Ralph Bellamy

Infobox actor
name = Ralph Bellamy


imagesize = 180px
caption = in "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (1976)
birthname = Ralph Rexford Bellamy
birthdate = birth date|1904|6|17|mf=y
birthplace = Chicago, Illinois
deathdate = death date and age|1991|11|29|1904|6|17|mf=y
deathplace = Saint John's Health Center
Santa Monica, California
occupation = Film, stage actor
spouse = Alice Delbridge (1927-1930)
Catherine Willard (m. 1931-1945)
Ethel Smith (m. 1945-1947)
Alice Murphy (m. 1949-1991)
academyawards = Academy Honorary Award
1987 Lifetime Achievement
sagawards = Life Achievement Award
1984 Lifetime Achievement
tonyawards = Best Leading Actor in a Play
1958 "Sunrise at Campobello"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
6542 Hollywood Boulevard

Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor with a career spanning sixty-two years.

Biography

Early life

Bellamy was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise Smith, a native of Canada, and her husband Charles Rexford Bellamy. [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/bellamy.htm rootsweb entry] ] He began his acting career on stage, and by 1927 owned his own theatre company. In 1931, he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the decade to establish himself as a capable supporting actor. Bellamy received the lead role in the 1936 film "Straight from the Shoulder".

Film career

He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Awful Truth" (1937) opposite Irene Dunne and Cary Grant and played a similar part (a naive, aw-shucks boyfriend competing with the sophisticated light-comedy Grant character) in "His Girl Friday" (1940). He portrayed detective Ellery Queen in a few films during the 1940s, but as his film career did not progress, he returned to the stage, where he continued to perform throughout the fifties. Highly regarded within the industry, he was a founder of the Screen Actors Guild and served as President of Actors' Equity from 1952-1964.

He was briefly married to organist Ethel Smith from 1945 to 1947. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Married |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776114,00.html |quote=Ralph Bellamy, 41, veteran stage (Tomorrow the World) and screen (Guest in the House) actor; and Ethel Smith, 32, thin, Tico-Tico-famed cinema electric organist (Bathing Beauty); he for the third time, she for the second; in Harrison, N.Y. |publisher=Time (magazine) |date=Monday, September 10, 1945 |accessdate=2008-06-17 ] [Richard Lamparski, "Whatever Became Of ....?" , Third Series, Crown Publishers, Inc., NYC, 1970] Bellamy was also married to Alice Delbridge (1927-1930), Catherine Willard (1931-1945), and, finally, Alice Murphy (1949-1991).

In the 1930's and 40's. Bellamy was regularly seen socially with a select circle of friends known affectionetly as the Irish Mafia. This group consisted of a group of Hollywood A-listers mainly of Irish descent (despite Bellamy having no Irish family connections himself). Others included James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy, Lynne Overman, Frank Morgan and Frank McHugh.

Bellamy was a regular panelist on the CBS television game show "To Tell the Truth" during its initial run. He also starred in the television detective series "Follow That Man (aka "Man Against Crime")."

On Broadway he appeared in one of his most famous roles, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello". He later starred in the 1960 film version. In the summer of 1961, Bellamy hosted nine original episodes of a CBS Western anthology series called "Frontier Justice", a Dick Powell Four Star Television production.

On film, he also starred in "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) as a devilish physician, before turning to television during the 1970s. An Emmy Award nomination for the mini-series "The Winds of War" (1983) - in which Bellamy reprised his "Sunrise at Campobello" role of Franklin Roosevelt - brought him back into the limelight. This was quickly followed by his role as Randolph Duke, a conniving billionaire alongside Don Ameche in "Trading Places" (1983).

In the 1988 Eddie Murphy film, "Coming to America", Bellamy and co-star Don Ameche reprised a one-scene cameo of their roles as the Duke brothers. After Randolph and Mortimer Duke lost their enormous fortune at the end of "Trading Places", in "Coming to America", the brothers are homeless and living on the streets. Prince Akeem (Murphy) gives them a paper bag filled with money, which they gratefully accept and exclaim "We're back!" (failing to notice that the generous Akeem bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Ray Valentine, the man who had ruined them).

Final years

In 1984, he was presented with a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and in 1987 received an Honorary Academy Award "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting".

Among his later roles was a memorable appearance as a once-brilliant but increasingly forgetful lawyer sadly skewered by the Jimmy Smits character on an episode of "L.A. Law".

He continued working regularly and gave his final performance in "Pretty Woman" (1990).

He died as a result of a lung ailment at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Ralph Bellamy, the Actor, Is Dead at 87 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DE1F3CF933A05752C1A967958260 |quote=Ralph Bellamy, a veteran character actor who appeared in more than 100 movies but who attained his greatest recognition on Broadway as the stricken Franklin D. Roosevelt struggling to walk in "Sunrise at Campobello," died yesterday at St. Johns Hospital and Health Center in Los Angeles. He was 87 years old. |publisher=New York Times |date=November 30, 1991 |accessdate=2008-06-17 ]

Awards and honours

Bellamy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6542 Hollywood Boulevard.

In a 2007 episode of "Boston Legal", footage of a 1957 episode of "Studio One" was used. The episode featured Bellamy and William Shatner as a father-son duo of lawyers. This was used in the present-day to explain the relationship between Shatner's Denny Crane character and his father in the show.

Filmography

* "The Secret Six" (1931)
* "West of Broadway" (1931)
* "Surrender" (1931)
* "Forbidden" (1932)
* "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1932)
* "Wild Girl" (1932)
* "Airmail" (1932)
* "Below the Sea" (1933)
* "Picture Snatcher" (1933)
* "Headline Shooter" (1933)
* "Ace of Aces" (1933)
* "Ever in My Heart" (1933)
* "Spitfire" (1934)
* "Once to Every Woman" (1934)
* "This Man Is Mine" (1934)
* "The Wedding Night" (1935)
* "Hands Across the Table" (1935)
* "The Awful Truth" (1937)
* "Fools for Scandal" (1938)
* "Boy Meets Girl" (1938)
* "Carefree" (1938)
* "Girls' School" (1938)
* "Trade Winds" (1938)
* "Let Us Live" (1939)
* "His Girl Friday" (1940)
* "Brother Orchid" (1940)
* "Dance, Girl, Dance" (1940)
* "Footsteps in the Dark" (1941)
* "Affectionately Yours" (1941)
* "Dive Bomber" (1941)
* "The Wolf Man" (1941)
* "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942)
* "Guest in the House" (1944)
* "Lady on a Train" (1945)
* "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell" (1955)
* "Sunrise at Campobello" (1960)
* "The Professionals" (1966)
* "Rosemary's Baby" (1968)
* "The Missiles of October" (1974)
* "Murder on Flight 502" (1975)
* "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (1976)
* "Once an Eagle" (1976) (TV miniseries)
* "Oh, God!" (1977)
* "The Winds of War" (1983)
* "Trading Places" (1983)
* "Space" (1985)
* "Disorderlies" (1987)
* "Amazon Women on the Moon" (1987)
* "Coming to America" (1988)
* "The Good Mother" (1988)
* "War and Remembrance" (1988) (TV miniseries)
* "Pretty Woman" (1990)

References

External links

*imdb|0000897
*amg name|2:5165

Persondata
NAME= Bellamy, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Bellamy, Ralph Rexford
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1904-6-17
PLACE OF BIRTH= Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH= 1991-11-29
PLACE OF DEATH= Santa Monica, California