Lionel Atwill

Lionel Atwill
Born	1 March 1885 Croydon, London, England, UK
Died	22 April 1946 (aged 61) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.
Cause of death	pneumonia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1905–1946
Spouse(s)	Phyllis Relph (1913-1919) (divorced) 1 child Elsie Mackay (1920-1928) (divorced) Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brook MacArthur (1930-1943) (divorced) Mary Paula Pruter (1944-1946) (his death) 1 child

Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and film actor.

Early and personal life

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

He married four times:

• Phyllis Ralph in 1913 and divorced in 1919. In 1941 their son, John Arthur Atwill (born 1914), was killed in action aged 26.^[1]
• American actress Elsie Mackay in 1920.
• Louise Cromwell Brooks in 1930 and divorced in 1943. She had previously been married to Douglas MacArthur.
• Mary Paula Shilstone (d.2002) in 1944 to his death in 1946. She gave birth to his only surviving child, Lionel Anthony Atwill, now a retired writer.

In 1942, he was indicted with perjury by a jury investigating the 1941 proceeding of a grand jury relative to the alleged occurrence of a sex orgy at his home.^[2]

He died in 1946.

Career

He became a star in Broadway theatre by 1918,^[3] and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia before becoming involved in U.S. horror film roles in the 1930s. He played the crazed, disfigured sculptor in Mystery of the Wax Museum (Warner Brothers, 1933), as Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939).

His other roles include The Wrong Road (1937) for RKO and 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).

Partial filmography

• Eve's Daughter (1918)
• The Eternal Mother (1920)
• Doctor X (1932)
• The Vampire Bat (1933)
• Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
• Murders in the Zoo (1933)
• The Sphinx (1933)
• The Song of Songs (1933)
• Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
• The Solitaire Man (1933)
• The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)
• Nana (1934)
• Beggars in Ermine (1934)
• Stamboul Quest (1934)
• The Firebird (1934)
• The Age of Innocence (1934)
• The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
• Mark of the Vampire (1935)
• The Murder Man (1935)
• Rendezvous (1935)
• Captain Blood (1935)
• Till We Meet Again (1936)
• Lancer Spy (1937)
• The Wrong Road (1937)
• The Great Garrick (1937)
• Three Comrades (1938)
• The High Command (1938)
• The Great Waltz (1938)
• The Mad Empress (1939)
• Son of Frankenstein (1939)
• The Sun Never Sets (1939)
• The Three Musketeers (1939)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
• The Gorilla (1939)
• Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)
• Balalaika (1939)
• The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)
• Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
• Johnny Apollo (1940)
• Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
• Boom Town (1940)
• Girl in 313 (1940)
• Man Made Monster (1941) re-released as The Atomic Monster
• To Be or Not to Be (1942)
• The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
• The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
• Junior G-Men of the Air (1942 serial)
• Pardon My Sarong (1942)
• Cairo (1942)
• Night Monster (1942)
• The Strange Case of Doctor Rx - Dr. Fish (1942)
• Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
• Captain America (1944 serial)
• Lady in the Death House (1944)
• Raiders of Ghost City (1944 serial)
• Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944)
• House of Frankenstein (1944)
• Fog Island (1945)
• Crime, Inc. (1945)
• House of Dracula (1945)
• Lost City of the Jungle (1946 serial)

Notes

1. "Actor Lionel Atwill's Son Killed in British Air Action". Chicago Tribune. 1941-04-29. Commonwealth War Graves Commission - CWGC record.
2. "Lionel Atwill Indicted", The New York Times, July 1, 1942, p. 28.Stage and screen actor indicted
3. "The Rise of Lionel Atwill", The New York Times, April 14, 1918, p. X6.

References

• Mank, Gregory William (1998). Hollywood's Maddest Doctors. A Biography of Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive and George Zucco. Baltimore MD: Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 188766422X.
• Smith, Ronald L. (2010). Horror stars on radio, The broadcast histories of 29 chilling Hollywood voices. Jefferson NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786445257.
• Pitts, Michael R. (1981). Horror Film Stars. Jefferson NC: McFarland. ISBN 0-89950-004-8.
• Stuart, Ray; Banasiewicz, Czeslaw Z. (1965). Immortals of the Screen. New York: Bonanza Books. ASIN B000OGH3S2.
• Twomey, Alfred E.; McClure, Arthur F. (1969). The Versatiles, A Study of Supporting Character Actors and Actresses in the American Motion Picture, 1930-1955. South Brunswick NJ: A.S. Barnes & Company. ISBN 978-0498067921.

External links

Media related to Lionel Atwill at Wikimedia Commons

• Lionel Atwill at the Internet Movie Database
• Lionel Atwill at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lionel Atwill at Find a Grave