George Brent
George Brent was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor.
Early life
Brent was born in Main Street, Ballinasloe, County Galway, on March 15, 1904, to John J. and Mary Nolan. His father was a shopkeeper and his mother was a native of Clonfad, Moore, County Roscommon. In September 1915, he moved with his younger sister Kathleen to New York City. There, they joined their mother, who was living in the US after her separation from her husband.Brent returned to Ireland in February 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, and was involved in the Irish Republican Army. During this period he also became involved with the Abbey Theatre.
He fled Ireland with a bounty set on his head by the British government, although he later claimed only to have been a courier for guerrilla leader and tactician Michael Collins. According to Ballinasloe Life, the Irish War of Independence careers of three different men named George Nolan were apparently conflated, which may explain some of the discrepancies regarding Brent's year of birth, life, and activities during the 1919 to 1922 period.
Career
American stage career
Brent traveled from England to Canada and returned to the United States in August 1921.He decided to become a professional actor. He made his Broadway debut in director Guthrie McClintic’s The Dover Road. He did numerous plays throughout the 1920s, including running several of his own stock companies. He appeared in productions of Abie's Irish Rose, Stella Dallas, Up in Mabel's Room, Elmer the Great, Seventh Heaven, White Cargo and Lilac Time. He acted in stock companies in Colorado, Rhode Island, Florida, and Massachusetts. In 1930, he appeared on Broadway in Love, Honor, and Betray, alongside Clark Gable.
Early films: Fox and Universal
Brent moved to Hollywood and made his first film for 20th Century Fox, Under Suspicion. He continued in support roles for Fox in Once a Sinner, Fair Warning, and Charlie Chan Carries On.At Universal he was seventh billed for Ex-Bad Boy and fifth for Homicide Squad, then was in the Rin Tin Tin serial The Lightning Warrior at Mascot Pictures.
Warner Bros.
Brent was signed by Warner Bros. in 1931, where he played Barbara Stanwyck's leading man in So Big!. This established him as a leading man for female stars. Bette Davis had a small role.Brent appeared in The Rich Are Always with Us with Ruth Chatterton; again, Davis had a support role.
This was followed by Week-End Marriage with Loretta Young, The Purchase Price with Stanwyck, Miss Pinkerton with Joan Blondell, The Crash with Chatterton, and They Call It Sin with Young.
Paramount borrowed Brent for the leading man role in Luxury Liner. Back at Warners, Brent was one of several studio names appearing in 42nd Street, he played the lover of Bebe Daniels.
He returned to supporting female stars: Kay Francis in The Keyhole, Chatterton in both Lilly Turner and Female, and Stanwyck in Baby Face.
In October 1933, he and Chatterton refused to make a film they had been assigned, Mandalay and were replaced by Lyle Talbot and Kay Francis. Brent's salary was then $1,000 a week.
Brent was top billed in From Headquarters with Margaret Lindsay then MGM borrowed him to play Myrna Loy's leading man in Stamboul Quest. In September 1934, Chatteron filed for divorce.
Bette Davis
Brent was top billed in Housewife with Bette Davis, who was his co star. He was leading man to Jean Muir in Desirable then MGM used him for The Painted Veil with Greta Garbo.Brent supported Josephine Hutchinson in The Right to Live, Francis in Living on Velvet and Stranded. He then made two films with Davis, where she was top billed: Front Page Woman and Special Agent.
Brent appeared in The Goose and the Gander with Francis, then was borrowed by RKO to make In Person with Ginger Rogers. At Warners he was top billed in the comedy Snowed Under, then Walter Wanger borrowed him to play Madeleine Carroll's leading man in The Case Against Mrs. Ames.
At Warners he was reunited with Davis in The Golden Arrow and Francis in Give Me Your Heart. Columbia borrowed him to support Jean Arthur in More Than a Secretary then Warners gave him top billing in God's Country and the Woman with Margaret Lindsay.
Brent made Mountain Justice with Hutchinson and The Go Getter with Anita Louise. Warners then put Brent in his first male-orientated movie: Submarine D-1 with Pat O'Brien and Wayne Morris. In November 1937 he became an American citizen.
Brent made Gold Is Where You Find It with Olivia de Havilland, then made Jezebel with Davis - only he was the second male lead, with Henry Fonda playing Davis' main love interest.
Warners put him in an action "B" film with Humphrey Bogart, Racket Busters then he was reunited with Francis in Secrets of an Actress. He was in the military drama Wings of the Navy with de Havilland and John Payne.
He appeared in Dark Victory with Davis, which was a huge success. So too was The Old Maid where Davis and Miriam Hopkins fought over Brent. Both films were directed by Edmund Goulding.
20th Century Fox borrowed Brent for a key support role in The Rains Came. At Warners he supported James Cagney and O'Brien in The Fighting 69th.
Paramount borrowed him for Adventure in Diamonds, where he had top billing over Isa Miranda. He was Merle Oberon's leading man in 'Til We Meet Again, then starred in The Man Who Talked Too Much and South of Suez. He supported Ann Sheridan in Honeymoon for Three and Davis in The Great Lie.
Columbia borrowed him for the lead role in They Dare Not Love with Martha Scott and Edward Small used him in two films, International Lady with Ilona Massey and Twin Beds with Joan Bennett.
Brent made one final film with Davis, In This Our Life, alongside de Havilland. He supported Stanwyck in The Gay Sisters and was top-billed in You Can't Escape Forever with Brenda Marshall and Silver Queen with Priscilla Lane.
Military service
In 1942, Brent, an accomplished pilot who had tried and, because of age, failed to enlist in the armed services, temporarily retired from films to teach flying as a civilian flight instructor with the Civilian Pilot Training Program and later became a pilot in the US Coast Guard for the duration of the war.His final film for Warner Bros. was My Reputation with Barbara Stanwyck as a widow that was filmed from November 1943 to January 1944, and with the exception of military audiences, was not released until 1946. Brent acted on radio during this period.
Freelance actor
While Brent returned to his acting career after the conflict, he never recaptured his former popularity but during the immediate post war period he still remained a star of big budget films. RKO used him as Hedy Lamarr's leading man in Experiment Perilous. For Hal Wallis he did The Affairs of Susan with Joan Fontaine then Tomorrow Is Forever at International with Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles.He returned to RKO for The Spiral Staircase, a huge success. At Universal he was teamed with Lucille Ball in Lover Come Back, then he made Temptation with Oberon and Edward Small at International.
Brent went to Eagle Lion to make a comedy Out of the Blue and Columbia for The Corpse Came C.O.D. with Blondell. Universal teamed him with Yvonne De Carlo in Slave Girl.
Brent was one of several names in Christmas Eve for Benedict Bogeaus and Luxury Liner at MGM, a remake of the 1933 film in which Brent had appeared.
He went to Republic to star in Angel on the Amazon and in Universal's Red Canyon played the father of the star, Ann Blyth. At the same studio he was third lead in Illegal Entry then had the lead in a "B" The Kid from Cleveland. He supported Colbert in Bride for Sale at RKO.
The budgets of Brent's films continued to shrink. He did two for Lippert Pictures: F.B.I. Girl and The Last Page, the latter shot in England with Diana Dors. There was Montana Belle with Jane Russell then two for Monogram: Tangier Incident and Mexican Manhunt.
Television
Brent moved into television in the early 1950s guest starring in The Revlon Mirror Theater, Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, The Ford Television Theatre, Climax!, Fireside Theatre, Stage 7, Studio 57, Science Fiction Theatre, Celebrity Playhouse, Schlitz Playhouse and the religion anthology series, Crossroads.He was cast in the lead in the 1956 television series Wire Service, which ran for 39 performances.
After appearing on Rawhide and The Chevy Mystery Show, Brent retired.
In 1978, he made one last film, the made-for-television production Born Again.
In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars. He received a motion-pictures star located at 1709 Vine Street and a second star located at 1612 Vine Street for his work in television.
Personal life
Brent was married five times: to Helen Louise Campbell, Ruth Chatterton, Constance Worth, Ann Sheridan, and Janet Michaels. Chatterton, Worth, and Sheridan were also actresses. Chatterton and Sheridan were both Warner Bros. players.His final marriage to Janet Michaels, a former model and dress designer, lasted 27 years until her death in 1974. They had two children together: a daughter, Suzanne, and a son, Barry.
Brent also had affairs with actresses Greta Garbo and Bette Davis, the latter a frequent Warner Bros. co-star.
George Brent suffered from emphysema and died of natural causes in 1979 in Solana Beach, California.