John Loder (actor)

John Loder (3 January 1898 – 26 December 1988) was an English actor best known for his tall, debonair and suave looks and his marriage to Hedy Lamarr.

Loder was born John Muir Loder in Selbourne, England. His father was General Lowe, the British officer to whom Patrick Pearse, the mystical Catholic zealot and lead rebel of the Irish 1916 rising in Dublin, surrendered, according to Colm Connolly's book about Michael Collins. John was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College and followed him into the army, first serving with the 15th Hussars as a second lieutenant in Gallipoli and at one point being imprisoned by the Germans. Upon being released, he stayed in Germany to run a pickle factory and also began to develop an interest in acting, appearing in bit-parts in a few German films. He left Germany to briefly return to England and then headed to Hollywood to try his luck in the new medium, Talkies. He appeared in "The Doctor's Secret", which was Paramount's first talking picture - though his very English persona didn't win America over at this time and he returned to England where he co-starred in plush musicals and intrigue such as "Love Life" and "Laughter and Sabotage". He was the male romantic interest in the original, 1937 film version of "King Solomon's Mines".

When World War II started he returned to America where he seamlessly coasted into a career in 'B' movie roles usually playing upper crust characters with occasional appearances on Broadway. He occasionally did play roles, though supporting ones, in major 'A' films such as "How Green Was My Valley", in which he was at the same time one of Roddy McDowall's brothers and Donald Crisp's sons. In 1947 he became an American citizen, his last screen appearance was in 1971.

Loder was married five times; two of his wives were actresses: French star Micheline Cheirel and Hedy Lamarr. With Lamarr, he had two children, Denise (born 1945) and Antony (born 1947), and adopted Lamarr's son James Markey from her previous marriage to screenwriter Gene Markey. Other wives of Loder's were Sophie Kabel, Evelyn Auff Mordt, and his final wife, Argentinian heiress Alba Julia Lagomarsino, whom he was with until his death, semi-retiring to her ranch and writing his 1977 autobiography, "Hollywood Hussar".

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