Conway Tearle

Conway Tearle
Conway Tearle
Born May 17, 1878(1878-05-17)
New York, New York
Died October 1, 1938(1938-10-01) (aged 60)
Hollywood, California
Occupation Stage and Screen Actor
Years active 1914 - 1936

Conway Tearle (17 May 1878 – 1 October 1938)[1] was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.

Contents

Early life

Frederick Conway Tearle was born in New York City the son of the well-known British-born cornetist Jules Levy and American actress, Mary “Minnie” Conway. Minnie Conway was a direct descendent of William Augustus Conway, a British Shakespearian actor who became popular in America during the 1820s. Her father, the proprietor of the Brooklyn Theatre, was said to have organized the first stock company in America. After Tearle’s parents divorced, his mother married Osmond Tearle, a British Shakespearian actor popular in “the provinces”. Conway Tearle was the step-brother of actor Malcolm Tearle and a half brother of actor Godfrey Tearle. [2][3] and jazz musician Jules Levy Jr.[4]

Conway Tearle was educated in England and America and took to the stage at an early age. By the age of ten he could recite twelve Shakespearean plays from memory. His big break came at the age of twenty-one when in Manchester, England, without any preparation, he was called upon to play Hamlet after the lead actor took ill just prior to the first act.[5]

Career

Tearle’s performance that night led to his first appearance on the London stage playing the Viscomte de Chauvin, the lead role in "The Queen's Double” on April 27, 1901 at the Garrick Theatre, He next toured Australia playing the title role in Ben Hur for some months before returning to London to star in the play, The Best of Friends at the Theatre Royal. Tearle divided the following four seasons equally with companies headed by Ellen Terry and Sir Charles Wyndham. [6]

Conway Tearle with Mary Pickford in the silent film "Stella Maris (1917).

In 1905 Tearle returned to America to play opposite Grace George in the short lived play Abigail. Over the next eight years or so Tearle played in a number of Broadway productions that failed to excite New York audiences. He did at times though garner singular praise for his performances in such plays as The New York Idea, The Liars, Major Barbara and others.[7]In 1908/09 Tearle reprised his title role in a lavish Klaw and Erlinger road production of Ben Hur. [8]

Tearle turned to Hollywood in 1914 where he would find considerable success playing romantic leads. [9] His first film was The Nightingale, a story by Augustus Thomas about a slum girl (Ethel Barrymore) who rose to be a great opera star.[10] His last was in a 1936 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with John Barrymore. Overall Tearle appeared in some 93 films over his career [11] and at one point was thought to the highest paid actor in America. [12]With the advent of sound Tearle’s career began to wane, possibly due to age rather than the new technology.. [13] On December 16, 1931, Conway appeared with co-star Kay Francis at the grand opening of the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California, which hosted the premiere of their film The False Madonna, released by Paramount Pictures. [14]

The following year Tearle scored a major hit on Broadway in the original 1932 production of Dinner at Eight, creating the role of fading screen idol Larry Renault which would later be played on film by John Barrymore. His last two Broadway appearances were in short productions of Living Dangerously in 1935 and Anthony and Cleopatra two years later. [15][16]

Marriages

Adele Rowland ca. 1904

Conway Tearle married for the first time in 1901 at Sunderland, England. In 1908 Tearle filed for a divorce at Reno, Nevada on grounds of desertion, stating his wife, Gertrude Tearle, had left him several years earlier. [17][18]

His second wife, actress Josephine Park sued for divorce In March, 1912 after learning Tearle had set sail for Italy aboard the S.S. Amerika with actress Roberta Hill. Roberta’s name had earlier appeared in print as a co-respondent in a divorce suit filed by the wife of John Jacob Astor.[19][20]

Tearle’s third wife, Roberta Hill, filed for a divorce in 1917 after detectives she hired found him in a hotel room with Adele Rowland, a musical comedy actress and dancer. The two claimed they were just rehearsing a play as Rowland explained later, “As to the robe in which I was clad, it's the custom in the profession to read plays attired like that.”[21]

The following February Tearle and Rowland wed; remaining together until his death some twenty years later.[22] Adele Rowland was the former wife of actor Charles Ruggles and was well known at the time for introducing to America the song “Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag And Smile, Smile, Smile” which she sang in the 1915 musical Her Soldier Boy.[23][24] Adele Rowland was born in Washington D.C. on July 10, 1883 and died in Los Angeles on August 8, 1971.[25]

Death

One of Tearle's last starring roles was in Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy play written by Bartlett Cormack whose setting was a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey on January 21, 1937, and also featured Lucille Ball playing the part of Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead." The play received good reviews, but there were problems, chiefly with its star, because Tearle was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but the producer, Anne Nichols, said the fault lay with the character and insisted the part needed to be reshaped and rewritten. The two were unable to agree on a solution. The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre, but closed after one week in Washington, D.C. due in part to Tearle's declining health.[26]

Tearle died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack, on October 1, 1938, aged 60.[27]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ New York Times, October 2, 1938: Obituaries
  2. ^ Conway Tearle Dies in Hollywood Age 60 - The Hartford, Courant - 3 Oct 1938 (obituaries)
  3. ^ The Scrap Book: Volume 4, Part 1 1907 - Page 276
  4. ^ Death of Jules Levy - The Washington Post November 29, 1903 (obituary section)
  5. ^ The Story Of Conway Tearle - New York Times February 27, 1916; pg. X7
  6. ^ The Story Of Conway Tearle - New York Times February 27, 1916; pg. X7
  7. ^ The Story Of Conway Tearle - New York Times February 27, 1916; pg. X7
  8. ^ Ben Hur Spectacle - The Fort Wayne News 28 Mar 1908
  9. ^ Conway Tearle, 60, Dies On The Coast New York Times October 2, 1938; pg. 48
  10. ^ The Green book magazine, Volume 12 1914 – pg. 826
  11. ^ [ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0853604/ Conway Tearle IMDb]
  12. ^ Conway Tearle, 60, Dies On The Coast New York Times October 2, 1938; pg. 48
  13. ^ Conway Tearle, 60, Dies On The Coast New York Times October 2, 1938; pg. 48
  14. ^ Annual for the Theatre Historical Society Issues 13-20 1986 pg. 7
  15. ^ Conway Tearle IBDb
  16. ^ Conway Tearle, 60, Dies On The Coast New York Times October 2, 1938; pg. 48
  17. ^ Reno Evening Gazette 5 Nov 1908 pg. 1
  18. ^ Reno Evening Gazette January 7, 1909 pg.2
  19. ^ Mrs. Tearle Seeks Divorce - The New York Times March 1912, pg. 4
  20. ^ The Oakland Tribune – March 19, 1912 pg. 12
  21. ^ Mrs. Tearle Asks For Divorce – The New York Times - June 20, 1917 pg. 6
  22. ^ Conway Tearle 60, Veteran Stage and Screen Star Dies - The Chicago Tribune – October 2, 1938 (obituary section)
  23. ^ Adele Rowland Weds Ex-Alcazar Actor - The Oakland Tribune – March 10, 1914 pg. 9
  24. ^ Who Sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996: The singers (L-Z) Ruth Benjamin, Arthur Rosenblatt - 2006 pg. 660
  25. ^ Who Sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996: The singers (L-Z) Ruth Benjamin, Arthur Rosenblatt - 2006 pg. 660
  26. ^ Brady, Kathleen (2001), Lucille: the Life of Lucille Ball, New York, New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, p. 73-74, ISBN 0-8230-8913-4
  27. ^ Conway Tearle, 60, Dies On The Coast New York Times October 2, 1938; pg. 48

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