From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Stanley Ridges 17 July 1890 22 April 1951 was a Britishborn actor who made his mark in films by playing a wide assortment of character parts Born 17 July 1890 in Southampton Hampshire England UK Stanley Ridges became a protégé of Beatrice Lillie a star of musical stage comedies and spent many years learning and honing his craft on the stage Eventually making his way to America Ridges began as a songanddance man on Broadway but later turned to dramatic roles onstage appearing in such plays as Maxwell Andersons Mary of Scotland as Lord Morton and Valley Forge as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench becoming a romantic leading man Ridges silent film debut was in Success 1923 With his excellent diction and rich speaking voice he easily made the transition into sound films with his career taking off at age 43 in Crime Without Passion 1934 with Claude Rains Ridges found himself cast in character roles as his greying hair put his romantic leading man days at an end His most best known roles were probably two different characters in one film one of them the kindly Professor Kingsley and the other the murderous Red Cannon in the thriller Black Friday 1940 The Jekyll and Hyde transformations gave Ridges a chance to display his acting ability Ridges was often cast in supporting roles in many classic films and played the lead only once in the Bpicture False Faces 1943 Among Ridgess other film roles were as the Scotland Yard inspector who is shadowing Charles Laughton in the film The Suspect 1944 as Major Buxton Gary Coopers commanding officer in Sergeant York 1942 as Professor Siletsky in To Be or Not to Be also 1942 and as Cary Travers Grayson the official White House physician in Wilson 1944 By 1950 he had just begun appearing in television anthologies such as Studio One and Philco Television Playhouse His last feature film the Ginger Rogers comedy The Groom Wore Spurs in which he played a mobster was released a month before he died Stanley Ridges died 22 April 1951 in Westbrook Connecticut aged 60
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