This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
Phillips Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Holmes in 1933 | |
| Born | Phillips Raymond Holmes July 22, 1907 Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | August 12, 1942 (aged 35) Ontario, Canada |
| Resting place | Gate of Heaven Cemetery |
| Other names | Phillips R. Holmes |
| Education | Trinity College University of Grenoble Princeton University |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Father | Taylor Holmes |
Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Edna Phillips and stage star Taylor Holmes, Holmes enjoyed a privileged childhood and received his education at Trinity College, Cambridge in England, the University of Grenoble in France, and a year at Princeton University where he was spotted in the undergraduate crowd during the filming of Frank Tuttle's Varsity in 1928 and offered a screen test. [1] In the early 1930s, he became a popular leading man, playing leads in a few important productions, notably in Josef von Sternberg's An American Tragedy (1931) and Ernst Lubitsch's Broken Lullaby (1932). [2]
At Paramount, he starred in melodrama and comedy. In 1933, his contract with Paramount ran out and he moved to MGM for one year. As the decade progressed, Holmes' career declined, and he appeared in a few box-office failures, including Sam Goldwyn's poorly received Nana (1934). [3] His last American movie was General Spanky (1936). [2] In 1938, he appeared in two UK movies. Housemaster was his last film, and he returned to acting on stage in the United States.[ citation needed ] [4]
In 1933, Holmes was driving with actress Mae Clarke when he crashed into a parked car. [5] Clarke, who suffered a broken jaw and facial cuts, sued Holmes for US$21,500(equivalent to $506,051 in 2023), claiming that he had been driving while drunk. [5] Clarke dropped the suit when Holmes agreed to pay her medical expenses. [5] The changes in her face adversely affected her burgeoning career in the long run (in 1931, she had played both Henry Frankenstein's fiancee in Frankenstein and was the recipient of half a grapefruit in the face from James Cagney in The Public Enemy ).
At the start of World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was killed, aged 35, in a mid-air collision in northwest Ontario, Canada. [6] [7] Recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission under a younger age of 31, he was buried at the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven, Hawthorne, New York. [8]
Holmes has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [9]
Robert Florey was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor.
Stuart Erwin was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Louise Beavers was an American film and television actress who appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows from the 1920s to 1960. She played a prominent role in advancing the lives of Black Americans through her work and collaborated with fellow advocates to improve the social standing and media image of the Black population.
Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook was an English film actor.

Francis Ford was an American film actor, writer and director. He was the mentor and elder brother of film director John Ford. As an actor, director and producer, he was one of the first filmmakers in Hollywood.
Mae Clarke was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit in The Public Enemy. Both films were released in 1931.
Rolfe Sedan was an American character actor, best known for appearing in bit parts, often uncredited, usually portraying clerks, train conductors, postmen, cooks, waiters, etc.

Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as The Living Ghost, I'll Tell the World, Shanghai Express, The Mask of Fu Manchu and Son of Frankenstein. He was host of the 4th Academy Awards ceremonies in 1931.
Rowland Vance Lee was an American film director, actor, writer, and producer.
Lionel Belmore was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century.
Mary Gordon was a Scottish actress who mainly played housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the 1940s starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Her body of work included nearly 300 films between 1925 and 1950.
Hessy Doris Lloyd was a British actress. She appeared in The Time Machine (1960) and The Sound of Music (1965).

Edward James Nugent was an American film and stage actor.
Gustav von Seyffertitz was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81.
George Henry Irving was an American film actor and director.
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher was an American actor. He had blue eyes and his naturally blond hair was tinged with gray from the age of 16.
George W. Barbier was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 88 films.
Maurice Black was an American character actor known for his portrayal of mobsters. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1928 to 1938, when he died of pneumonia, four days after his 47th birthday. He was married to Edythe Raynore.
Clarence Hummel Wilson was an American character actor.
John Franklin Sheridan was an American actor of the silent and early sound film eras. With his comedy partner Joseph Flynn, he performed in the vaudeville duo Flynn and Sheridan.