Roland Young

Actor
Roland Young

About

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Birth Place
London, England, GB
Born
November 11, 1887
Died
June 05, 1953

Biography

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Slight, mild-mannered British character actor who played a host of lower-middle-class types, from the unctuous Uriah Heep in "David Copperfield" (1934) to the meek sales clerk invested with God-like powers in "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" (1936). His amiable diffidence enabled him to blithely play frustrated upper class types on occasion; Young is, for example, best known to American...

Filmography

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That Man from Tangier (1953)
George Sanders
St. Benny the Dip (1951)
Matthew
Let's Dance (1950)
Mr. Edmund Pohlwhistle
The Great Lover (1949)
C. J. Dabney
You Gotta Stay Happy (1949)
Ralph Tutwiler
And Then There Were None (1945)
William H. Blore

Photos & Videos

View All
Don't Bet on Women - Lobby Card
1 Photo
Philadelphia Story, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) They Grew Up Together
The Philadelphia Story - Lobby Card Set
8 Photos
They All Kissed the Bride - Movie Poster
1 Photo
Topper (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Stop Being A Mummy

Notes

Served with the US Army in WWI.

Biography

Slight, mild-mannered British character actor who played a host of lower-middle-class types, from the unctuous Uriah Heep in "David Copperfield" (1934) to the meek sales clerk invested with God-like powers in "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" (1936). His amiable diffidence enabled him to blithely play frustrated upper class types on occasion; Young is, for example, best known to American audiences for his starring roles as the worrisome banker in three of the "Topper" films (1937-41).

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

That Man from Tangier (1953)
George Sanders
St. Benny the Dip (1951)
Matthew
Let's Dance (1950)
Mr. Edmund Pohlwhistle
The Great Lover (1949)
C. J. Dabney
You Gotta Stay Happy (1949)
Ralph Tutwiler
And Then There Were None (1945)
William H. Blore
Standing Room Only (1944)
Ira Cromwell
Forever and a Day (1943)
[Henry] Barringer
Tales of Manhattan (1942)
Edgar
The Lady Has Plans (1942)
Ronald Dean
They All Kissed the Bride (1942)
Marsh
Topper Returns (1941)
Cosmo Topper
The Flame of New Orleans (1941)
[Charles] Giraud
Two-Faced Woman (1941)
O. O. Miller
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Uncle Willie
Irene (1940)
Mr. Smith
Star Dust (1940)
Thomas Brooke
He Married His Wife (1940)
Bill Carter
Dulcy (1940)
Roger Forbes
Private Affairs (1940)
Amos Bullerton
No, No Nanette (1940)
Mr. ["Happy"] Jimmy Smith
Topper Takes a Trip (1939)
Mr. [Cosmo] Topper
The Night of Nights (1939)
Barry Keith Trimble
Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939)
Titus Jaywood
Here I Am a Stranger (1939)
Professor Daniels
Sailing Along (1938)
Anthony Gulliver
The Young in Heart (1938)
"Sahib," [Anthony] their father
Call It a Day (1937)
Frank Haines
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)
George McWhirter Fotheringay
Topper (1937)
Mr. [Cosmo] Topper
King Solomon's Mines (1937)
Commander Good
Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
Sultan [Abdullah]
Gypsy (1937)
Give Me Your Heart (1936)
[Edward] Tubbs Barrow
The Unguarded Hour (1936)
[William] Bunny [Jeffers]
One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
Maillot
David Copperfield (1935)
Uriah Heep
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Earl of Burnstead [also known as Hon. George Vane Bassingwell]
His Double Life (1934)
Priam Farrel
Here Is My Heart (1934)
Nicki [also known as Prince Nicholas]
Pleasure Cruise (1933)
Andrew Poole
A Lady's Profession (1933)
Sir Reginald Withers
Blind Adventure (1933)
[Holmes] The burglar
They Just Had to Get Married (1933)
Hilliary Hume
One Hour with You (1932)
Professor Olivier
A Woman Commands (1932)
King Alexander
Street of Women (1932)
Linkhorn "Link" Gibson
This Is the Night (1932)
Gerald Gray
Lovers Courageous (1932)
Jeffrey
Wedding Rehearsal (1932)
The Squaw Man (1931)
Sir John Applegate Kerhill
The Prodigal (1931)
Doc [Somerset Greenman]
Don't Bet on Women (1931)
Herbert Drake
Annabelle's Affairs (1931)
Roland Wimbleton
The Guardsman (1931)
The Critic [Bernhardt]
New Moon (1931)
Count [Igor] Strogoff
The Pagan Lady (1931)
"Doc" Heath
The Bishop Murder Case (1930)
Sigurd ["Eric"] Arnesson
Madame Satan (1930)
Her Private Life (1929)
Charteris
The Unholy Night (1929)
Lord Montague
Wise Girls (1929)
Duke Merrill
Grit (1924)
Houdini Hart
Sherlock Holmes (1922)
Dr. Watson

Film Production - Lighting/Electrical (Feature Film)

The Sure Thing (1985)
Electrician

Life Events

1908

London stage debut

1912

New York stage debut

Photo Collections

 
1 Photo
Don't Bet on Women - Lobby Card
Don't Bet on Women - Lobby Card
8 Photos
The Philadelphia Story - Lobby Card Set
Here is a set of Lobby Cards from The Philadelphia Story (1940), starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.
1 Photo
They All Kissed the Bride - Movie Poster
They All Kissed the Bride - Movie Poster
1 Photo
Topper - Movie Poster
Here is an original Window Card from Topper (1937), starring Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. Window Cards were mini posters designed to be placed in store windows around town during a film's engagement. A blank space at the top of the poster featured theater and playdate infromation.
2 Photos
Star Dust - Movie Posters
Here are a few original release movie posters for Fox's Star Dust (1940), starring Linda Darnell.
2 Photos
This Is the Night - Movie Posters
This Is the Night - Movie Posters
6 Photos
This Is the Night - Lobby Cards
Here are several lobby cards from Paramount's This Is the Night (1932), starring Lily Damita, Roland Young, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, and Thelma Todd. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.
5 Photos
This Is the Night - Publicity Stills
Here are a few publicity stills from Paramount's This is the Night (1932), starring Lily Damita, Roland Young, Charlie Ruggles, Cary Grant, and Thelma Todd. Publicity stills were specially-posed photos, usually taken off the set, for purposes of publicity or reference for promotional artwork.
5 Photos
This Is the Night - Scene Stills
Here are a few scene stills from Paramount's This is the Night (1932), starring Lily Damita, Roland Young, Charlie Ruggles, Cary Grant, and Thelma Todd.

Videos

Movie Clip

Philadelphia Story, The (1941) -- (Movie Clip) They Grew Up Together Complexity as Tracy (Katharine Hepburn) performs for impostor society wedding guests (really reporters) Mike (James Stewart) and Liz (Ruth Hussey), fiancè George (John Howard) arrives, and her ex, Dexter (Cary Grant) crashes in The Philadelphia Story, 1941.
Topper (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Stop Being A Mummy From the annual board meeting, top share-holder George (Cary Grant) is disruptive, his inhibited banker friend Roland Young (title character) grumbling afterward before he notices wife Marion (Constance Bennett), in the office, the pair then considering his prospects, in Topper, 1937.
Topper (1937) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Probably Talking To Myself In a maybe mid-life crisis and mourning the loss of his client-friends the Kerby’s (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett), banker Roland Young (title character) crashes his new car (a customized 1936 Buick Roadmaster) at the same spot where they died, and is surprised, with lots of trick shots, from producer Hal Roach, in Topper, 1937.
Wedding Rehearsal (1932) -- (Movie Clip) He's Married Not Buried First scene for Roland Young as Reggie, London society’s favorite best-man, first with the (running gag) Roxbury twins Mary Rose and Rose Mary (Wendy Barrie, Joan Gardner) then with his grandmother, secretary and friend (Kate Cutler, Merle Oberon in her first movie, Diana Napier), in Alexander Korda’s Wedding Rehearsal, 1932.
Madam Satan (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Heaven Forgive Thee Kindly We’ve just met Kay Johnson as super-rich Angela, whose staff has been helping her ignore her husband having failed to come home, when he (Reginald Denny) and buddy Roland Young appear, and she provides them a graceful entrance, in the second feature in C.B. DeMille’s three-picture MGM deal, Madam Satan, 1930.
Madam Satan (1930) -- (Movie Clip) The Cat Walk This is where the C.B. DeMille grandeur and MGM budget come forth, at the society ball on board a blimp where the neglected heroine is about to appear in exotic costume, with few identifiable actors, though the director’s daughter Katherine is one of the dancing cats, song by Herbert Stothart and Clifford Grey, in Madam Satan, 1930
Ruggles Of Red Gap (1935) -- (Movie Clip) One Of Those Indian Places Beginning with nouveau-riche Americans Egbert (Charlie Ruggles) and Effie (Mary Boland), discussing Charles Laughton (title character,) a valet, about to be informed by his employer the Earl (Roland Young) that he's been lost in a card game, early in Leo McCarey's Ruggles Of Red Gap< 1935.
And Then There Were None (1945) -- (Movie Clip) The Place For Nursery Rhymes Director Rene Clair is still cycling through Agatha Christie's ten island guests, Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald, Mischa Auer on the piano, Richard Haydn playing the record, when the gimmick is revealed, to C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, June Duprez, Louis Hayward, Roland Young and Queenie Leonard, early in And Then There Were None, 1945.
And Then There Were None (1945) -- (Movie Clip) What A Quiet Place Director Rene Clair wastes not a word introducing Agatha Christie's characters, Louis Hayward, June Duprez, Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, C. Aubrey Smith, Roland Young, Judith Anderson, Mischa Auer and Harry Thurston joining Queenie Leonard and Richard Haydn on the island, opening And Then There Were None, 1945.
Bishop Murder Case (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Insanity Of Tenderness Detective Philo Vance (Basil Rathbone) is getting to know erudite Arnesson (Roland Young) and his fianceè Belle (Leila Hyams), as he prepares to interview the servants after a New York society murder, in The Bishop Murder Case, 1930.
Bishop Murder Case (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Shot In A Vital Organ Director Nick Grinde certainly constrained by early-sound technology, detective Philo Vance (Basil Rathbone), with the DA (Clarence Geldert) takes on the cop (James Donlan) at a murder scene at a tony New York address, in MGM's The Bishop Murder Case, 1930.
Don't Bet On Women (1931) -- (Movie Clip) I Swallowed A Fish Roger (Edmund Lowe) and Chip (J.M. Kerrigan) are about to go yachting, to get away from women in general, when Kentuckian Tallulah (Una Merkel) swims by, pre-Code innuendo ensuing, early in director William K. Howard’s Don’t Bet On Women, co-starring Jeanette MacDonald.

Trailer

Ruggles Of Red Gap - (Re-issue trailer) A British valet (Charles Laughton) must adapt to the Wild West when he is won in a poker game in Ruggles Of Red Gap (1935).
Guardsman, The - (Original Trailer) Stage stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne filmed in their biggest hit, the classic farce The Guardsman (1931).
Dulcy - (Original Trailer) Ann Sothern plays Dulcy (1940), the scatterbrained beauty who tries to help her fiance's career by throwing a big party.
Call It a Day - (Original Trailer) An average day brings a variety of comic problems to members of a British family in Call It A Day (1937) starring Olivia de Havilland.
Unguarded Hour, The -- (Original Trailer) A blackmailer tries to stop a woman from revealing evidence that could save a condemned man in The Unguarded Hour (1936) starring Loretta Young.
Topper (1937) - (Original Trailer) Cary Grant and Constance Bennett are a couple of playful ghosts adding new life to a stuffy bank president (Roland Young), called Topper (1937).
Two-Faced Woman - (Original Trailer) Greta Garbo's last movie was the screwball comedy Two-Faced Woman (1941) about a woman who pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
Give Me Your Heart - (Original Trailer) A socialite (Kay Francis) has to give up the baby she bore to a married man in Give Me Your Heart (1936).
Street of Women - (Original Trailer) Kay Francis stars in the pre-code drama Street Of Women (1932) about a property developer who is torn between his wife and his mistress.
Topper Takes a Trip - (Original Trailer) Topper (Roland Young) tries to patch up his marriage with a trip to France, where he's pursued by a glamorous ghost (Joan Bennett), in the first "Topper" sequel, Topper Takes A Trip, 1941.
Yes, My Darling Daughter - (Original Trailer) A feminist (Fay Bainter) questions her values when her daughter wants to go off for a weekend with her boyfriend in Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939).
David Copperfield - (Original Trailer) David Copperfield (1935) is Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphaned boy's fight for happiness and it stars Freddie Bartholomew.

Bibliography

Notes

Served with the US Army in WWI.

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