Charles Coburn

Actor

About

Also Known As

Charles Douville Coburn

Birth Place

Savannah, Georgia, USA

Born

June 19, 1877

Died

August 30, 1961

Cause of Death

Heart Attack

Biography

Filmography

Pepe (1961)

A Stranger in My Arms (1959)

Vance Beasley

John Paul Jones (1959)

Benjamin Franklin

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)

Grampa Pennypacker

How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1958)

Uncle George [Clitterbern]

Town on Trial (1957)

Dr. John Fenner

Photos & Videos

View All

Green Years, The - (Original Trailer)

B.F.'s Daughter (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Your Pretty Little Head

Family & Companions

Ivah Wills

Wife

Actor. Died in 1937.

Winifred Natzka

Wife

Biography

An Oscar®-winning character actor from Hollywood's Golden Age, Charles Coburn was as well-recognized as the stars whom he supported, and from whom he often stole the show. At times, in a distinction unusual for a character player, he was given star billing. Specializing in hardened businessmen with a soft heart, the cigar-smoking, monocled actor did not enter movies until he was in his mid-50s, but still enjoyed a film career that lasted almost 30 years.

Born June 17, 1877, in Savannah, Georgia, Coburn was full of Southern charm -- and so well spoken that he was sometimes mistaken by audiences as being British. He had begun in theater as a "program boy" and by age 17 was manager of a Savannah theater in 1901. He made his Broadway debut in 1901 and, five years later, organized the Coburn Shakespeare Players with his first wife, Ivah Wills. Coburn made his movie debut in the title role of Boss Tweed (1933) but did not sign a Hollywood contract until after his wife's death in 1937.

Coburn had another lead in The Captain Is a Lady (1940), the touching story of an aging sea captain who poses as a female so he can live with his wife (Beulah Bondi) in a poor house for old women. The fortunes of the couple change after the captain helps rescue a shipwrecked schooner. One of Coburn's best-remembered roles came in the Preston Sturges screwball comedy The Lady Eve (1941), in which he plays Barbara Stanwyck's card-sharp father and helps her fleece naive millionaire Henry Fonda

For another of his roles that year, that of the world's richest man in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), Coburn received his first Oscar® nomination as Best Supporting Actor. The third-billed Coburn thoroughly dominates Unexpected Uncle (1941), playing a retired tycoon who poses as the uncle of a lingerie saleswoman (Anne Shirley) to help her land a millionaire. Coburn is again a wealthy uncle, and something of a fraud, in George Washington Slept Here (1942), the Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman Broadway hit as adapted for the talents of Jack Benny. Coburn won his Oscar® for The More the Merrier (1943), in which he plays a volatile yet lovable business executive forced by the wartime housing shortage to share a Washington D.C. apartment with Jean Arthur.

Oscar®-nominated yet again for The Green Years (1946), Coburn continued his film career energetically through the 1950s, memorably playing Marilyn Monroe's sugar daddy in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and making his final screen appearance as a guest star in Pepe (1960). He also remained active in television and on the stage, giving his final performance in a stock production of You Can't Take It With You in Indianapolis only a week before his death in 1961.

by Roger Fristoe

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Pepe (1961)

A Stranger in My Arms (1959)

Vance Beasley

John Paul Jones (1959)

Benjamin Franklin

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)

Grampa Pennypacker

How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1958)

Uncle George [Clitterbern]

Town on Trial (1957)

Dr. John Fenner

The Story of Mankind (1957)

Hippocrates

Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Hong Kong steamship office clerk

The Power and the Prize (1956)

Guy Elliot

How To Be Very, Very Popular (1955)

Dr. Tweed

The Rocket Man (1954)

Mayor Editor Johnson

The Long Wait (1954)

Gardiner

Trouble Along the Way (1953)

Father Burke

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Sir Francis "Piggy" Beekman

Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952)

Samuel G. Fulton, also known as John Smith

Monkey Business (1952)

Oliver Oxly

The Highwayman (1951)

Professor ["Brooks"] Brookfield

Louisa (1950)

Mr. [Abel] Burnside

Everybody Does It (1949)

Major Blair

Impact (1949)

Lt. [Tom] Quincy

Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1949)

Professor Jason Hartley

The Gal Who Took the West (1949)

General Michael O'Hara

The Doctor and the Girl (1949)

Dr. John Corday

The Paradine Case (1948)

Sir Simon Flaquer

B. F.'s Daughter (1948)

B. F. Fulton

Green Grass of Wyoming (1948)

Beaver Greenway

Lured (1947)

Inspector Harley Temple

The Green Years (1946)

Alexander Gow

Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946)

Colonel William Seaborn Effingham

Rhapsody in Blue (1945)

Professor Henry Holmes

A Royal Scandal (1945)

Nicolai Illytch, the chancellor

Together Again (1944)

Jonathan Crandall, Sr.

The Impatient Years (1944)

William Smith

Knickerbocker Holiday (1944)

Peter Stuyvesant

The More the Merrier (1943)

Benjamin Dingle

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Grandfather

Princess O'Rourke (1943)

Uncle

My Kingdom for a Cook (1943)

Rudyard Morley

The Constant Nymph (1943)

Charles Creighton

In This Our Life (1942)

William Fitzroy

Kings Row (1942)

Dr. Henry Gordon

George Washington Slept Here (1942)

Uncle Stanley

H. M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)

Mr. [Harry] Pulham, Sr.

Our Wife (1941)

Professor Drake

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

[John P.] Merrick

The Lady Eve (1941)

"Colonel" Harrington

Unexpected Uncle (1941)

Seton Mansley

Edison, the Man (1940)

General Powell

Road to Singapore (1940)

Mr. Mallon [Josh Mallon IV]

Florian (1940)

Hofer

Three Faces West (1940)

Dr. [Karl] Braun

The Captain Is a Lady (1940)

Capt. Abe Peabody

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)

Gardner Hubbard

Idiot's Delight (1939)

Dr. Waldersee

In Name Only (1939)

Mr. [Richard] Walker

Made for Each Other (1939)

Judge Doolittle

Bachelor Mother (1939)

J. B. Merlin

Stanley and Livingstone (1939)

Lord Tyce

Lord Jeff (1938)

Captain Briggs

Vivacious Lady (1938)

Mr. Morgan

Yellow Jack (1938)

Dr. Finlay

Of Human Hearts (1938)

Dr. Charles Shingle

Life Events

1897

Moved to New York to pursue acting career

1899

First acting job, "Quo Vadis" in Ames, Iowa

1901

Broadway debut

1905

Met Ivah Wills

1906

Founded Coburn Shakespeare Players with Ivah Wills

1910

Appeared at the White House before President Taft

1937

Moved to Hollywood

1938

Feature film acting debut, "Lord Jeff"

Photo Collections

The Impatient Years - Lobby Cards

Here are several Lobby Cards from Columbia Pictures' The Impatient Years (1944). 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.

The Impatient Years - Behind-the-Scenes Photos

The Devil and Miss Jones - Lobby Cards

Wilson - Movie Poster

Vivacious Lady - Publicity Art

Here are some pieces of advertising art created by RKO to publicize Vivacious Lady (1937), starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart.

Lured - Movie Poster

Here is an original-release insert movie poster for Lured (1947), starring Lucille Ball. Inserts measured 14x36 inches.

Bachelor Mother - Publicity Stills

Here are a few Publicity Stills taken for Bachelor Mother (1939), starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven. Publicity stills were specially-posed photos, usually taken off the set, for purposes of publicity or reference for promotional artwork.

In This Our Life - Scene Stills

Here are a number of scene stills from Warner Bros' In This Our Life (1942), starring Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, and Dennis Morgan.

Bachelor Mother - Lobby Cards

Here are a few Lobby Cards from Bachelor Mother (1939), starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven. 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.

Monkey Business - Lobby Card

Here is a Lobby Card from Howard Hawks' Monkey Business (1952), starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers. 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.

Trouble Along the Way - Movie Posters

Here are a few original movie posters from Warner Bros' Trouble Along the Way (1953), starring John Wayne and Donna Reed.

Vivacious Lady - Lobby Cards

Here are a few Lobby Cards from RKO's Vivacious Lady (1937), starring Ginger Rogers 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.