''Stanley and Livingstone'' (1940)

★ ''Road to Singapore'' (1940)

★ ''Three Faces West'' (1940)

★ ''The Lady Eve'' (1941)

★ ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941)

★ ''Kings Row'' (1942)

★ ''The More the Merrier'' (1943)

★ ''The Constant Nymph'' (1943)

★ ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943)

★ ''Wilson'' (1944)

★ ''The Green Years'' (1946)

★ ''The Paradine Case'' (1947)

★ ''Impact'' (1949)

★ ''Monkey Business'' (1952)

★ ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953)

★ ''The Story of Mankind'' (1957)

★ ''John Paul Jones'' (1959)

External links

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★ Charles Coburn - Channel 4 Film

★ ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' article on Charles Coburn

★ Find-A-Grave profile for Charles Coburn

★ What-A-Character.com profile and filmography

★ Charles Coburn Collection, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia