Lionel Atwill

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Lionel Atwill 1 March 1885 22 April 1946 was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon London England He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre London in 1904 He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918 and made his screen debut in 1919 He acted on the stage in Australia but was most famous for his US horror roles in the 1930s His two most memorable parts were as the crazed disfigured sculptor in Mystery of the Wax Museum Warner Brothers 1933 and as Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein 1939 memorably sent up by Kenneth Mars in Mel Brookss Young Frankenstein 1974 When he was not cast in macabre roles Atwill often appeared in the 1930s as righteousminded authority figures For example in 1937s less memorable The Wrong Road for RKO investigator Atwill persuades a young bankrobbing ingenue played by Helen Mack and her boyfriend Richard Cromwell to return their illgotten 100000 and give up a life of crime Two of Atwills other notable nonhorror roles were opposite his contemporary Basil Rathbone in films featuring Arthur Conan Doyles character Sherlock Holmes including a role as Dr James Mortimer in 20th Century Foxs 1939 film rendition of the Conan Doyle novel The Hound of the Baskervilles and the 1943 Universal Studios film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon in which he played Holmes archenemy and supervillain Professor Moriarty Atwill remained a stalwart of the Universal horror films until his career flagged in the 1940s because of a widely publicized sex scandal in 1941 during the investigation of which he was charged in 1942 with perjury at a trial in which Atwill had been accused of staging a sex orgy at his home He died while working on the 1946 film serial Lost City of the Jungle His ashes were once inurned in Chapel of the Pines Crematory Description above from the Wikipedia article Lionel Atwill licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia