Brian Donlevy

It seems that Brian Donlevy started out life as colorfully as any character he ever played on the stage or screen. He lied about his age (he was actually 14) in 1916 so he could join the army. When Gen. John J. Pershing sent American troops to invade Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa--Mexican rebels under Villa's command had raided Columbus, NM, and killed 16 American soldiers and civilians--Donlevy served with that expedition and later, in WW I, was a pilot with the Lafayette Flying Corps, which included the Lafayette Escadrille, a unit of the French Air Force comprised of American and Canadian pilots. His schooling was in Cleveland, OH, but in addition he spent two years at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. However, he gave up on a military career for the stage. After having landed several smaller roles, he got a part in "What Price Glory" and established himself as a bona fide actor. Later such roles on stage as "Three for One", "The Milky Way" and "Life Begins at 8:30" gave him the experience to head off to Hollywood.

Donlevy began his Hollywood career with the silent film A Man of Quality (1926), and his first talkie was Gentlemen of the Press (1929) (in which he had a bit part).

In all, from 1926 to 1969 Donlevy starred in at least 89 films, reprising one of his Broadway roles as a prizefighter in The Milky Way (1940), and had his own television series (which he also produced), Dangerous Assignment (1950).

There was a five- to six-year gap before he reappeared on the film scene in 1935 with three pictures: Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935), Another Face (1935) and Barbary Coast (1935), which was his springboard into film history. Receiving rave reviews as "the tough guy all in black", acting jobs finally began to roll his way.

By 1935 Donlevy was working for 20th Century-Fox and had just completed filming 36 Hours to Kill (1936) when he became engaged to young singer Marjorie Lane, and they married the next year.

In 1936 he starred in seven films, including Strike Me Pink (1936), in which he played the tough guy to Eddie Cantor's sweet bumpkin Eddie Pink.

His character, Gil Warren, in In Old Chicago (1938) died as a result of the Chicago fire. His character, Steely Edwards, in 'The Great Man's Lady (1942) died in the San Francisco fire.

In 1939 he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the sadistic Sgt.

Markoff in Paramount's Beau Geste (1939), its remake of an earlier silent hit.

The Great McGinty (1940), a Preston Sturges comedy about a poor homeless slob who makes it to the governorship of a state with the mob's help, is a brilliant character study of a man and the changes he goes through to please himself, those around him and, eventually, the woman he loves. A line in the film, spoken by Mrs. McGinty, seems a fitting description of the majority of roles Brian Donlevy would play throughout his career: "You're a tough guy, McGinty, not a wrong guy. " Donlevy's ability to make the roughest edge of any character have a soft side was his calling card. He perfected it and no one has quite mastered it since.

When he was working on I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland they filmed on an actual military base and he played Capt. Mercer. He got so uncomfortable with soldiers thinking he was a real captain and saluting him that he wore a sign around his neck that said, "Actor".

He later, in 1944, reprised that role in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943).

The marriage produced one child, Judy, but ended in divorce in 1947. It was 18 years before he remarried again.

Besides television, he also portrayed government spy Steve Mitchell on NBC Radio's "Dangerous Assignment" (1949-1953).

Played historical figure William Quantrill, the leader of a Confederate guerrilla band during the US Civil War, in two films: Kansas Raiders (1950) and Woman They Almost Lynched (1953). The second was not a sequel to the first.

He is the only actor to play Professor Bernard Quatermass on screen more than once, which he did in the Hammer science fiction film The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and its sequel Quatermass 2 (1957). In spite of this, he was reportedly "Quatermass" creator Nigel Kneale's least favourite actor in the role.

In 1966, Bela Lugosi's ex-wife Lillian became Mrs.

Donlevy had always derived great pleasure from his two diverse interests, gold mining and writing poetry, so it was fitting that after his last film, Pit Stop (1969), he retired to Palm Springs, CA, where he began to write short stories and had his income well supplemented from a prosperous California tungsten mine he owned.

Brian Donlevy, and they were married until his death in 1972.

On August 13, 2019, he was honored with a day of his film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.