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Lionel Atwill

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Lionel Atwill
Atwill in 1921 as Deburau
Born
Lionel Alfred William Atwill

(1885-03-01)1 March 1885
Croydon, England
Died22 April 1946(1946-04-22) (aged 61)
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1904–1946
Spouses
Phyllis Relph
​
​
(m. 1913; div. 1919)​
​
​
(m. 1920; div. 1928)​
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1943)​
Mary Paula Pruter
​
(m. 1944)​
Children2

Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English and American stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the United States, he appeared in Broadway plays and Hollywood films. Some of his more significant roles were in Captain Blood (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).

Life and career

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Lionel Atwill, Alla Nazimova, Amy Veness and Harry Mestayer in the 1918 English-language production of Ibsen's The Wild Duck—one of six leading roles Atwill played on Broadway that season

Atwill was born on 1 March 1885 in Croydon, London, England. He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1904.[1]

Lionel Atwill and Katharine Cornell in the Broadway production of The Outsider (1924)

He became a star in Broadway theatre by 1918 and made his screen debut in 1919.[2] His Broadway credits include The Lodger (1916), The Silent Witness (1930), Fioretta (1928), The Outsider (1924), Napoleon (1927), The Thief (1926), Slaves All (1926), Beau Gallant (1925), Caesar and Cleopatra (1924), The Outsider (1923), The Comedian (1922), The Grand Duke (1921), Deburau (1920), Tiger! Tiger! (1918), Another Man's Shoes (1918), A Doll's House (1917), Hedda Gabler (1917), The Wild Duck (1917), The Indestructible Wife (1917), L'elevation (1917), and Eve's Daughter (1917).[3]

He acted on the stage in Australia and then became involved in U.S. horror films in the 1930s, including leading roles in Doctor X (1932), The Vampire Bat, Murders in the Zoo and Mystery of the Wax Museum (all 1933), and perhaps most memorably as the one-armed Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939), [1] a role famously parodied by Kenneth Mars in Mel Brooks' 1974 satire Young Frankenstein. He appeared in four subsequent Universal Frankenstein films as well as many other of the studio's beloved chillers.

His other roles include a romantic lead opposite Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's The Devil Is a Woman (1935), a crooked insurance investigator in The Wrong Road (1937) for RKO, Dr. James Mortimer in 20th Century Fox's film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), and Professor Moriarty in the Universal Studios film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943).[1] He also had a rare comedy role in Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 classic To Be or Not to Be and that same year menaced Abbott and Costello in Pardon My Sarong.

Signed drawing of Lionel Atwill by Manuel Rosenberg 1924

Career-ending scandal

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Virginia Lopez was a 30-year-old dress designer from Cuba. Sylvia Hamalaine was a 16-year-old Minnesota girl who came to Hollywood to break into film. Lopez, along with her boyfriend Adolphe LaRue, was charged with having molested Hamalaine in the Hollywood apartment where both women resided.[4]

Lopez's defense attorney, Donald MacKay, tried to deflect blame from Lopez by claiming Hamalaine was a whore. He accused Hamalaine of being present at several parties at the beach home of Lionel Atwill in December and January 1940 where "indecencies" took place.[5] Both LaRue and Lopez were convicted of contributing to the deliquency of a minor.[6]

A grand jury was summoned to investigate the charges levied at actors and others in the motion picture industry. Atwill testified on May 21, 1941, before the grand jury and vehemently denied all accusations. Nothing "scandalous" had happened, he said.[7] The grand jury declined to indict anyone on June 1, 1941.[8] Grand jury foreman Theodore Peirce said, "The stories were just too fabulous and the credulity of the jury was taxed beyond all endurance by all of the witnesses."[9]

In June 1942, a second grand jury re-examined the 1941 evidence and decided to re-open the investigation.[10] Atwill was indicted on charges of perjury.[11] By showing pornographic films at his parties, "scandalous" activity had, indeed, occurred, the grand jury concluded. Atwill pleaded not guilty to the charge.[12] A second perjury indictment was handed down on August 11, after the grand jury determined Atwill had lied twice under oath.[13] The two indictments were consolidated.[14]

Trial was set for September 28, 1942,[15] but on September 24 Atwill changed his plea to guilty. He denied all charges of immoral acts, but did admit to possessing and showing lewd films to a small group of friends at his beach house.[16][17] Atwill was sentenced on October 15 to five years of probation.[18] The court noted that the witnesses against Atwill were "unsavory", and that Atwill had received numerous character references from local law enforcement and important Hollywood people.[16]

Under the Hays Code of conduct for the motion picture industry, Atwill was blackballed from working.[19]

On April 16, 1943, Atwill asked a court to terminate his probation[20] and allow him to change his 1942 guilty plea to not guilty.[21]

Seven days later, Superior Court Judge William R. McKay granted Atwill's motion. After Atwill pleaded not guilty, the judge vacated his 1942 conviction. [21] The court said the perjury charges had been brought by someone with a "personal motive" who wanted to "get even" with Atwill.[22]

Personal life

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Lionel Atwill and Elsie Mackay (1922)

Atwill married four times. His first wife was Phyllis Relph; the couple married in 1913 and divorced in 1919. In 1941, their son John Arthur Atwill (born 1914) was killed in action at age 26.[23] Atwill married the actress Elsie Mackay in 1920. He married Louise Cromwell Brooks in 1930 after her divorce from General of the Army Douglas MacArthur; they divorced in 1943.[24] Atwill married Paula Pruter in 1944, and their marriage continued until his death.[1] Their son, Lionel Anthony Atwill, is a retired writer.

Atwill died on 22 April 1946, as a result of lung cancer[25] and pneumonia at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.[1]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Lionel Atwill, 61, Noted Actor, Dies. Veteran of Stage and Screen Made London Debut in 1904". The New York Times. 23 April 1946.
  2. ^ "The Rise of Lionel Atwill". The New York Times. 14 April 1918.
  3. ^ "Lionel Atwill". Playbill Vault. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Jury Summons Film Notables for 'Wild Party' Inquiry". The Los Angeles Times. 8 May 1941. p. 38.
  5. ^ "Morals Case Figure Charges Film Men Being 'Covered Up'". The Los Angeles Times. 10 May 1941. p. 5; "Girl's Morals Charges Stir Hollywood". San Francisco Examiner. 11 May 1941. p. 9; "Film Colony Shakedown Hinted in Party Inquiry". The Los Angeles Times. 13 May 1941. p. 30.
  6. ^ "Girl Case Ends in Conviction". The Los Angeles Times. 14 May 1941. p. 5.
  7. ^ "Atwill Denies Girl Was Subjected to Impropriety At Party". Oakland Tribune. 22 May 1941. p. 20; "Atwill Tells About Party". The Los Angeles Times. 22 May 1941. p. 33.
  8. ^ "Film Actor Exonerated in Girl Case". The San Francisco Examiner. 3 June 1941. p. 15; "Grand Jury's Wild Party Probe Dropped". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. 2 June 1941. p. 3.
  9. ^ "Jurors Table Party Probe in Hollywood". The Sacramento Bee. 2 June 1941. p. 20.
  10. ^ "Atwill Silent at Hearing". The Los Angeles Times. 12 June 1942. p. 9.
  11. ^ "Stage and Screen Actor Indicted". St. Petersburg Times. Associated Press. 1 July 1942.
  12. ^ "Guilt Denied By Atwill". The Los Angeles Times. 3 July 1942. p. 11.
  13. ^ "Actor Indicted Second Time for Perjury for Denial of Lewd Revels in His Home". Santa Maria Times. 12 August 1942. p. 1.
  14. ^ "Atwill Cases Consolidated". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. 17 August 1942. p. 9.
  15. ^ "The Day's News in Brief". Alameda Times Star. 15 September 1942. p. 1.
  16. ^ a b "Lionel Atwill Wins Probation for Five Years in Perjury Case". The Los Angeles Times. 16 October 1942. p. 38.
  17. ^ "Atwill Pleads Guilty". The New York Times. United Press. 25 September 1942; Othman, Frederic C. (25 September 1942). "'Lied Like a Gentleman—' Atwill Confesses Perjury". The Press Democrat. pp. 1, 3; "Atwill Changes Plea on Perjury Indictment". The Los Angeles Times. 25 September 1942. p. 33.
  18. ^ "Lionel Atwill Is Placed on Probation in Lewd Film Case". The Sacramento Bee. 15 October 1942. p. 12.
  19. ^ "Atwill Cleared of Perjury Charge So He Can Work Again". The San Bernardino County Sun. 24 April 1943. p. 3.
  20. ^ "Lionel Atwill Asks for Termination of Five Year Probation". The Sacramento Bee. 17 April 1943. p. 21; "Actor Must Wait to Seek Probation". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. 17 April 1943. p. 2.
  21. ^ a b "Lionel Atwill Handed Clean Bill By Judge". The Los Angeles Times. 24 April 1943. p. 28.
  22. ^ "Judge Clears Atwill of Perjury Charge". The Fresno Bee. 25 April 1943. p. 9.
  23. ^ "Actor Lionel Atwill's Son Killed in British Air Action". Chicago Tribune. 29 April 1941. p. 6. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Lionel Atwill Divorced. Former Louise Cromwell Wins Decree in Washington". The New York Times. 19 June 1943.
  25. ^ "Lionel Atwill (1885-1946)". The Penge Heritage Trail.

Further reading

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