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IMDbPro

Walter Connolly(1887-1940)

  • Actor
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Walter Connolly
An American playboy dumps his greedy fiance and ends up marrying a woman from the Alps.
Play trailer1:56
Bridal Suite (1939)
7 Videos
96 Photos
The name may have been forgotten, especially today (seven decades later), but the portly, apoplectic, exasperated figure on the 1930s screen wasn't. While his film career, save a couple of silents, lasted a paltry seven years (1932-1939), character actor Walter Connolly certainly ran the distance. While some film historians complain that a number of his performances were annoying or overbaked, he was for the most part applauded for his zesty contributions to a number of comedy classics. Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933), Broadway Bill (1934) and It Happened One Night (1934), not to mention the Carole Lombard/Fredric March screwball farce Nothing Sacred (1937) as news reporter March's hot-headed editor boss are sure-fire examples.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native was born on April 8, 1887 and schooled there. The son of the head of the Western Union relay office, he attended St. Xavier College and the University of Dublin in Ireland before making his New York debut in 1910 in an outdoor presentation of "As You Like It". For the next year or so he was a member of E.H. Sothern's touring company and played supporting roles in a number of Shakespearean shows on the road. After a few silent pictures left him unimpressed with film-making, he turned to the Broadway stage in the 1920s and scored quite well. Somewhat short and tubby, it was not difficult for the jowly, mustachioed actor to seize laughs and he found his share in such outings as "The Talking Parrot" (1923), "Applesauce" (1925), "The Springboard" (1927), "The Happy Husband" (1928), "Stepping Out" (1929), "Your Uncle Dudley" (1930), "Anatol" (1931), "Six Characters in Search of an Author" (1931), "The Good Fairy" (1932) and "The Late Christopher Bean" (1932).

With his talents as a stage farceur firmly established, it was time to make a second attempt at a film career and Hollywood (specifically, Columbia) wisely opened their doors to him. Interestingly, his debut in a full-length talking picture came at age 45 in the form of a drama, Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932), where he was third-billed as a rather benign senator. For the next seven years Connolly, often playing older than he really was, could be found everywhere giving good fluster to the greatest and glossiest of stars -- Janet Gaynor, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, and Ginger Rogers, among hordes of others.

Every now and then he was asked to hold up a film, as with his leading roles in the drama Whom the Gods Destroy (1934), the Hecht/MacArthur comedy/drama Soak the Rich (1936), and the whodunnits Father Brown, Detective (1934) (as the title priest/gumshoe) and The League of Frightened Men (1937) (as supersleuth Nero Wolfe). Connolly's archetypal fuming was on full display in the comedies She Couldn't Take It (1935) with George Raft and Joan Bennett and Fifth Avenue Girl (1939) with Ginger Rogers. His last role was as the great composer himself in the highly fictional The Great Victor Herbert (1939), although it wasn't the leading role.

Connolly married actress Nedda Harrigan in 1920. The two appeared together in the Broadway comedies "Treat 'Em Rough" (1926) and "Merry Andrew" (1929). They had one daughter, actress Ann Connolly (1924-2006), who also appeared on stage and played the grownup Wendy in the 'Mary Martin' /Cyril Ritchard Broadway production of "Peter Pan" in 1954. Ironically, Connolly, whose obesity was probably a contributing factor to his fatal stroke suffered on May 28, 1940, received his final divorce decree on the day he died. He was only 53.
BornApril 8, 1887
DiedMay 28, 1940(53)
BornApril 8, 1887
DiedMay 28, 1940(53)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos96

Claudette Colbert and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Clark Gable and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Claudette Colbert and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Claudette Colbert and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Walter Connolly and Jameson Thomas in It Happened One Night (1934)
Harry C. Bradley and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Claudette Colbert and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Claudette Colbert and Walter Connolly in It Happened One Night (1934)
Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, and Fredric March in Nothing Sacred (1937)
Walter Connolly in Nothing Sacred (1937)
Walter Connolly in Nothing Sacred (1937)

Known for

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934)
It Happened One Night
8.1
  • Alexander Andrews
  • 1934
John Barrymore and Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century (1934)
Twentieth Century
7.3
  • Oliver Webb
  • 1934
Carole Lombard and Fredric March in Nothing Sacred (1937)
Nothing Sacred
6.9
  • Oliver Stone
  • 1937
Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee, Barry Norton, Jean Parker, May Robson, and Warren William in Lady for a Day (1933)
Lady for a Day
7.4
  • Count Romero
  • 1933

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Walter Connolly, Allan Jones, and Mary Martin in The Great Victor Herbert (1939)
    The Great Victor Herbert
    • Victor Herbert
    • 1939
  • Walter Connolly, Iris Meredith, and Onslow Stevens in Those High Grey Walls (1939)
    Those High Grey Walls
    • Dr. MacAuley
    • 1939
  • Ginger Rogers in Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
    Fifth Avenue Girl
    • Timothy Borden
    • 1939
  • Randolph Scott, Ralph Bellamy, and Frances Dee in Coast Guard (1939)
    Coast Guard
    • Tobias Bliss
    • 1939
  • Joan Blondell, Melvyn Douglas, and Walter Connolly in Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)
    Good Girls Go to Paris
    • Olaf Brand
    • 1939
  • Robert Young and Annabella in Bridal Suite (1939)
    Bridal Suite
    • Doctor Grauer
    • 1939
  • Mickey Rooney in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    • The 'King'
    • 1939
  • Franciska Gaal, Rita Johnson, and Franchot Tone in The Girl Downstairs (1938)
    The Girl Downstairs
    • Mr. Brown
    • 1938
  • Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo, and Walter Pidgeon in Too Hot to Handle (1938)
    Too Hot to Handle
    • 'Gabby' MacArthur
    • 1938
  • Four's a Crowd (1938)
    Four's a Crowd
    • John P. Dillingwell
    • 1938
  • Jimmy Durante, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Walter Connolly, Curly Howard, Gertrude Niesen, Joan Perry, Charles Starrett, and The Three Stooges in Start Cheering (1938)
    Start Cheering
    • Sam Lewis
    • 1938
  • Walter Connolly, Arthur Hohl, John Howard, Marc Lawrence, and Jean Parker in Penitentiary (1938)
    Penitentiary
    • Dist. Atty. Thomas Mathews
    • 1938
  • Preston Foster and Kay Francis in First Lady (1937)
    First Lady
    • Carter Hibbard
    • 1937
  • Carole Lombard and Fredric March in Nothing Sacred (1937)
    Nothing Sacred
    • Oliver Stone
    • 1937
  • Joseph Allen, Eduardo Ciannelli, Walter Connolly, Irene Hervey, and Lionel Stander in The League of Frightened Men (1937)
    The League of Frightened Men
    • Nero Wolfe
    • 1937

Soundtrack

  • Ginger Rogers in Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
    Fifth Avenue Girl
    • performer: "Happy Birthday to You" (1893) (uncredited)
    • 1939
  • John Barrymore and Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century (1934)
    Twentieth Century
    • performer: "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1929) (uncredited)
    • 1934

Videos7

Trailer
Trailer 1:56
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:53
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:55
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 0:53
Trailer
It Happened One Night -- Trailer
Trailer 2:31
It Happened One Night -- Trailer
The Good Earth
Trailer 4:18
The Good Earth
Nothing Sacred
Trailer 1:58
Nothing Sacred

Personal details

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  • Height
    • 5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
  • Born
    • April 8, 1887
    • Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
  • Died
    • May 28, 1940
    • Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(stroke)
  • Spouse
    • Nedda HarriganAugust 27, 1920 - May 28, 1940 (his death, 1 child)
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Very fond of horse racing, he initially wanted to be a jockey until he found it interfered with his eating habits.

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