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April 2, 1974
Woodland Hills, California
Douglass Dumbrille liked school and excelled in sports, primarly hockey. After graduation he worked as a bank clerk then became an onion farmer. Somewhere in there he also decided to pursue a career as an actor. His deep penetrating eyes and dark thin mustache served him well for the generally unsympathetic roles he played. After two early film apperances, he decided to really give film acting a shot and so moved to Hollywood around 1931 where he was hired for a small, uncredited part in Monkey Business, the first Marx Brothers’ movie. He earned his first screen credit in His Woman. Considered one of the great character actors, over his long and successful career Douglass Dumbrille had roles in more than 200 motion pictures. Later, with the advent of television, he made numerous appearances in shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The respect he earned was such that he played the same role in Frank Capra’s 1934 film Broadway Bill and its 1950 remake. He also appeared in both of DeMille’s 1938 and 1958 versions of The Buccaneer. He is pictured in a detail scanned from an original publicity photo for the 1937 film Ali Baba Goes to Town in the Northernstars Collection.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
What Eighty Million Woman Want (1913)
The Declaration of Independence (1924)
Monkey Business (1931)
The Symphony Murder Mystery (1931)
His Woman (1931)
The Wiser Sex (1932)
That’s My Boy (1932)
Blondie of the Follies (1932)
I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (uncredited, 1932)
The World Changes (1933)
The Way to Love (1933)
Voltaire (1933)
Smoke Lighting (1933)
Rustler’s Roundup (1933)
The Man Who Dared (1933)
Laughter in Hell (1933)
Lady Killer (1933)
King of the Jungle (1933)
Hard to Handle (1933)
Female (1933)
The Big Brain (1933)
The Working Man (1933)
Baby Face (1933)
Stamboul Quest (1934)
Operator 13 (1934)
Massacre (1934)
Journal of Crime (1934)
Hide-Out (uncredited, 1934)
Hi! Nellie (1934)
Harold Teen (1934)
Fog Over Frisco (1934)
Treasure Island (1934)
Broadway Bill (1934)
Unknown Woman (1935)
The Secret Bride (1935)
Peter Ibbetson (1935)
Love Me Forever (1935)
The Lone Wolf Returns (1935)
Crime and Punishment (1935)
Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
Air Hawks (1935)
Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
The Public Menace (1935)
You May be Next (1936)
The Witness Chair (1936)
The Princess Comes Across (1936)
The Music Goes ‘Round (1936)
End of the Trail (1936)
Dan Matthews (1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
M’Liss (1936)
Woman in Distress (1937)
The Emperors Candlesticks (1937)
Counterfeit Lady (1937)
Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
A Day At The Races (1937)
The Firefly (1937)
Storm Over Bengal (1938)
Stolen Heaven (1938)
Sharpshooters (1938)
Kentucky (1938)
Fast Company (1938)
Crime Takes a Holiday (1938)
The Buccaneer (1938)
The Mysterious Rider (1938)
Thunder Afloat (1939)
Tell No Tales (1939)
Rovin’ Tumbleweeds (1939)
Mr. Moto on Danger Island (1939)
City in Darkness (1939)
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)
Captain Fury (1939)
The Three Musketeers (1939)
South of Pago Pago (1940)
Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940)
Slightly Honorable (1940)
Virginia City (1940)
Washington Melodrama (1941)
The Roundup (1941)
Murder Among Friends (1941)
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
The Big Store (1941)
Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (1941)
Ten Gentleman from West Point (1942)
Ride ’em Cowboy (1942)
Castle in the Desert (1942)
A Gentleman After Dark (1942)
I Married an Angel (1942)
King of the Mounties (1942)
Stand By For Action (1943)
False Colors (1943)
Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
Lumberjack (1944)
Lost in a Harem (1944)
Jungle Woman (1944)
Forty Thieves (1944)
Gypsy Wildcat (1944)
Road to Utopia (1945)
A Medal for Benny (1945)
Jungle Queen (1945)
The Frozen Ghost (1945)
Flame of the West (1945)
The Dalton’s Ride Again (1945)
Under Nevada Skies (1946)
Spook Busters (1946)
A Night in Paradise (1946)
The Catman of Paris (1946)
The Cat Creeps (1946)
Pardon My Past (1946)
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
Dragnet (1947)
Dishonored Lady (1947)
Blonde Savage (1947)
Addio Mimi (1947)
It’s a Joke, Son (1947)
The Fabulous Texan (1947)
Christmas Eve (1947)
Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
Tell It To The Judge (1949)
Riders of the Whistling Pines (1949)
The Lone Wolf and his Lady (1949)
Dynamite (1949)
Alimony (1949)
Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch (1949)
The Savage Hoard (1950)
Sangue sul Segrato (1950)
Broadway Bill (1950)
Riding High (1950)
The Kangaroo Kid (1950)
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Buccaneer’s Girl (1950)
A Millionaire for Christy (1951)
Son of Paleface (1952)
Sky Full of Moon (1952)
Apache War Smoke (1952)
Scaramouche (uncredited, 1952)
Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Plunder of the Sun (1953)
A Life at Stake (1954)
The Lawless Rider (1954)
World for Ransom (1954)
Jupiter’s Darling (1955)
The Go-Getter (1956)
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (uncredited, 1956)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Buccaneer (1958)
High Time (1960)
Air Patrol (1962)
Johnny Cool (1963)
What a Way to Go! (1964)
Shock Treatment (uncredited, 1963)
TV Series – Cast:
China Smith (1952-1955)
The Life of Riley (1953-1958)
The New Phil Silvers Show (1963)
Petticoat Junction (1964-1965)
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895
